St Nicholas Church of EnglandPrimary Academy
During the STEM club this week, we had the challenge to investigate if paper and newspaper were materials that we could use to make a flag pole that could stand up. At the start everyone said that you can't make a flag pole out of paper as its not strong enough. We started off with a brain storming session to come up with different potential designs and how we could roll or fold the paper to make it stronger, next we drew our plans on some paper before constructing them.
Just like all investigations we had to test our theories to see if we were right or proven wrong. We found that we could build a paper flag pole that could stand up and hold the weight of a paper flag. However, we also found out that paper and newspaper was too light to withstand the outdoor elements such as rain and wind as it kept blowing over. In the end, we decided that our flag pole made from paper was more suited indoors where we can control the environment.
This week we carried out the experiment part of our scientific challenge which was to build a vehicle using different size wheels. We used 2 ramps for each vehicle and the same starting points to ensure it was a fair test. After we tested each vehicle we found that the bigger the wheels, the further the vehicle travels when going down the ramp. Lacie explained to the group that the small wheels get stuck at the bottom of the ramp and on the floor.
We then went outside for a bonus challenge to see which vehicle was the strongest and would best survive a crash off a cliff. We used the top of the climbing slope at our treehouse area to see which vehicle stayed in one piece. We found the vehicle with the thicker frame survived the best. Carter said “My vehicle broke because my frame was weak.” Carter went on to say that next time, he will make his frame stronger by adding more cardboard and tape to it.
Tonight, we took part in a very exciting challenge. The children had to design and make a vehicle that can move the furthest whilst travelling down a ramp. We had some amazing team work, communication and leadership on show. Next week, we will be testing our vehicles on ramps with different types of surfaces to see which design worked best.
It was amazing to see everyone’s light shine!
This week, we set a very difficult challenge for the children. The challenge was to make a boat that could carry as many plastic cubes as possible by only using tin foil. Everyone had to design, plan and make their own designs. The winning design managed to carry an impressive 159 cubes before sinking!
The whole STEM Club were shining their light throughout.
What a great club we had today! We started off by discussing what a bridge was and how it works. We then separated into groups of 2s and 3s to start planning and designing our own bridges. The challenge was to build a bridge that can withstand as much weight as possible without collapsing.
Everyone worked extremely hard and came up with some brilliant ideas. I couldn’t believe how brightly everyone shone.
This evening, we had a very special guest called Mike from the RAF STEM Team who came in to teach us all about rockets and how to make them fire. We learnt all about how rockets work, their flight path, the aerodynamics of rockets and how angles play a massive role in how far you want it to go!
After making our own and experimenting with length and width of our rockets we then tested them on the pressurised launch device that Mike had brought in. This involved setting how much pressure (air) we wanted inside our rockets which was acting as fuel and then tilting the rocket to the angle we wanted. We tested the rockets with lots of different angles and pressure to see which combination was the best.
Everyone had lots of fun while learning, it was amazing to see lots of enthusiastic rocket scientists in the making.
Tonight at STEM we finished off our experiment from last week. We found out that the tin foil was the overall best materials and the paper ball was the least successful one. This generated lots of conversation and debate when we sat down as a group and shared our findings.
It was amazing to see everyone’s light shine.
Tonight at our very first STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Club we focused on an experiment where we had to find which materials made the best cannon ball. We tested this through a range of challenges which included height and distance. We discussed how to make the experiment a fair one, this included starting at the same starting point and applying the same pressure when firing. We had a lot of fun exploring and discussing what we were finding. We recorded our findings and then we analysed our results to work out which cannon ball was the best, using the evidence we had gathered.
Next week we will be focusing on strength and accuracy when we carry out our final tests. It was amazing to see everyone shining their light throughout.
Tonight at club, we started off with a fun warm up game called mirror tag. The purpose of this warm up is to get our bodies moving and the blood flowing. For the main section of the club, we focused on our short sprints as well as sprinting with a ball (close ball control). We discussed the importance of sprinting with the ball in a match situation and why we needed to practice this. One pupil said, “It’s so we can get past the defenders when attacking.”
It was great to see the children understanding why we were doing this activity.
It was amazing to see everyone’s light shining!