NATURAL AND PROCESSED MATERIALS

Stage 1 are studying materials this term.  We will be discovering how to describe materials in terms of the properties they have, why certain materials are suited to certain uses and how we can change materials and their properties.  

Characteristics of Materials

Check out this online activity from BBC Bitesize Science on the properties of materials.

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The 3 little pigs and their houses (Or the little astronaut and her house)!

Students applied their understanding of materials and their properties to designing and building a house for a Lego astronaut using either straws, sticks (paddlepop sticks) or (Lego) bricks. The house had to be waterproof, windproof (stable) and safe from the big bad alien insect (wolf). There was a lot of fun to be had but also so much learning about the process of being an engineer. To their surprise their initial predictions about the Brick house being the best wasn't always supported by the evidence. The strongest lesson learnt was about the value of iteration - needing to repeat the process multiple times - all groups knew they would be better at building given another opportunity. 

Changing Materials - Play Doh!!

We investigated how the properties of materials could be changed by mixing them with water. Who knew making Play Doh could be so easy and so instructive!