STEM Unit of Work Bottle Rockets and Balsa Bridges STEM EM Unit of - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

STEM Unit of Work

Bottle Rockets and Balsa Bridges

STEM EM Unit of Work rk

What we will cover today:

• Introduction
• Fitting a STEM unit into the curriculum
• The design challenges – rockets and bridges
• Assessment
• Key lessons

STEM UNIT IDEAS

• Representational challenge
• Design based challenge
• Problem solving
• Directed inquiry
• Tertiary or Industry links

Introduction

• Cohort
• 2 year 8 classes of 23 and 24 students
• A range of academic abilities from very strong to weak students
• Some students with learning difficulties
• Sustainability
• Plan to repeat these two STEM challenges each year
• Give STEM a life that is independent of the teachers working on it
• Year 7 Rube Goldberg machine
• Why STEM?
• Engagement
• Learning to build things – hands on, design process, working as a team
• Integrating subjects
• Lessons Learnt

5 E’s to stimlate unit design

Fitting a STEM unit into the curriculum

Term 3 Rocket Bridge Build

Build Test

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3

Design

Week 4 Week 5 Week 6

Build Test Design

Week 7 Week 8 Week 9

Rocket

• Build a rocket that will fly for the longest flight time when

fired from the AquaPod Bottle Launcher

• Use a standard soft drink bottle
• Use any materials to improve rocket’s flight time
• Points based on flight time

Rocket

Rules

• Must use a standard soft drink bottle
• The only propulsion source is the compressed air in the Aquapod
• Any materials can be added to the outside of the bottle
• Any quantity of water can be put in the bottle before launch
• The air pressure is limited by the pressure limiting valve built into the AquaPod
• Two attempts are allowed. The longest flight time of the two attempts counts

Points

• 100 points per second of flight time. Flight time is from launch to when the bottle

lands on the ground.

Rocket

Design Variables

• Size of the bottle (1.25 or 2 litre)
• Volume of water used
• Design of the rocket – fins, nose cone, colour etc.

Not Variable

• Launch pad
• 1.25 litre or 2 litre drink bottle
• Propulsion method (compressed air/water)
• Propulsion liquid (water)
• Launch pressure (limited by pressure valve on the Aquapod)

Materials Supplied by school – all other materials supplied by students

• A4 paper
• Glue gun
• Masking tape

Cheap and accessible “Dries” fast, not too expensive but can burn

Testing the Aquapod prior to commencing the STEM unit

Bridge Build

• Build a bridge to span an 800mm gap and support a weight in the middle
• Materials are limited
• Tools are limited
• Points awarded for the maximum weight supported before failure.
• Points deducted for the weight of the bridge, so a lighter bridge will score better

Bridge Build

Materials

• 6 lengths of 5mm x 5mm balsa
• 2 lengths of 50mm x 1.5m balsa
• 1 sheet of A4 paper
• 20 ice cream sticks
• 20 coffee stirrers
• 10 off x 1m x 36mm masking tape
• Thumb tacks – unlimited
• Paper clips - unlimited
• Note that there is no glue allowed

Tools

• Ruler, coping saw, pencil and scissors

Bridge Build

Rules

• The bridge must sit between two tables that are 800mm apart
• The bridge can only be supported by the tables
• The bridge may not be attached to the tables in any way
• The load weight will be placed equidistant from each table using a webbing strap

from which weights are suspended. The team adds weights until the bridge breaks

• Only team members or a teacher can touch or be near the bridge when it is being

tested

Points

• 1 point per gram of weight supported by the bridge
• Minus 4 points per gram of weight of the bridge

Bridge Build

Design Variables

• Bridge design

Not Variable

• Materials used
• Bridge span
• Testing method

Winners

• Points are added up for the two challenges for each

team

• Winning team has the most points (across both year 8

classes)

• Winning class has most points across all their teams
• All teams, even those who score the lowest points are

contributing to their class’s total score

• Present prizes to winning teams and classes. Perhaps a

perpetual trophy!

Assessment

• Assessment is in the form of a short assignment for each of the three

challenges.

• Assignment headings (scaffold)
• Description of the Challenge
• Our Design Brief
• Investigation and idea generation
• Design (forces and properties of materials)
• Building
• Building process
• Modifications to the design
• Evaluation
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Improvements
• Energy in this challenge
• Important that this is carried out DURING the project, not afterward

Year 8 Science – STEM Challenge – Bottle Rocket – Assessment Rubric

Name: _____________________________________ Partner:___________________________________ Date: ____________

Criteria Score 1. Description Was the challenge of building a water rocket described briefly 2 1 2. Controlled Variables Lists all relevant variables that were controlled in the design 2 1 3. Variables in your design Students list relevant variables that were investigated and state why they chose to use or not use them in their design 4 3 2 1 4. Apparatus List all items used to make the rocket and sketch a labelled diagram of their rocket 4 3 2 1 5. Method Students describe the method in dot points - how they made the rocket and conducted their investigation. 4 3 2 1 6. Observations Students record observations and results such as time for bottle to hit earth in seconds and how their rocket flew 2 1 7. Effort in class and how students worked with students in their group 4 3 2 1 8. Energy changes and Forces of Rockets Students describe the different energy changes and forces of rockets 4 3 2 1 9. Evaluation – discuss the following Strengths What worked well with your rocket? Weaknesses What did not work well or caused problems? 4 3 2 1

• 10. Conclusion

Students comment on how successful their rocket was. They describe difficulties encountered in the investigation and explain possibilities for improving their design or extending their activity. 4 3 2 1

• 11. Bibliography

2 1 Total: / 36 mks = %

Year 8 Science – STEM Challenge – Bridge – Assessment Rubric

Name: _____________________________________ Partner:___________________________________ Date: ____________

Criteria Score 1. Description Was the challenge of building a bridge described briefly 2 1 2. Design Brief Lists all design constraints such as rules and materials 2 1 3. Design process and features Students list the design features used in their bridge and the reason these design elements were used. 4 3 2 1 4. Materials List all items used to make the bridge and sketch a labelled diagram of their bridge 4 3 2 1 5. Method Students describe the method in dot points - how they made the bridge and refined their design. 4 3 2 1 6. Observations Students record observations and results such as weight the bridge supported, how much it weighed and the mode of failure 2 1 7. Effort in class and how students worked with students in their group 4 3 2 1 8. Forces in the bridge Students describe the forces acting on and in the bridge 4 3 2 1 9. Evaluation – discuss the following Strengths What worked well with your bridge? Weaknesses What did not work well or caused problems? 4 3 2 1

• 10. Conclusion

Students comment on how successful their bridge was. They describe difficulties encountered in the design/build and explain possibilities for improving their design or extending their activity. 4 3 2 1

• 11. Bibliography

2 1 Total: / 36 mks = %

5 E’s

• Competition
• Hands on
• Internet

research

• Discussion with

team mates

• Forces and

energy in rockets and bridges

• Real world

examples solidify understanding

• Design evaluation during

the building process

• Assessment

Lessons Learnt

• Rules
• be careful how you set the rules
• be careful how you respond to questions about the rules
• Liaise with other teachers to make sure rules and interpretations are consistent
• Scaffold
• Think about how you will scaffold – videos, real world examples, web sites, pre-built models
• Think about how you will help during the building process
• Compromise – giving ideas versus limiting thinking
• It will take longer than you think
• Don’t try to fit too much in (we cut back from 3 challenges)
• It WILL cut into time to deliver the core curriculum – deliver core curriculum fast and incorporate core into STEM project
• Clear timeframe and constraints for the students
• Give students clear limitations on the time they have to complete this
• Be clear on materials supplied, materials students can supply and tools available.
• Clear rules
• Get the assessment piece started early
• Consider allocating time during the building lessons to writing their assessment piece

Appendix - Rocket

• Rocket building videos
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWecRjBy67s
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2dzjhzb3mA
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83KA3ZgOi18
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iSo8u7WFFk
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X8abVd8GRM
• Dark Shadow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r9gmLfpFTg
• How much water?
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_1392

606207&feature=iv&src_vid=89TR-SpS2LA&v=DrPt-AktIMs

Appendix - Bridge Videos

• Basic bridge building video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJpHS6-iUrs

• Beam/Truss/Suspension:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVOnRPefcno&index=1&list=PLR nZTaGtkHr3G_rVN041M6MUF15QKTihR

• Buckminster Fuller’s story about the evolution of bridges:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NE2VchWrtLM&index=8&list=PL RnZTaGtkHr3G_rVN041M6MUF15QKTihR

• Bridge types and forces:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYRYtTMcYZM