A World in Motion Engineering Inspired by Nature Challenge Part of the AWIM Primary School Series

A World In Motion Engineering Inspired By Nature Challenge Part of the AWIM Primary School Series

Engineering Inspired By Nature Design Challenge

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction Acknowledgements...... 3 A need for STEM Education...... 5 SAE International Pre-Professional Programs...... 6 Philosphy & Approach...... 6 The Scope of AWIM...... 9 The Engineering Design Experience...... 13 The STEM/Industry Volunteer...... 15 Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core...... 16

Engineering Inspired By Nature Design Challenge INTRODUCTION TO A WORLD IN MOTION...... 19 BEFORE YOU TEACH ENGINEERING INSPIRED BY NATURE...... 29 ENGINEERING INSPIRED BY NATURE SCIENCE NOTES...... 33 ENGINEERING INSPIRED BY NATURE ACTIVITIES...... 37 1 · SEED TRAVELERS...... 39 2 · SPINNING SEEDS...... 51 3 · TESTING HELICOPTERS...... 59 4 · TESTING ROTOR LENGTH...... 67 5 · FLOATING SEEDS...... 79 6 · PARACHUTE WEIGHT...... 89 7 · PARACHUTE SURFACE AREA...... 95 8 · BUILD THE BEST FLYER...... 103 9 · DROP TIME RACING...... 109

Acknowledgements

This program is a product of SAE International and supported by contributions to the SAE Foundation, Warrendale, Pennsylvania. David Schutt, Chief Executive Officer Mathew Miller, Director, SAE Foundation & Pre-Professional Programs Christopher Ciuca, A World In Motion Program Manager Julie MacIntyre, A World In Motion Program Developer

Written and Developed in Cooperation with Education Development Center, Inc.* Kristen Bjork, Senior Project Director Lorena Martinez-Diaz, Curriculum and Instructional Design Associate II Bernie Zubrowski, Senior Research Scientist Karen Worth, Senior Research Scientist Abigail Jurist Levy, Senior Research Scientist Lisa Marco, Research Assistant II Ilene Kantrov, Pathways to College and Careers Director Rebecca Lewis, Science Content Specialist Nahia Kassas, Senior Administrative Assistant Maria D’Souza, Pathways to College and Careers Financial Manager Christopher Ciuca, A World In Motion Program Manager Julie MacIntyre, A World In Motion Program Developer

Layout, Design, and Illustrations Jason Tranchida, LLAMAproduct, Graphic Design Patricia Konarski, Copyeditor Jeanine Reed, Artist

Advisors, Consultants, and Reviewers Matthew Miller, Christopher Ciuca, Julie MacIntyre, Kenneth Francis We would like to thank the following schools and classroom teachers for their participation in the pilot and field testing of Engineering Inspired by Nature:

Schools Advanced Technology Academy, Dearborn, MI; Benjamin Banneker Charter School, Cambridge, MA; Chestnut Street Elementary School, Kane, PA; Joyce Elementary School, Detroit, MI; Logan Elementary School, Detroit, MI; St. Francis of Assisi School, Medford, MA

3 Classroom Teachers Debra Benyi, Suzannah Bukenya, Deirdre Coffey, Emily Driessen, Christine Goss, Katie Julian, Cindy Lilley, Tracy Pierson, Lauren Skop, Rachel Vela, Ellen Whitehead

Teacher Coordinators Marlene Graban, Lin Tucker, and Nadia Vespa

Teacher Advisors Gary Bechtold, James Otis School, East Boston, MA; Liberta Croce, St. Francis of Assisi School, Medford, MA; Jennifer MacDonald, Plympton Elementary School, Waltham, MA; Elizabeth Merrill, Willard School, Concord, MA; Marlene Tildsley, St. Francis of Assisi School, Medford, MA; Carol Walker, Winship School, Brighton, MA

*Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC), is a global nonprofit organization that develops, delivers, and evaluates innovative programs designed to address challenges in education, health, and economic development.

Development and distribution for the A World In Motion® Engineering Inspired by Nature has been made possible, in part, through a generous grant from Nissan North America, Inc.

4 A Need for STEM Education

For many years the U.S. has been a leader in the science and technology fields. In recent years, studies suggest that student preparedness in science and technology and the methods/rate in which our country is educating our youth in these fields is not keeping up with other developed areas of the world. Here are some of the alarming statistics: • 65% of 8th-graders scored below proficient in science, 32% scored at or above proficient, and 3% scored at or above advanced proficiency.1 • 1% of high school seniors scored at the advanced proficiency level in science.1 • In the U.S., 5% of Bachelor’s degrees awarded are in engineering versus 20% in Asia.2 • 1 out of every 2 engineering doctoral degrees awarded by U.S. engineering colleges goes to a foreign national.3 • ⅓ % of U.S. students intending to major in engineering switch majors before graduating4 • Natural sciences and engineering fields account for a much larger proportion of all bachelor’s degrees in China than in the United States. In 2010, these fields accounted for 44% of all bachelor’s degrees in China, compared with 16% of all bachelor’s degrees in the United States.5

______1. National Assessment of Education Progress, 2009 2. NSF: Science and Engineering Indicators, 2010 3. AIA: Industry’s Response to the Workforce Challenge, 2008 4. Rising Above the Gathering Storm: Energizing & Employing America for a Brighter Economic Future, 2007 5. Science and Engineering Indicators Digest, 2014 5 SAE International Pre-Professional Programs

PHILOSOPHY & APPROACH SAE International is a global association committed to being the ultimate knowledge source for the engineering profession. By uniting over 138,000 engineers and technical experts, we drive knowledge and expertise across a broad spectrum of industries. We act on two priorities: encouraging a lifetime of learning for mobility engineering professionals and setting the standards for industry engineering. In order to build a solid foundation for a well-prepared science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) literate workforce, SAE has developed programs to engage students at the pre-professional education level. We are the only society of our kind to offer a full continuum on STEM engagement opportunities for students in kindergarten through graduate-level education. Our educational programs are designed to provide the Total STEM Solution for student engagement, participation and achievement in STEM (K-16). We offer this solution through an early focus on scientific literacy at the young age of five years old. In 2011, the National Research Council (NRC) released a report entitled: Successful K-12 STEM Education: Identifying Effective Approaches in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. The report recognizes the important foundation laid in elementary school and sets out three goals for US education. These goals consist of: • Expanding the number of students who ultimately pursue advanced degrees and careers in STEM fields, and broadening the participation of women and minorities, • Expanding the STEM-capable workforce and broadening the participation of women and minorities, and • Increasing science literacy for all students SAE has the longitudinally research-based programs to achieve these goals and build the STEM workforce of the future, and even more notably, we have the tools to build the STEM-literate society of the future. Research shows that by the time students enter the fourth grade, one-third of all students have lost an interest in science. By eighth grade, almost 50% percent have lost interest or deemed science irrelevant to their education or future plans. SAE has the tools to correct these dreadful statistics and build the scientifically literate society of the future. SAE International STEM programing is designed to provide resources to move students through the STEM pipeline with a mission of ultimately engaging students in STEM careers. The following diagram overlays SAE’s educational programing (including AWIM) with an intent to engage and build a foundation for future STEM learning.

6 Train & Re-train Recruite & Hire Educate & Assist Attract Excite

Professional Development

SAE Career Fairs

Collegiate Design Series

F1 in Schools Programs, Products, & Services Products, Programs, A World In Motion

Elementary Middle High Under- Graduate Industry & School School School graduate School Government Employment

Education Levels

A World In Motion Our programing starts with the A World In Motion (AWIM) program (K-8). Supporting the educational process outlined in the NRC’s 2012 release of the A Framework for K-12 Science Education; Practices, Cross- Cutting Concepts and Core Ideas, SAE’s AWIM is designed to offer age-appropriate design challenges built around the AWIM Engineering Design Experience. This process provides the structure needed to deliver teacher-led (STEM volunteer assisted) instruction for all students. The AWIM program is designed to engage all students in the traditional classroom setting and is built through alignments to Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards. This design does not require classroom teachers to “do more” in the classroom. It provides the structure they desperately need to deliver high-quality STEM instruction that separates itself from one-off type “classroom experiments” that might be engaging, but do little for long-term learning and engagement. This highly structured teacher-lead experience prepares students for the next step in their educational experience through SAE International’s pre-professional programing.

7 F1 in Schools The F1 in Schools program (9-12) engages students in a teacher-facilitated program that is designed for students to take ownership of the educational experience. When a student enters high school, they likely have already committed to positioning themselves towards acquiring the skills necessary for a career of choice. Many high school based programs are designed to engage students through opt-in STEM experiences. The high school setting is simply too late to “attract” students to STEM careers. Waiting until this point in a student’s educational career is not sufficient. Programs, like AWIM, must exist to build this structure from a very young age. The F1 in Schools program is SAE’s solution to offering a teacher-facilitated, highly-engaging student experience at the high school level. F1 in Schools provides a structure that builds on the AWIM Engineering Design Experience to allow students to “Build the F1 Racer of the Future” through the use of computer aided design and manufacturing. However, this student-led design and manufacturing experience is only part of the experience. Just like AWIM, and the educational structure outlined in the NRC’s Framework for K-12 Science Education, F1 in Schools also requires students to engage in the entire science and engineering process. Students build business plans, develop real budgets, design and manufacture prototypes, analyze and market/present their designs to a panel of judges where they must defend their design choices. This process prepares students for the ultimate educational design experience at the university/graduate school level.

Collegiate Design Series The SAE Collegiate Design Series (CDS) is built to provide world class student-led, hands-on learning experiences for undergraduate and graduate students to develop and train the next generation of mobility engineers. The diverse menu of competitions includes Aero Design, Clean Snowmobile Challenge, Formula SAE, Formula Electric, Baja SAE, and Supermileage. All competitions within CDS prepare undergraduate and graduate engineering students in a variety of disciplines for future employment in mobility-related industries by challenging them with a hands-on, team engineering experience which also requires budgeting, communication, project management and resource management skills (the top skills most valued by today’s innovative organizations). SAE’s CDS program participation is embraced by the Top 100 Engineering Degree Producing Colleges/Universities as reported in The American Society of Engineering Education’s (ASEE) Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Technology Colleges. Presently 100% of the Top 50 participates in one or more of SAE’s CDS Programs. SAE International’s Total STEM Solution is building the next generation of science and technology professionals and a strong scientifically literate society in which that future STEM workforce exists. We realize that we need many diverse professionals for a strong society as a whole; however, all members of our society must be scientifically literate. For long term success of our communities, we must focus on starting to develop our science and technology workforce at an early age and continue to build through a scientifically literate community.

8 THE SCOPE OF AWIM To succeed in the society of tomorrow, all children need STEM education that prepares them to understand and apply concepts in science, mathematics, and technology. In addition to becoming literate in these disciplines, students must also learn to solve complex problems, to communicate clearly, to raise and resolve questions, to assimilate information, and to work cooperatively towards common goals. Today’s educators can no longer succeed by presenting students with scientific information and teaching them rote processes. To help them acquire a deep understanding of scientific, mathematical, and technological phenomena, teachers must provide students with abundant opportunities for direct, hands-on experience with materials and tools. This experience helps students become competent and feel confident in their abilities to explore, conjecture, and reason logically. They are able to gather and manipulate pertinent information in order to learn about the world around them. These abilities are nourished and nurtured when school activities grow out of real-life problem situations, and they are further stimulated and developed through the interactive, cooperative processes of discussing, reading, and writing about direct experiences. SAE has developed the A World In Motion Series as an opportunity for students and teachers to explore science, mathematics, and technology in an engineering design context.

Collegiate A World In Motion F1 in Schools Design Series

Primary Elementry Middle School Series Series Series

Rolling Gravity Skimmer Things Cruiser

Pinball JetToy Glider Designers

Engineering Gravity Motorized Inspired By Cruiser Toy Car Nature

Straw Fuel Cell Rockets

9 Primary Series At the primary level, the student experience should be focused on building a foundation for STEM learning, and creating excitement about science. The experience should include: ✓✓ Guided Opportunities to Question Ideas & Define Problems ✓✓ Literature to Facilitate Questioning of Concepts & Ideas ✓✓ Play & Guided Experimentation for Investigation ✓✓ Building Physical Models ✓✓ Manipulating Variables ✓✓ Collecting, Recording & Analyzing Data ✓✓ Building Tables & Graphs ✓✓ Making Predictions ✓✓ Designing Solutions ✓✓ Pair-Share & Group Discussions ✓✓ Communicating Ideas ✓✓ Turn & Talk Strategies (Partner Interaction) ✓✓ Sharing & Interpreting (Whole Group) ✓✓ Presenting a Solution All of the primary challenges include a literacy component that provides an age-appropriate story with real-world science concepts. Below is a brief description of each of the primary challenges:

Students will explore the story The Three Little Pigs Sledding Adventure while they study toy cars and car performance. Launching the cars from ramps, the students investigate the e ects that di erent ramp heights and car weights have on distance traveled, measuring and recording data gathered through variable testing.

After reading Malarkey and the Big Trap, students design a homemade pinball game and explore the behavior of the di erent components (the pinball, ball traps and bumpers). Students test the launch ramp to explore how launch position a ects the behavior of the pinball and then learn how to optimize their games to make them more challenging and interesting.

Students investigate methods in which seeds are dispersed in nature through the story Once Upon a Time in the Woods. The story leads the students to further explore how seeds are dispersed by the wind. Using the designs found in nature, the students develop paper helicopters and parachutes, then perform variable testing to improve their performance.

Students explore the early life of Dr. Robert Goddard while reading the biography, The Rocket Age Takes O . After investigating Goddard’s early trials and tribulations in creating the ﬁ rst liquid fueled rocket engine, students begin to uncover the work necessary to optimize a design with the goal of creating a straw rocket that ﬂ ies the farthest and highest.

More information on the Primary Series can be found at http://www.awim.org/curriculum/primary/. 10 Elementary Series Having the knowledge that there is a steep decline in student interest for science in the upper elementary grades, AWIM has created a set of challenges designed to not only excite students in science, but to also continue building a foundation of science concepts (as introduced in the Primary Series). The challenges in the AWIM Elementary Series shift the student learning experience away from the children’s literature focus at the primary level to incorporate a more structured research focus. Students explore the EDE while engaged in formal variable testing, data gathering, and decision making based on analysis. The experience should include: ✓✓ Guided Opportunities to Question Ideas & Define Problems ✓✓ Use of all STEM subjects (and beyond) to Solve Design Questions ✓✓ Play & Guided Experimentation for Investigation ✓✓ Building Physical Models ✓✓ Manipulating Variables ✓✓ Collecting, Recording, & Analyzing Data ✓✓ Building Tables & Graphs ✓✓ Making Predictions ✓✓ Designing Solutions ✓✓ Engineering Design Team – Teamwork ✓✓ Communicating Ideas ✓✓ Presenting a Solution The Elementary Series begins with the Skimmer Challenge, where students construct paper sailboats and test the effect of different sail shapes, sizes, and construction methods to meet specific performance criteria. Friction, forces, and the effect of surface area are some of the concepts students encounter in this challenge. The series continues with the JetToy Challenge, where the challenge becomes a little bit more complicated. Students make balloon-powered toy cars that meet specific performance criteria (e.g. travels far, carries weight, or goes fast). Jet propulsion, friction, air resistance and design are the core scientific concepts students explore in this challenge. The Elementary Series wraps up with the Gravity Cruiser Challenge (which is designed to be used at the Upper Elementary or Middle School level), bridging the elementary level challenges with the middle school challenges. Here, student teams design and construct a vehicle that is powered by gravity. A weighted lever connected to an axle by string rotates on its fulcrum; as the weight descends it causes the axle attached to the string to rotate, propelling the cruiser forward. Concepts explored include potential and kinetic energy, friction, inertia, momentum, diameter, circumference, measurement, graphing, and constructing a prototype. The main concepts covered throughout all of these challenges align with the Next Generation Science Standards, as well as the Common Core Mathematics and ELA Standards. There are extension ideas provided within the lessons themselves for those students and classes looking to enrich the experience beyond the scope of the detailed curriculum in these manuals. More information on the Elementary Series can be found at http://www.awim.org/curriculum/ e l e m e n t a r y/.

11 Middle School Series AWIM Middle School Challenges focus on student STEM learning at the traditional seventh and eighth grade levels. The middle school level of AWIM builds on the research and analysis skills in previous levels and expands to include market research and data gathering beyond controlled scientific testing. Students research market preferences through a survey-based approach and move beyond designing independent solutions based solely on performance criteria. This shift allows students to investigate the added level of design decisions to meet market and customer needs. The student experience should include: ✓✓ Guided Opportunities to Question Ideas & Define Problems ✓✓ Use of All STEM Subjects to Solve Design Questions ✓✓ Social Studies – Consumer/Market Research & Targeting Customers ✓✓ Language Arts – Preparing Written Proposals, Oral Presentations, & Planning Manuscript Content ✓✓ Guided Experimentation for Investigation ✓✓ Building Physical Models ✓✓ Manipulating Variables ✓✓ Collecting, Recording, & Analyzing Data ✓✓ Building Tables & Graphs ✓✓ Making Predictions ✓✓ Designing Solutions ✓✓ Engineering Design Team – Teamwork ✓✓ Communicating Ideas ✓✓ Presenting a Solution In the Gravity Cruiser Challenge, students focus on understanding the relationships between the “sweep” of the lever arm, the number of winds the string makes around the axle, and the distance the gravity cruiser travels. They also investigate how the diameter of the wheels, the diameter of the axles, and the amount of weight placed on the lever affect the gravity cruiser’s speed and distance. The Motorized Toy Car Challenge asks students to develop new designs for electric gear-driven toys. To meet a specific set of design requirements, students must write proposals, draw sketches, and work with models to develop a plan. Force and friction, simple machines, levers and gears, torque, and design are core concepts covered. In the Glider Challenge, students explore the relationship between force and motion and the effects of weight and lift on a glider. The glider activity culminates in a book-signing event where each design team presents its prototype and the class presents its manuscript of glider designs. Students learn the importance of understanding consumer demands and the relationships between data analysis and variable manipulations. The final installment in the Middle School Series is the Fuel Cell Challenge. Here, student teams design a toy car that uses a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell to power the electric motor. Elements of electrical currents, “green” design, and transformations of energy are explored as the teams develop their product. More information on the Middle School Series can be found at http://www.awim.org/curriculum/ middleschool/.

12 THE ENGINEERING DESIGN EXPERIENCE A unique feature of the AWIM program is the use of a problem-solving process employed by engineers in design teams and taught at many engineering schools across the country. The “Engineering Design Experience” (EDE) provides a problem-solving context in which students design a product or devise a solution to a problem. Teams of students examine what must be accomplished: determine who the product is for; gather and synthesize information; design, develop, and test a prototype design; and prepare a presentation of their design ideas. The Engineering Design Experience consists of five phases:

Students are introduced to a project scenario. They review a toy company’s letter, discuss what is requested of them, and share ideas on how to go about Set Goals solving the problem. Students begin to work in teams and start recording work in design logs.

Students first build a model and figure out how it works. In the next several activities teams vary factors on the model, record observations, and discuss Build Knowledge results. They move from simple explorations to controlled experiments and performance predictions based on graphs or tables of results.

Student teams design their own toy to meet the requirements stated in the toy company’s letter. They determine the values of variables, create a plan for Design construction, and predict performance based on knowledge from previous activities.

Student teams build and test their design to see how well it meets the Build and Test performance criteria.

Present Student teams give presentations of their work to an audience.

Students complete the EDE for each design challenge; all are aligned to specific age/grade-appropriate math and science standards. The integration of all of the STEM subjects as well as subjects outside of STEM allows the AWIM curriculum to easily “fit” in a teacher’s already full teaching schedule. This structure is important because it facilitates teachers bringing a real-life inquiry-based approach into the classroom setting. AWIM can be integrated into any classroom or teaching setting. Although histori- cally, AWIM activities have taken place primarily during science or math time in the daily schedule, teachers working in school systems where the curriculum does not exist in silos enjoy the benefits of bringing in teachers from other disciplines as part of the AWIM experience. The Engineering Design Experience embodies principles of design technology; it provides meaningful, motivating context by providing an exploratory approach to science and technology education, the development of skills in scientific inquiry, and an understanding of forces and motion. These principles are used by engineers and others who design new products and systems. In schools, “using technology” often refers to integrating computers into the curriculum. The idea of “design technology”

13 is much broader than this; it involves developing models, evaluating materials, and thinking critically to design solutions to a problem. It requires that problems are identified, ideas are evaluated, solutions are implemented and evaluated, and results are communicated. Like design engineers and technologists, students design prototypes, test and modify designs in response to constraints and side effects, and communicate their design ideas and plans both orally and in writing. By participating in the Engineering Design Experience, students learn firsthand the following aspects of design technology: • Development of a prototype helps determine the effectiveness of a design. • Optimization of a design involves adjusting interdependent variables in order to achieve a desired outcome. • A variety of problem-solving strategies can be used, depending on the problem posed. Within the structure of the EDE, all AWIM Challenges are designed to take students through a procedure where they actively engage (independently and within groups) through the process skills associated with Critical Thinking, Project Management, Communication, Inquiry & Analysis, and Teamwork & Collaboration. The design of AWIM addresses many process standards as students delve into learning experiences aligned to age-appropriate content standards. The table below shows the different components of all AWIM challenges.

Components Common in All AWIM Challenges (K-8) Critical Project Teamwork & Thinking Management Communication Inquiry & Analysis Collaboration ✓✓assess a new ✓✓define goals ✓✓design a team ✓✓conduct formal ✓✓participate as a situation & establish name, logo, & testing member of a ✓✓formulate objectives slogan ✓✓measure & record team questions for ✓✓maintain ✓✓develop & outcomes ✓✓practice coopera- scientific portfolios/ produce ✓✓make qualitative tion & analysis; design logs of drawings & & quantitative compromise to generate & work diagrams observations reach group evaluate ✓✓identify & set ✓✓prepare written consensus ideas ✓✓establish relation- priorities & oral reports ships among ✓✓assign team ✓✓gather & ✓✓organize & ✓✓prepare presen- variables and member roles & interpret present data tation aids & make predictions responsibilities data ✓✓propose & materials ✓✓use the scientific ✓✓understand group ✓✓synthesize test solutions ✓✓deliver oral method of experi- dynamics information & presentations mentation, ✓✓evaluate team & make questioning, trial/ individual predictions variable testing performance ✓✓integrate and apply learning

14 THE STEM/INDUSTRY VOLUNTEER In addition to AWIM’s integrated design, the curriculum is unique in incorporating a STEM/industry volunteer into the classroom setting to assist the teacher. SAE International provides tools to link the classroom setting to industry and the requirements of the future STEM workforce. The design of the AWIM program allows students to become problem solvers and communicators through the aid of a professional who practices these skills daily in a STEM field. SAE is distinctive in that its membership base provides the support of education through the practical application of STEM concepts. STEM/ Industry Volunteers provide this connection for the students and serve as the content expert for the teachers (GRG, 2007). This model communicates the needs of the workforce directly to the students in schools. Volunteers provide a face for STEM careers. This facilitates the students seeing themselves as future scientists or engineers. Empirical research, covered later in the paper, has supported the success of this AWIM model. More information on being an AWIM volunteer can be found at http://www.awim.org/volunteers/.

15 NEXT GENERATION SCIENCE STANDARDS AND COMMON CORE With a national movement towards adaptation of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and the Common Core Mathematics and ELA Standards, the entire AWIM suite has been aligned to these new standards. With the NGSS focusing on four disciplinary core ideas (Physical Sciences; Life Sciences; Earth and Space Sciences; Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science), the majority of the AWIM series is aligned primarily with two of the core ideas. Below is the breakdown by series level:

16 The Next Generation Science Standards are based on the Framework for K-12 Science Education, developed by the National Research Council, and are arranged across disciplines and grades to provide all students an internationally benchmarked science education. More information on Next Generation Science Standards can be found at http://www.nextgenscience.org/print/121. The development of the Common Core State Standards was led by state governments with the intention of providing students across the country with consistent, real-world learning goals in preparation for college and beyond. More information on Common Core State Standards can be found at http://www. corestandards.org/. For an in-depth, comprehensive look at all of the AWIM projects and how they align to the NGSS and Common Core Standards, please visit our website. A detailed view of each challenge can be found at http://awim.sae.org/files/standards_document.pdf.

INTRODUCTION TO A WORLD IN MOTION Introduction

EDUCATING CHILDREN FOR TOMORROW’S WORLD To succeed in the society of tomorrow, all children need an education that prepares them to understand and apply concepts in science, engineering, mathematics, and technology. In addition to becoming literate in these disciplines, students must also learn to solve complex problems, to communicate clearly, to raise and resolve questions, to assimilate information, and to work cooperatively toward common goals. Today’s educators can no longer succeed by presenting students with information and teaching them rote processes. To help them acquire a deep understanding of scientific, mathematical, and engineering phenomena, teachers must provide students with abundant opportunities for direct, hands-on experience with materials and tools and thoughtful discussions about what they are doing. In this way, students become competent and feel confident in their abilities to explore, conjecture, and reason logically, and to gather and manipulate information to arrive at useful knowledge about the world around them. These abilities are nourished and nurtured when school activities grow out of real problems or situations, and they are further stimulated and developed through the interactive, cooperative processes of discussing, reading, and writing about direct experiences. SAE International (formerly the Society of Automotive Engineers) has developed A World in Motion® as an opportunity for students and teachers to explore science, engineering, mathematics, and technology by taking on challenges that begin to develop students’ understanding of basic concepts of physical science in an engineering design context.

19 INTRODUCTION TOA WORLD IN MOTION

OVERVIEW OF THE CURRICULUM A World in Motion for the primary grade levels consists of four challenges suitable for grades K-3. Each of these challenges can be taught over a one- to two-week period: • Rolling Things: Students explore how changing the ramp height and vehicle weight affect the momentum of toy cars. • Pinball Designer: Students build, test, and modify a non-elec- tronic pinball machine to create a toy that meets certain specifications. • Engineering Inspired by Nature: Students investigate seeds that are dispersed by the wind. They apply what they have learned to make paper helicopters and parachutes. They test different variables (length, width, weight, etc.) to see how these factors affect performance. • Straw Rockets: Students build, test, and modify rockets made from drinking straws. They test the rockets to see how far they can fly. The four challenges give young students many opportunities to explore a toy they have constructed and to develop an understanding of what it means to conduct a fair test. As students explore the hands-on materials, they debate and communicate their ideas, test their ideas, and draw their own conclusions based on the evidence they gather. In this way, their experience resembles the work of scientists and engineers. The science notes that accompany each challenge describe for the teacher concepts associated with the performance of the items students build and/or test.

THE ENGINEERING DESIGN EXPERIENCE It is worth noting that the A World in Motion Primary challenges do not have students experience all the phases of the Engineering Design Experience, as they primarily explore the Set Goals, Building Knowledge, Testing, and Presenting phases. Students in these grade levels are not expected to have the manual dexterity that older children have, nor the analytical skills necessary to complete a complex design challenge. However, students in grades Primary have the curiosity and skills to be able to explore existing toys, thus undertaking the Build Knowledge, Test, and Present phases of the Engineering Design Experience.

20 Introduction

CURRICULUM CONTENT, NATIONAL STANDARDS, AND LOCAL FRAMEWORKS Curriculum Content Although students explore and experience specific phases of the Engineering Design Experience, such as Building Knowledge and Presenting, the primary focus of the Primary challenges is scientific inquiry with an emphasis on fair testing, as these processes are central to the development of scientific skills and are highlighted in the National Research Council’s (NRC) National Science Education Standards (1996) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s (AAAS) Benchmarks for Science Literacy (1993).

National Standards The learning objectives of each challenge correlate strongly with national standards in science and technology education. The NRC’s National Science Education Standards, AAAS’s Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy, and the International Technology Education Association’s Standards for Technological Literacy were used to complete the correla- tions. Each document recommends that students have many opportunities to do the following: • Explore materials and ideas • Ask questions • Propose their own explanations • Test their explanations • Communicate their ideas A World in Motion embodies the above processes. The Engineering Design Experience provides a meaningful context for students to do scientific research in order to gain knowledge that they will need for developing a successful design. Student understanding of forces and motion develops from their interpretation of the observations they make as they develop and test their toys. In addition to building scientific knowledge, the students in the K−3 challenges experience real-world applications, and develop and enhance their communication, critical-thinking, and mathematical skills. Therefore, this curriculum also aligns with the Common Core State Standards and the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Principles and Standards for School Mathematics.

Local Curriculum Frameworks Teachers and administrators can easily correlate A World in Motion to district and state science curriculum frameworks. Strands most related to this curriculum include those in design and problem solving.

21 INTRODUCTION TOA WORLD IN MOTION

Many local curriculum frameworks include concepts and skills related to the science content of A World in Motion, such as forces and motion and the skills of scientific inquiry. Teachers also may supplement the challenges with additional activities that address these topics more deeply.

TEACHING THE CHALLENGES To facilitate student learning, use the information in this section to organize your classroom. You will find techniques and tips for integrating literacy, facilitating discussion, building student teams, creating science notebooks, and assessing student learning, as well as information for obtaining basic sets of construction materials.

Integrating Science and Literacy The challenges focus on all dimensions of literacy, including reading; speaking; and representing experiences and ideas through writing, drawing, diagrams, graphs, and charts. By reading about what they are doing; engaging in structured conversation with peers about their observations, plans, and conjectures; and keeping a journal or notebook of their actions and results, students are learning and practicing skills of both science and literacy. Books The books that accompany the challenges are used as springboards to the engineering activities and/or as tools for assessing student learning. They cover different genres, including fiction and nonfiction. The books that have been written specially for each challenge as well as high-quality children’s trade books that relate to the topic at hand provide motivating opportunities for children to read. Different genres, from science fiction and fantasy to biography to informational texts, can inspire children to see themselves in the roles of scientist and engineer, reveal to them the larger historical context of scientific advances, and serve as resources for their own scientific inquiry. Although the literature piece is not written in until lesson six, it can be used to introduce the activity and then be revisited in lesson 6. A list of recommended trade books that may be used with the challenges is available on the A World in Motion website. Discussions Talk is critical to conceptual learning. Just as children read to learn, they talk to learn. And at the same time, they are building vocabulary, developing ways to express themselves, learning to share and debate—all important literacy skills. Talk takes place as children work with their peers in small groups, and you should hear a steady hum of talk as children engage in the hands-on activities in these challenges. As you engage with small groups, be careful not to become the source of right answers or right ways of doing things.

22 Introduction

Avoid answering any of the students’ questions directly. There may be situations when you do not know the answers. Encourage them to learn from their peers or from their own experience or suggest that you and they can work together to find out. When they ask, “How do I do this?” ask them, “How could you figure this out for yourself?” or “Maybe Juan could help you.” They will then learn how to rely on themselves and one another. You may also want to encourage or challenge the groups with questions and comments such as: • “I wonder what would happen if…?” • “How did you do that?” • “Could you do it again?” • “Another group did it this way. I wonder if you could?” Students also learn a great deal in both literacy and science when they come together to talk about their work as a large group. They are practicing an important part of scientific inquiry and that is to compare and debate findings, new ideas, and conclusions just as scientists do. Frequent whole-class discussions help children see the relationship between specific activities and the challenge as a whole. They are also an important assessment tool. Many teachers shy away from these discussions because they and their students need to learn new skills and strategies to make the discussions successful. In some classrooms, such discussions may already take place in literacy and/or mathematics, and the skills of both teachers and children can be easily adapted to a science discussion. Following are some helpful tips for establishing and facilitating discussions in your classroom. Setting the Stage/Managing • Have students meet in a circle on the floor or some other configu- ration where they can all see each other’s faces rather than in audience style. They pay more attention to each other that way. • Have physical props—one set of materials—to help focus the discussion and support the students’ description of a phenomenon they have observed or a conclusion they have reached. If students struggle with communicating their ideas, offer them the materials to use at that time. • Develop an explicit set of norms and expectations for the discussions (e.g., Don’t talk when someone else is talking. Stay on focus. Listen to the speaker). The skills needed to follow these norms and expectations will need to be taught and practiced if students have never used them before. (Videotaping children’s discussions and sharing the result with them can help students develop their discussion skills.)

23 INTRODUCTION TOA WORLD IN MOTION

When to Hold Discussions • Hold numerous whole-group discussions, for example: • At the beginning to identify students’ prior knowledge • Near the beginning to discuss why they are doing what they are doing • In the middle when they have completed a task or are developing a new idea • At the end when final conclusions need to be drawn Facilitation Strategies • Start with a productive question or comment. • Use wait time (time between when a question is asked and when an answer is given and time after an answer is given). • Use strategies that allow students to rehearse what they might say: turn and talk or quick write. • Redirect student responses so that the talk is not always directed at you. • Intervene to keep the discussion: • Focused on the topic • Student-to-student • Shared among all the students Reminding Students of Work in Previous Activities Oftentimes, there is a lengthy period between activities. When this happens, you may need to remind students of their prior work. The following strategies may help jog students’ memories:

• Quickly recap what students did in their last AWIM activity. Then, toss a small, soft ball to a student and ask a review question. If the student answers the question correctly, he or she chooses who to throw the ball to next. If the student answers the question incorrectly, he or she throws the ball back to you, and you pick the next student. • Draw a tic-tac-toe grid on a piece of chart paper or a whiteboard. Split the class into two teams. Ask the first team a question about the last activity. If the team answers the question correctly, they fill in a space on the tic-tac-toe grid. Then ask the second team a question, and so on. • Break the content from the last activity into four or five important concepts that you want students to remember (these could be represented as either pictures or words). Make each concept into jigsaw puzzle, with five or six pieces per puzzle. (Paper plates work great for this!) Jumble the pieces in each puzzle, and give one puzzle to each team of students. When students have assembled their puzzles, they share what their puzzle reminded them of from the previous activity.

24 Introduction

Many of the discussion skills will need to be taught to students prior to undertaking the challenges. AWIM challenges assume students have the skills but do not include time or guidance for teaching them. Visual Representations Considered a 21st-century skill, interpreting and conveying ideas visually is a crucial aspect in the literacy development of students. It involves having students create and explain their ideas and experiences through different types of representations, including drawings, symbols, graphs, charts, pictures, and images. Throughout the challenges, students have ample opportunities to create drawings conveying their observations and graphs to help them draw conclusions based on data. Science Notebooks Role of Science Notebooks The science notebook is the student’s record of his or her work. It is chronological and includes writing, drawing, diagrams, charts, and graphs: whatever is needed to have a full record of their work. These include the following: • Investigations they undertake • Toys they explore • Tests they carry out • Results of those tests • Questions they ask themselves, other students, or the teacher • Their own ideas, discoveries, and reflections The Form of the Notebook The notebook is a chronological document of all of the student reproducible pages and a complete record of the student’s work. Therefore, it is important that the form and format support this. Some possible formats include: • Bound notebook with any separate pages glued or stapled in • Papers held together with brads so that students can add each new page • Clamp binder • Three-ring binder (but be careful it doesn’t open easily) Notebook Strategies If students have not had to keep science notebooks in the past, they will need guidance as to how to keep their notebooks. To aid students in keeping their notebooks, the following should be provided: • Models of what a notebook entry should look like • A checklist of important elements • Explicit instructions on various notebook strategies, such as observational drawing, graphing, bulleted lists, and diagrams • Reminders that students record regularly • Regular feedback to students on their use of notebooks 25 INTRODUCTION TOA WORLD IN MOTION

Authentic Use A notebook is a record of work for the student, not a project for the teacher. Students need to realize that it is part of their work and necessary to it. A number of instructional strategies facilitate this learning: • Ask students to use their notebooks to find evidence for the ideas they are discussing. • Encourage students to look back at previous tasks to help think about new ones. • Remind students to use their notebooks to gather evidence when they are getting ready to share a conclusion. • Facilitate looking at previous notebook entries by asking questions during class. • Refer to reflections and ideas students have written.

Student Teams Forming Teams Before teaching any of the challenges, plan how to divide the class into pairs of students. Avoid grouping students in teams of three or four, as young students often have trouble delineating roles in larger groups, leading to the exclusion of one or more students from the activity! Encourage girls to participate in the hands-on construction activities. Studies show that girls often stay in the role of notetaker, particularly in science activities. Watch to see that girls participate equally in the hands-on construction and testing activities. In some cases, same-sex team groupings may be appropriate to encourage equal participation and discussion. Discuss with students strategies for working together, especially if they are not accustomed to working in pairs. Young students often have trouble negotiating the sharing of the objects involved in the challenges. Emphasize to students that every student should have the opportunity to engage in the investigation equally. Managing Student Teams In addition to the suggestions given earlier, consider the following ideas when planning how to organize and manage the student pairs/ teams. • Design the teams so that each member brings something different. For example, try to balance energy levels, ability to get along with other students, and reliability in getting work completed. • Help students develop teamwork skills. Be prepared to rearrange teams as necessary. As you observe teams while they work, remind students that they need to share responsibilities. • Accent the positive by commending students whenever you see them demonstrating good teamwork skills.

26 Introduction

• Build in opportunities for teams to share what they have learned. Students can learn a lot from one another and begin to use each other as resources. • Visit each team as often as possible and make notes on your conversations. Having regular conversations about what students are doing and their questions and observations can be a rewarding exchange for both you and your students.

Student Assessment The exploratory nature of the challenges invites the use of a variety of assessment techniques. Assessment opportunities and strategies that you may want to adopt are suggested here: • As students are testing their toys, observe how they carry out their testing of the models. Daily monitoring can reveal how careful students are in taking measurements and how attentive they are in keeping good records. • Gauge students’ understanding through their participation in class discussions and the work of their team.

Implementation Ideas Refer to this section for ideas on materials and classroom management. Materials Management Students’ engagement and interest in building toys often tempt them to use materials liberally. Remind students about the limited amount of materials. Develop systems for tracking the inventory of materials, including organizing materials in containers, creating inventory checklists, and giving responsibility for materials to individual teams. Consider the following ideas when planning how to organize and manage the materials students will be using: • Plan ahead so that each team will have a place to work on its design and sufficient space to store the materials. • Give each team a shoe box or plastic tub to store materials. • Emphasize that materials are limited. Students need to plan carefully so that they do not waste supplies. • Set up a repair area in one corner of the classroom to save materials and provide students with an additional opportunity to develop and practice manipulative and problem-solving skills. Classroom Management Most of the classroom management issues in challenges like these typically center on student involvement, grouping issues, and organization. One of the biggest considerations is finding a place where students can safely test their toys. If there is insufficient space in the classroom, corridors outside classrooms, the cafeteria, and the gym are good testing areas when not being used by other students.

27 INTRODUCTION TOA WORLD IN MOTION

Always keep safety in mind when students are doing independent work. Consider the following ideas when planning how to organize and manage the classroom: • Include students in making rules for working on the challenge and working in teams. List expectations in the classroom and keep them visually accessible at all times. • Establish clear rules for testing outside the classroom to avoid disturbing other classes. • Provide ample room for testing—a hallway, cafeteria, or another large room is ideal. If practical, schedule testing during times when the space is not being used. • Facilitate students’ efforts and help them maintain focus on clearly stated expectations.

Obtaining Materials for the Challenges SAE International offers a classroom Materials Kit for each of the four challenges in A World in Motion for kindergarten to grade 3. Each classroom kit contains most of the materials needed for a classroom of 24 students. Additional materials are listed in the Before You Teach section of each challenge.

28 Before you teach Engineering Inspired By Nature

ENGINEERING INSPIRED BY NATURE MATERIALS SAE International offers three levels of kits: Basic, Complete Classroom and Deluxe Classroom for a class size of 24 students. Engineering Inspired By Nature

Kit Materials Basic Complete Deluxe Acorn Seeds 10 20 60 Teacher Tip: Cocklebur Seeds 10 20 60 If the seeds are not Dandelion Seeds 10 20 60 already dry, be sure to Silver Maple Seeds 10 20 60 store them in a dry Sugar Maple seeds 10 20 60 place to prevent them Magnifying Glasses 6 12 36 from molding. Place them (the dandelion Ball of String 1 2 6 seeds in particular) in Sticky Circle Dots 288 576 1728 brown paper bags Cardstock Paper (sheets) assorted colors 12 24 36 rather than plastic bags. However, dry Feathers (bags)assorted colors 1 2 6 seeds are fragile and Small Paper Clips Boxes 2 4 12 crumble easily, so you Pipe Cleaners Bags 1 2 6 may want to store them in a shoebox. For easy Dental Floss 1 2 6 access, label each Tissue Paper (sheets) assorted colors 24 48 144 paper bag or shoebox Pre-cut squares of tissue paper 24 48 144 with the seed type. 25 cm X 25 cm 30 cm X 30 cm 24 48 144 35 cm X 35 cm 24 48 144 Plastic Trash Bags 2 4 12 Thread (spools) assorted colors 1 2 6 Student Reader 1 2 6 Teacher Manual On CD 1 2 6

29 Before you teach Engineering Inspired By Nature

Additional Materials These additional materials are optional for the challenge: Teacher Tip: It is extremely • 1 bottle of white glue per student team (1.25 FL OZ) important to • 1 glue stick per student team make sure that the seeds included in this • 1 pair of scissors per student kit are not dispersed into the environment! • 1 electric fan They may not be native • Chart paper or whiteboard to the area and could cause potential harm to • Markers the ecosystem. • Poster paper • Glue gun and sticks • Science notebooks (see Introduction, page ix, for more information) Teacher Tip: These additional materials are optional for the challenge: You may need extra parachute canopies for • 1 set of literary genre posters (be sure myth is included among the students, as the canopies are fragile, posters) and students may rip them inadvertently.

ENGINEERING INSPIRED BY NATURE CALENDAR Most activities in Engineering Inspired by Nature are approximately 30–40 minutes long. Consider the calendar below as you plan to teach this challenge to your students.

Length Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday (Min)

Before Time as Familiarize yourself with the You Teach needed Teacher Guide and materials

10 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 10 Seed Travelers Spinning Testing Testing Rotor Floating Seeds Helicopters Length Seeds 10

10 1 10

10 6. 7. 8. 9. 10 Parachute Parachute Build the Best Drop Time Weight Surface Area Flyer Racing 10

10 2 10

31 Before you teach Engineering Inspired By Nature

PREPARING TO TEACH Student Groups In this challenge, students will work in both teams of four and in pairs. If your students are not familiar with working in teams, be sure to introduce teamwork prior to engaging in this challenge. Refer to the Introduction section (page x) for additional information. Teams of students are often easier to manage when each team member has a specific role. Examples of such roles include: • Recorder – Records information on the reproducible master • Materials manager – Tracks materials and packs them back up for storage at the end of the activity • Judge – Decides which toy hits the ground first • Facilitator – Ensures the procedure is being followed correctly It is important that students rotate their roles throughout the challenge. Because teams will only be creating one recording sheet, make sure that you can make copies of the recording sheet so that each team member can include a copy in his or her science notebook.

Experimentation Area Set Up Be sure to find an area large enough for students to explore their helicopters and parachutes. Although the toys are simply dropped for testing, students will need a testing area where they will not run into students from other teams.

Classroom Safety For this challenge, it is extremely important that students follow classroom safety rules that you set out, as they may be tempted to stand on chairs and desks to launch their helicopters and parachutes. When you introduce classroom safety to your students early in the school year, consider explaining the importance of not standing on desks and chairs. It is important you teach and reinforce these rules throughout the year. Having this already in place will make teaching the challenge easier, and students will be less likely to want to stand on classroom furniture when the time comes. Also, it is important to stress the proper use of tools, such as scissors and paperclips.

Adult Volunteers In this challenge, student teams will work together to experiment with paper helicopters and parachutes in this challenge. Be prepared to spend at least a few minutes with each team as they investigate. During the times they are investigating, it will be helpful to arrange for another adult (a parent or an AWIM volunteer) to be in the room with you so you can spend more time working with student teams individually.

32 Engineering Inspired By Nature Science Notes

WHAT DO STUDENTS EXPLORE IN THIS Note CHALLENGE? These science notes are resources for you. The information here is In this challenge, students explore two methods of seed dispersal that not meant to be taught directly to will inspire them to build flying toys. They first investigate the idea of the students. seed dispersal and why plants might “need” to have their seeds travel away from them. They then focus on two methods of dispersal: helicopter seeds (such as maples) and parachute seeds (such as dandelions). They create approximations of those seeds with common materials and test how variables such as rotor size (in helicopters) and canopy size (in parachutes) affect the time it takes for the object to fall.

Why Do Seeds Disperse? All about Seeds Plants don’t move on their own. Therefore, it is important that their seeds be able to travel away from the parent plants so that they don’t grow in just one area. If all the seeds a plant produced fell straight to the ground, they wouldn’t have enough room to grow. Furthermore, an established plant might compete with the growing seeds, shading them from sunlight and sucking up water and vital nutrients. Clearly, seeds need to move away from the parent plant. Scientists call this moving away seed dispersal. Seeds are dispersed in a variety of ways, including being ingested by animals, becoming attached to animal fur, and floating on water or air.

33 Engineering Inspired By Nature

Why Do Things Fall? Gravity No one really knows exactly what gravity is, but we do know how gravity behaves. Gravity is an attractive force that exists between two GRAVITY objects. The force of gravity depends on the mass of the objects and the distance between them. Mass is a measure of how much matter (anything you can physically touch) an object contains. On Earth, mass can be determined using a scale and is often, but not always, related to size. Because the earth is so massive, it has a large gravitational pull. Earth’s gravity is the force that pulls the helicopters and parachutes DRAG down when they are dropped.

Why Do Rotors and Canopies Slow a Fall? GRAVITY Drag Drag is the force on an object that resists the object’s motion through a fluid. When the fluid is a gas like air, the drag is called air resistance (or aerodynamic drag). From a scientific standpoint, drag is a fairly complicated phenomenon. To understand drag in terms of parachutes, DECELERATON imagine a person jumping from a cliff. Initially, the person accelerates at approximately 9.8 m/s2 (Earth’s average gravity). If that person was in a vacuum (with no air around her), she would continue to accelerate at 9.8 m/s2 until she hit the ground (ouch!). However, air molecules provide resistance to the person’s fall, and the acceleration slows. Also, as speed increases, drag increases until the person is no longer accelerating (i.e., she has reached terminal velocity). Then imagine that the person opens her parachute. Suddenly, drag increases greatly, and the person’s descent slows significantly, allowing her to float to the ground without harm. DRAG is greater With the paper helicopter, air resistance pushes the rotors up into a than GRAVITY slanted position. When the rotors are angled, the air under one rotor pushes it in one direction, and the air under the other rotor pushes it in the other direction. These forces cause the rotors to spin. As the rotors speed up, less air passes by, causing the helicopter to fall more slowly. Friction Friction is a force between two moving objects that tends to resist motion and dissipate energy. Friction exists between air and an object moving through it, such as the parachute or the helicopter. Ultimately, friction is a force that acts on the parachute or helicopter and slows it down.

34 Science Notes

Technically Speaking: How Do Scientists Describe Motion? This section provides deeper background information about the terms used by scientists to describe motion and the formulas for those terms. Velocity Velocity describes how fast an object travels. In other words, it is the rate of change of distance over time. For example, if an airplane travels 100 miles in 2 hours, its velocity is greater than that of an airplane that travels 100 miles in 3 hours. The equation for velocity is:

Distance Traveled Velocity = Time

Acceleration Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity over time. For example, if Airplane A changes its velocity from 20 mph to 40 mph in 5 minutes, and Airplane B changes its velocity from 20 mph to 60 mph in the same amount of time, then the acceleration of Airplane B is greater than the acceleration of Airplane A. Anything falling through the air will accelerate (up to its terminal velocity). The equation for acceleration is:

Velocity Acceleration = Time

Drag Drag is calculated using a very complex formula. In general, drag is affected by many variables, including the following: • Density. The denser the fluid, the greater the drag it creates (remember, air is a fluid). A denser fluid has greater mass and resists moving out of the way more. Imagine the difference between dragging your hand through water and dragging it through air. • Area. Drag also increases as an object’s surface area increases. A larger surface area means that more of the object is in contact with the fluid, which increases its drag.

35 Engineering Inspired By Nature

• Speed. Drag also increases as speed increases. A boat sitting still in the water creates no drag. When the boat starts to move, it pushes against the water (which resists). The faster the boat moves, the more resistance the water provides. • Other variables. Drag can be affected by many other factors, such as shape, texture, and viscosity, meaning that parachutes or helicopters having different shapes or made from different materials may perform differently.

36 Engineering Inspired By Nature Activities

ROTOR

SEED

1 Seed Travelers Build Knowledge

INTRODUCTION A-Ha Seeds need to travel away from What Students Do in this Activity their parent plants so that they Students are introduced to the dispersal methods by which plants have room to grow and available spread their seeds. Students look closely at real seeds to figure out nutrients and water. If they simply how they might be dispersed. They discuss their ideas about how fall from the parent plant to the specific seeds are dispersed and which ones might “make it” the ground, they may not have the farthest from the parent plant. They also consider why it might be sunlight and other resources important for seeds to disperse at all. necessary for growth.

Objectives Students will: • Investigate seeds • Discuss what seeds need to grow • Learn how seeds are dispersed • Make careful observations of seeds • Make conjectures about how particular seeds are dispersed

Time 30–40 minutes

Materials For the teacher: • 1 copy of Letter from EarthToy Designs, Reproducible Master 2 • Once Upon a Time in the Woods book • Chart paper or whiteboard • Markers

39 1 Seed Travelers

For each pair of students: • 1 seed (maple samara, acorn, cocklebur, or dandelion seed) • 1 magnifying glass For each student: • 1 copy of What Am I?, Reproducible Master 1 • 1 copy of Our Observations, Reproducible Master 3 • Poster or white paper • Markers • Science notebook (see Introduction, page ix, for more information)

Preparation for the Activity Determine how students will be teamed up during the challenge. Teams of four will carry out challenge activities, while pairs of students will act as talk-partners. Decide how you will handle science notebooks for this challenge. Refer to the Introduction section (page ix). Read the storybook Once Upon a Time in the Woods. Recognize the points in the story where you will stop to engage students in conversation. These points include the following: • At the end of page 5 • At the end of page 9 • At the end of page 10 • At the end of page 21 Each of these points provides an opportunity to discuss why the events of the story unfolded as they did.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY Teacher Tip: Presenting the Activity – Whole Group Make sure that students 1. Gather students for a class discussion. do not release the Introduce students to their talk-partners for the challenge. seeds into your area, as they may not be native Explain that pairs of students will act as talk-partners, while and could cause teams of four will work together. potential harm to the ecosystem.

40 Build Knowledge

2. Give one seed (maple samara, acorn, cocklebur, or dandelion seed), a magnifying glass, and two copies of What Am I?, Reproducible Master 1, to each pair of students. Don’t explain what the seed is.

dandelion seed acorn maple seed cocklebur

Ask student pairs to find a quiet area of the room to examine their objects. Remind them to talk quietly so as not to disturb other student pairs.

Give students four or five minutes to examine their objects and fill in their reproducible masters. 3. Bring students back together and ask them to sit next to their talk-partners. 4. Have student pairs show their object to the rest of the class. Ask each student pair, “What do you think your object is? Why do you think so? What is your evidence?”

Note If students do not understand what you mean by evidence, explain that they need to state what they observed about the object that led them to their conclusions. Some students will have experience with the seed they were given and already know what it is. Others may not. Encourage students to support their claims with evidence.

5. Have a few students describe their object to the Teacher Tip: rest of the class. Some of the seeds Ask students the following questions: students will be • What does your object look like? examining are fragile (the dandelion and • What features does it have? maple seeds), while the cocklebur is prickly. 6. Record on chart paper or a whiteboard what students think Caution students to use their object is. care so as not to break the seeds or get poked Record students’ responses as appropriate. by them. If students have not concluded that the objects are seeds, help them come to that conclusion by explaining that all of these objects come from plants.

If possible, use the information you’ve tallied to help them come to that conclusion.

41 1 Seed Travelers

7. Ask students to discuss the questions “What do you think seeds are? Where do you think they come from?” 8. Ask students, “Why do you think seeds are important to the plant?”

Note If students do not respond that seeds are necessary to grow new plants, you may want to spend a little more time talking about where they think new plants come from, whether they have ever grown anything from seeds, what they did, etc.

Discuss the questions.

End the discussion either with a summary of their ideas or with a brief explanation. 9. Ask students, “What do you think seeds need in order to start to grow? How do you know that?”

Note If students do not respond that seeds need light, water, air, and nutrients, you may want to spend more time (1) talking about what they know about growing plants and what tasks someone needs to do to keep them alive, and (2) establishing that plants need space, light, water, air, and nutrients.

10. Begin a discussion about how seeds travel. Explain that most seeds do not just drop to ground and stay there. Science Notes They get carried in different ways to different places to grow. The word disperse is likely Explain that scientists call the movement of seeds dispersal. unfamiliar to students. The word means to scatter or to spread Ask, “Why do you think it would be good for the seeds to start to grow out, and it is used by biologists to in different places?” describe how species move away from an existing population or a parent organism. Dispersion is Note important in plants (which cannot Students may come up with ideas such as seeds need a place move on their own) because a that meets their needs, or seeds need to get to a better place to grow. daughter plant will likely have a Be sure to ask them why they think the way they do and encourage others to join better chance at survival if it takes the conversation. root away from the parent plant, and so avoids competing with the parent for resources. There are Regardless of what has come up, close the discussion by saying other benefits of seed dispersal, something like, “These are interesting and thoughtful ideas you’ve including making it harder for shared. Let me share a couple of thoughts that scientists have about this. predators and disease to spread They say that seeds often need to move away from the parent plant and (because plants are farther apart) the other seeds so that they aren’t too crowded, and so they can get enough and allowing the seeds to colonize sunlight.” new areas. It is likely that your students will not bring these up, but you may wish to.

42 Build Knowledge

11. Hold a discussion about the question, “What do you think are some different ways that seeds might move away from the Teacher Tip: parent plant?” After the discussion, be Encourage students to think about all the seeds they have seen. Be sure to collect the sure that students explain their thinking and guide them in seeds. You will be using them again during building on one another’s ideas. Facilitating Student Record the different ways students suggest. Exploration, later in the activity. 12. Have each pair of students re-examine the seed they were given and ask them to think about how their different seeds might be dispersed. Have student pairs find a quiet area of the room to examine their objects. Remind them to talk quietly so as not to disturb other student pairs.

Give students one or two minutes to examine their objects again. 13. Bring the class back together to discuss. Have each pair hold up its seed (one at a time). Ask how they think their seed is dispersed and why they think so. Emphasize the shape and other features of the seeds. At the end of the discussion, if no one has suggested that birds and other animals might have a role in moving seeds, bring it up yourself and add it to the list. 14. Read Letter from EarthToy Designs, Reproducible Master 2 to students.

Teacher Tip: Note The letter explains that students will be building new, nature-inspired toys that At this stage, help fly. Over the course of the module, teams will be observing seeds and conducting students by modeling some ways of talking experiments so they can design their own flying toy. about the activity they are doing. Having students discuss what 15. Distribute science notebooks to students. they are doing serves three purposes: (1) helps students focus Literacy Extension their observations and Instead of reading the Letter from EarthToy Designs, Reproducible Master 2, aloud to clarify and deepen their understanding by students, you may want to assignit as an individual or team reading to students. Be trying to put their sure to spend time probing and assessing their comprehension. thoughts into words; (2) helps slow down students as they work through the experience; Facilitating Student Exploration – Teams and (3) allows them to 16. Explain that teams of four will be examining seeds next to practice the skill of articulating observa- determine how they might be dispersed. tions, which is Assign teams. necessary for good scientific investigation. Give each team a seed sample. Make sure that teams do not have the same seed that they examined earlier in pairs.

43 1 Seed Travelers

17. Hand out a copy of Our Observations, Reproducible Master 3, Teacher Tip: to each student. Tell students that they will keep track of their observations on this When the time comes sheet. for students to describe their seeds, you have a Go over the items they should record on the reproducible master. perfect opportunity to explore adjectives as Remind students that they must talk to their teammates about parts of speech. Remind students that their observations and to back up their opinions based on adjectives are words evidence. that describe people, places, and things. Periodically check in on teams to ask them what they have Encourage them to use adjectives that will help observed or to remind them, as necessary, to keep focused on the the other students task at hand. understand what their seed looks like, what it 18. Have students add their reproducible masters to their science feels like, how it smells, notebooks after they have finished observing the seeds. etc. You might choose to make a game out of the activity by chal- Discussing and Interpreting – Whole Group lenging other students 19. Have each team report on the seed they examined. to pick out a team’s seed based only on the Ask students to describe how they think their seed (or other written description. seeds they have observed) could be dispersed. Record students’ ideas on a piece of chart paper or a whiteboard. Remind students that EarthToy Designs is looking for toys inspired by flying seeds. Discuss which of the seeds that students examined might fly.

If students do not mention the dandelion and the maple samara, give them some more time to examine and experiment with the seeds. 20. Remind students that the EarthToy Designs’ toy will come with a book, which you will read to them now. Read aloud the book Once Upon a Time in the Woods. 21. Stop after page 5 and discuss. Ask students, “What is happening with the trees?” 22. Stop after page 9 and discuss. Encourage students to discuss why the trees might be having difficulty. If students don’t mention that the trees are too crowded, try to encourage them to think about what the problem really is. 23. Stop after page 10 and discuss. Ask students, “Why do you think the shorter trees are growing brittle and thin?” If students do not mention that the trees are not getting enough sunlight, remind them about their discussion of the things a tree needs to grow. 24. Stop after page 21 and discuss. Ask students, “Do you think your seed might be dispersed like any of the seeds in the book?”

44 Build Knowledge

25. Give students the opportunity to talk about seeds they have seen in their lives that are similar to those in the book.

Note The seeds students examined do not represent all of the dispersal strategies shown in the book.

26. Ask students, “What other ideas have we read about that we can add to our chart?” Add the new dispersal methods to the chart you created earlier. Explain that seeds are spread in many ways, including the following:

• Riding on the wind • Falling • Rolling • Sliding on snow • Floating on water • Exploding • Being eaten by animal and spread in droppings • Being taken by animals and stored (then forgotten) • Being carried on clothing or animal fur 27. Have each student draw a poster of the way the seed they were given is dispersed. Hand out markers and poster or white paper to students. Encourage students to consult the book as a reference. When drawings are complete, hang them around the classroom to remind students of the ways in which seeds can be dispersed. 28. Conclude the activity by explaining to students that they will be looking closely at seeds that are dispersed by wind to help them think about the toy that EarthToy Designs would like them to create.

45 Reproducible Master 1

WHAT AM I?

My name:______

My partner’s name:______

Here is a picture of the object we examined:

We think this object is a:______

This is why we think so:______

______

46 Reproducible Master 2

LETTER FROM EARTHTOY DESIGNS

EarthToy Designs, Inc.

Dear Student Designers: We need your help! The mission of EarthToy Designs, Inc., is to develop and promote toys that are fun and exciting. EarthToy Designs is introducing a line of toys inspired by nature. Our first toy will be based on seeds that fly in the wind and will come with a book about seeds. We want to develop a toy that will travel as far as possible on a windy day.

Our EarthToy engineers are seeking fresh ideas from young people like you. That’s why we need your help! We need you to investigate some seeds that move away from their parent plant (are dispersed) on the wind.

We suggest that your teams take the following steps to help us: 1. Closely examine some seeds and think about how they might fly. 2. Conduct experiments to figure out what keeps a seed in the air the longest. 3. Design a toy that will stay in the air a long time when dropped or thrown.

Good luck with your research!

I. M. Green President

47 Reproducible Master 3

WHAT AM I?

My name:______

My partner’s name:______

Here is a picture of the seed we examined:

Describe the seed (shape, size, color, and texture).______

______

48 Reproducible Master 3

How do you think this seed might be dispersed (move away from its parent plant)?______

______

What is the evidence you used to decide how the seed might disperse?_____

______

2 Spinning Seeds Build Knowledge

INTRODUCTION A-Ha Spinning seeds and paper What Students Do in this Activity helicopters both catch the air and spin when dropped. This In this activity, students briefly examine samaras (dry fruits that form motion helps the seeds and the thin, papery wings as they develop) to observe how they travel in the helicopters stay aloft longer. The wind. They then explore paper models that spin like the rotors of a seeds differ from the helicopters helicopter. They build their own paper helicopters, explore how they – the helicopters have two rotors fly, and compare the way they fly to how samara seeds fly. while the seeds only have one. They are similar because they Objectives both have blades that cause them Students will: to spin with a weight that pulls them down. • Build paper helicopters • Explore how a paper helicopter works

Time 30–40 minutes

Materials For the teacher: • 1 maple samara seed • 1 acorn • 1 electric fan (optional) • Model paper helicopter (see Preparation for the Activity) • 1 copy of Build a Helicopter, Reproducible Master 4 • 1 copy of Helicopter Template, Reproducible Master 5 • 1 paper clip • 1 pair of scissors • Chart paper or whiteboard • Markers 51 2 Spinning Seeds

For the class: • Once Upon a Time in the Woods book For each team: • 1 maple samara seed • 12 paper clips • 4 pairs of scissors For each student: • 1 copy of Build a Helicopter, Reproducible Master 4 • 1 copy of Helicopter Template, Reproducible Master 5 • 1 copy of Similarities and Differences, Reproducible Master 6 • Science notebook (see Introduction, page ix, for more information)

Preparation for the Activity Using Build a Helicopter, Reproducible Master 4, and Helicopter Template, Reproducible Master 5, build your own helicopter to be used for demonstrations. For Presenting the Activity, you will need to place an electric fan on a table or desk. You may need to get an extension cord if the circle area is not near an electrical outlet. For Facilitating Student Exploration, student teams will need space where they can build and test their helicopters. Have the book Once Upon a Time in the Woods available for students to consult, as needed.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY Presenting the Activity – Whole Group Teacher Tip: 1. Gather students for a class discussion. Have students sit next to their talk-partners. Be sure to address safety with students. 2. Remind students of the seeds they explored in the previous Stress the safety rules activity. you want students to Drop your sample maple samara seed and allow it to fall to the follow for this ground. challenge. Or, come up with the rules together Ask students what they notice about how the seed falls. as a class.

Drop it again and ask students to describe the motion they see.

52 Build Knowledge

3. Ask students to turn and talk with their partners about the following question, “What do you think might be some reasons Teacher Tip: that the seed spins the way it does?” Refer to the Give students about a minute to discuss and then ask them to Introduction section share their thoughts with the rest of the group. (page viii) for ideas on helping students Take notes about students’ thoughts on a piece of chart paper or a remember previous work if a lengthy period whiteboard. passes between activities. 4. Place the fan on a table or desk and turn it on. Drop the maple samara seed in front of it. Ask students to describe what they see.

Note The seed should have flown horizontally while in the path of the fan, moving it in the direction the “wind” was blowing.

Take an acorn and drop it in front of the fan. Ask students to describe what happens to the acorn.

Discuss the differences that students see between how the seeds dropped. 5. Drop the maple samara seed again and ask students if the Teacher Tip: motion of the seed reminds them of anything they have seen. Ask students to turn and talk about the following question, “How You may wish to do you think we could build something that flies like this seed?” demonstrate how to build a paper helicopter Give students a few minutes to discuss how they might make a for students. spinning toy.

Have talk-partners discuss for a few minutes and report back to the class about their discussions.

Keep track of their suggestions on a piece of chart paper or a whiteboard.

If students have not suggested a paper helicopter, explain that you have a model that spins when it flies and that you’d like them to experiment with it. Show students your model paper helicopter.

Facilitating Student Exploration – Teams 6. Tell students that it is their job to each build a helicopter and fly Teacher Tip: it, keeping notes about what they observe in their science Have extra copies of notebooks. Helicopter Template, Ask students to get into their teams. Give each team of students Reproducible Master 5, available in the event an area in which they can work. that students make mistakes while cutting and folding.

53 2 Spinning Seeds

7. Hand out Build a Helicopter, Reproducible Master 4, and Helicopter Template, Reproducible Master 5, to each team member, along with four pairs of scissors and 12 paper clips for each team. Go over the reproducible masters with students.

Explain that students will need to be careful with cutting and folding.

Remind them of the proper procedure for launching the helicopter (by simply dropping it). 8. Give a maple samara seed to each team. Have students explore their helicopters and seeds and note the similarities and differences between them. Hand out Similarities and Differences, Reproducible Master 6, to students. Go over it with them.

9. Give students 15–20 minutes for their exploration. Have students add the reproducible master to their science notebooks after they have finished their investigations.

Discussing and Interpreting – Whole Group 10. Gather students together with their science notebooks to share their observations of the similarities and differences between Teacher Tip:

the seed and the helicopter. Ask students to be Make sure that students have noted similarities and differences certain their names are between the physical forms of the helicopters and the seeds, as on the helicopters then well as similarities and differences in their behavior. collect them. Their helicopters will be needed 11. Discuss the question, “What did you notice about the helicop- in the next activity. ters when they flew?” Record students’ observations on a piece of chart paper or a whiteboard.

54 Reproducible Master 4

BUILD A HELICOPTER

1. Cut along all the solid lines.

2. Fold flap A forward along the dotted line and flap B back.

3. Fold flaps C and D forward along the dotted lines.

4. Fold flap E upward.

5. Use one paper clip to hold flap E in place.

6. Your helicopter should look like this.

7. Be sure to put your name somewhere on the helicopter.

8. To launch, hold the helicopter by the wings and drop (with the paper clip at the bottom).

55 2 Spinning Seeds

HELICOPTER TEMPLATE

56 Reproducible Master 6

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES

My name:______

My partner’s name:______

Write about one similarity that your team observed between the spinning seed and the helicopter you built.______

______

Write about one difference that your team observed between the spinning seed and the helicopter you built.______

______

3 Testing Helicopters Build Knowledge

INTRODUCTION A-Ha Adding weight to the helicopter What Students Do in this Activity helps to stabilize the helicopter In this activity, students compare the flight of samara seeds to the and causes the rotors to better flight of a paper helicopter. Then they experiment with how changing catch the air. The more weight, the amount of weight attached to the helicopter changes the time it the more revolutions, and the takes for a helicopter to hit the ground. better the lift that the rotors give the helicopter (causing it to spin Objectives better). Students will: • Explore how scientists conduct trials • Investigate how weight affects helicopter drop time • Share their results and discuss any conflicting results, as do scientists

Time 30–40 minutes

Materials For the teacher: • 1 maple samara seed • Model paper helicopter created in previous activity • Chart paper or whiteboard • Markers

59 3 Testing Helicopters

For the class: • Once Upon a Time in the Woods book • Copies of Helicopter Template, Reproducible Master 5 (optional) • Scissors (optional) For each team: • 9 stickers (a different color for each team) • 1 copy of Testing Helicopters with Different Weights, Reproducible Master 7 For each student: • 3 paper clips • Paper helicopter built in Activity 2 • Science notebook (see Introduction, page ix, for more information)

Preparation for the Activity For Presenting the Activity, you will need the model helicopter you built in the previous activity for demonstration, or you will need to build another. For Facilitating Student Exploration, student teams will need space where they can test their helicopters. Have handy the helicopters students created in Activity 2. Make a class data chart on a piece of chart paper so that students can enter their data on the chart. The chart should look like the following: Helicopter Weight Results

1 2 1 3 2 3 One vs. Two One vs. Three Two vs. Three

Have the book Once Upon a Time in the Woods available for students to consult, as needed.

60 Build Knowledge

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY Presenting the Activity – Whole Group 1. Have students get their science notebooks and get ready for a class discussion. Remind students of the information they recorded in their science notebooks and suggest that they reread what they wrote during the discussion. 2. Review with students the explorations they did in Activity 2. Drop a maple samara seed again and ask students, “How is this spinning of the seed similar to the paper helicopter? How is it different?” Hold up the samara and the model paper helicopter and ask what differences they notice.

Note Students will likely recognize that the maple seed has only one “wing,” while the helicopter has two. Students may notice that the maple samara seed has a heavy end and a lighter end, as does the helicopter.

Point out the wing of the seed and the wings of the helicopter to students and explain that they are called rotors. Point out the similarities between the seed and the paper clip.

rotors

rotor

seed

Facilitating Student Exploration – Teams 3. Explain to students that they will be comparing the helicopters they built in Activity 2 by dropping them two at a time from the same height. Tell students that they will break into teams, and one student will choose two helicopters and drop them at the same time. Each student will have the opportunity to drop helicopters. Explain that when they are not dropping helicopters, team members will watch to determine which helicopter hits the ground first.

61 3 Testing Helicopters

4. Discuss with students how they could keep track of their results as they test their helicopters. Teacher Tip: Record their ideas on a piece of chart paper or a whiteboard. The tape measure has measurements in both 5. Assign a role to each team member. inches and centimeters. Students will build and test paper helicopters. Assign tasks to Be sure to tell students team members (roles should rotate each activity so that all to use the meters units. students have a chance to perform all jobs):

• The materials manager keeps track of materials, handing them Teacher Tip: out in the beginning and storing them in the end. All of the helicopters • The facilitator makes sure that the proper procedures are being made so far have the followed. same characteristics. They were built from • The judge notes which helicopter stays in the air the longest. the same template and • The recorder keeps track of the results of the testing and makes carry the same amount of weight. They should notes about how the helicopters fly on the reproducible master perform similarly and (didn’t spin around, rotors didn’t open). hit the ground at almost the same time. If 6. Hand out a copy of Testing Helicopters with Different Weights, a team has helicopters Reproducible Master 7, to each student. that perform differ- Go over the items that should be recorded on the reproducible ently, you might wish to stop the class for a master. discussion of why the Point out the word Trials at the top of the table. Ask students, helicopters perform differently. “What do you think a trial is?” If no one knows, tell them that during an experiment, a scientist may try the same thing over and Some reasons might be: over again to check results. Each time is called a trial. • Using different paper clips Point out that there is room for data from several trials for each helicopter. • Improper cutting and/or folding

Ask students, “Why do you think we would want to try out our heli- • Dropping from copters more than once?” Students should suggest that multiple different heights trials will allow them to make sure that they really understand • Dropping at how a helicopter performs. different times

They might express this by saying that a single trial could be flawed by some type of error.

Follow up with, “Why do you think one trial is not enough?”

62 Build Knowledge

7. Prepare the students for doing the investigation. Explain to students that they will be conducting their helicopter experiments and keeping track of the results on Testing Helicopters with Different Weights, Reproducible Master 7. Explain that in these trials, they will be varying the weight of their helicopters by adding one paperclip.

Have students race each helicopter against another helicopter three times, recording which helicopter stays in the air the longest in each trial.

Remind them that they can take notes about each individual trial in the Notes box. Notes might include information about how the helicopter flew (didn’t spin around, spun around fast) or anybother information students might care to note. 8. Ask teams to make notes in their science notebooks about the procedures they will follow for testing the helicopters. For example:

Our Procedure 1. We will build three helicopters that are exactly the same in every way. Teacher Tip:

2. We will add one paper clip to one helicopter, two to another, and three to another. Have scissors and extra copies of Helicopter 3. We will race the helicopters by dropping two at a time from the same height. Template, Reproducible Master 5, available in 4. We will race each pair of helicopters three times. the event that students need them. 5. First we will drop the helicopters with one paperclip and two paperclips.

6. Next we will drop the helicopters with one paperclip and three paperclips.

7. Last we will drop the helicopters with two paperclips and three paperclips.

9. Distribute the helicopters students built in the previous activity. Have students test their helicopters to see which ones stay in the air the longest. As you circulate, remind students that: • Both of the helicopters should be launched at the same time. • They should note which helicopter stays in the air the longest on their reproducible master. • One student is responsible for watching the launch and making sure both helicopters are launched at the same time. • The remaining students in the group are responsible for observing which helicopter stays in the air longest.

63 3 Testing Helicopters

10. As teams work, circulate among them to observe what they are doing, listen to their conversations, and use this to informally assess students. Ask yourself the following: • Are students following the guidelines? • What are they noticing about the behavior of the helicopters? • Are they mentioning weight as a possible variable? 11. After 10–15 minutes, ask teams to wrap up their work and make any additional notes about their experiences in their science notebooks.

12. Make copies of each team’s recording sheet to give to team Teacher Tip: members and have students add their team’s reproducible masters to their science notebooks. Collect helicopters from students. They will be needed in the Discussing and Interpreting – Whole Group next activity. 13. Lead a large group discussion using the class data chart you prepared before the activity. When students have finished testing the helicopters, ask teams to use stickers to add the data they collected to the class data chart before they sit down. Each sticker represents the helicopter that stayed in the air the longest in each trial. Ask the class to look at the chart. • What do they notice about the data? • How are the results of each team different? Similar? • Discuss the differences. For example:

It looks like the green team’s heavier helicopters stayed in the air longer than their light helicopters, but the red team found the opposite. Why might this have happened? What do you think we should do now?

Note Students should recognize that similar helicopters should perform similarly. If groups did not generally find the same results, it is important for them to retest to make sure that their data are valid.

64 Reproducible Master 7

TESTING HELICOPTERS WITH DIFFERENT WEIGHTS

Names: ______

Circle the number of paper clips that are on the helicopter that stayed in the air the longest in each trial. For Notes, you might include information about how the helicopter flew (didn’t spin around, spun around fast) or any other information you think is important.

Stayed in the Air the Longest Notes Trial # paper clips vs. # paper clips

4 Testing Rotor Length Build Knowledge

INTRODUCTION A-Ha Theoretically, the longer rotor What Students Do in this Activity blades should cause the helicopter In this activity, students continue to explore paper models that spin to catch more air, causing it to like the rotors of a helicopter. They build their own paper helicopters stay aloft longer. In practice, the and experiment with how changing the rotor length changes the time longer rotor blades sometimes fail it takes for a helicopter to hit the ground. to extend properly, causing the longer-bladed helicopter not to Objectives spin and to crash quickly to the ground. Students will: • Explore how rotor length affects drop time • Recognize that only one variable should be tested at a time

Time 60–80 minutes

Materials For the teacher: • 1 long-rotored model paper helicopter (see Preparation for the Activity) • 1 short-rotored model paper helicopter (see Preparation for the Activity) • 3 paper clips • 1 pair of scissors • 1 copy of Build a Helicopter, Reproducible Master 4 • 1 copy of Different Rotor Length Template, Reproducible Master 8 • 1 large maple seed (Silver Maple) • 1 small maple seed (Sugar Maple)

67 4 Testing Rotor Length

• Chart paper or whiteboard • Markers For the class: • Once Upon a Time in the Woods book For each team: • 1 copy of How Are the Helicopters the Same? How Are They Different?, Reproducible Master 9 • 1 copy of Rotor Length Results, Reproducible Master 10 • 10 paper clips • 4 pairs of scissors • 9 stickers (a different color for each team) For each student: • Paper helicopter built during Activity 2, with one paper clip attached • 1 copy of Build a Helicopter, Reproducible Master 4 • Completed Testing Helicopter with Different Weights, Reproducible Master 7 • 1 copy of Different Rotor Length Template, Reproducible Master 8 • Science notebook (see Introduction, page ix, for more information)

Preparation for the Activity Make two model paper helicopters to use in class discussions. Use Build a Helicopter, Reproducible Master 4, and Different Rotor Length Template, Reproducible Master 8. Have handy paper clips and the helicopters students created in Activity 2. For Facilitating Student Exploration, student teams will need space where they can build and test their helicopters. Have extra copies of Different Rotor Length Template, Reproducible Master 8, available in the event that students make mistakes while cutting and folding. Be sure students have their completed Testing Helicopter with Different Weights, Reproducible Master 7. Make a class data chart on a piece of chart paper so that students can enter their data on the chart. The chart should look like the following:

68 Build Knowledge

Helicopter Rotor Size Results

Short Medium Short Long Medium Long Rotors Rotors Rotors Rotors Rotors Rotors Short vs. Medium Short vs. Long Medium vs. Long

Have the book Once Upon a Time in the Woods available for students to consult, as needed.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY Presenting the Activity – Whole Group 1. Gather students with their science notebooks to discuss the previous activity. Remind students of the paper helicopters they explored in the previous activity. Ask them to check their science notebooks (and their completed Testing Helicopter with Different Weights, Reproducible Master 7) and discuss what they found about how weight affects drop time. 2. Show students the two sample maple seeds. The larger seed is from a Silver Maple, while the smaller is a Sugar Maple seed. Ask them what similarities and differences they see between the seeds. Guide the students to notice that the Silver Maple seeds are larger and less curved than the Sugar Maple seeds. The seed of the Sugar Maple is also more rounded than the seed of the Silver Maple.

Silver Maple Sugar Maple

Ask students how they think the two seeds will act when dropped. 69 4 Testing Rotor Length

3. Drop the seeds from the same height at the same time and discuss how they fly. Repeat the drop three times, reminding students about how scientists conduct experiments in multiple trials.

Note The Silver Maple seed should spin and drop more slowly than the Sugar Maple seed.

4. Show students the two model paper helicopters without paper clips. Ask them how they are the same and how they are different from each other. You may need to pass the helicopters around. Be sure students recognize that the lengths of the “wings” or rotors are different, but that everything else is the same. Continue helping students become familiar with the terminology (rotors, stem) by pointing out the different helicopter parts to them. Add weight to each helicopter. Put one paper clip on the stem of the short-rotored helicopter and two paper clips on the stem of the long-rotored one.

5. Explain that you are trying to decide whether the helicopter Teacher Tip: with long rotors is a “better flyer” (stays in the air longer) than the one with short rotors. You may find that the long-rotored helicopter Tell students to observe closely which helicopter stays in the air does not properly catch the longest as you hold your two helicopters at arm’s length and the air, and instead of drop them. Do this three times. spinning, it just floats to the ground. If this Pick up the one that stayed aloft the longest and make a big happens, it is an oppor- fanfare about it being “the best at flying.” Make sure that the tunity to discuss stems (with the paper clips) are visible as you tout the “winner.” whether you should keep the results of this Ask students, “What do you think made this helicopter the “race” or not. Some students might suggest winner? Some students may notice that the weights on the two that the results are helicopters differ. If students do not notice, ask them to closely valid, because that is examine the two helicopters and observe any differences among just how the helicopter them. If students still do not see a difference between the performed. Others might suggest that the helicopters, you may need to continue probing or point out the helicopter did not spin, difference in weight explicitly. and it should be retested to make sure 6. Ask students if they think your race determined which rotor that it can’t spin. size made the helicopter stay in the air the longest. Encourage students to If needed, guide students to recognize that the race did not just repeat the trial so that they get data about test rotor size because the two helicopters had different length how the two spinning rotors and carried different numbers of paper clips. helicopters perform, Stress the importance of making sure that a test allows you to but make sure that they keep notes about the determine how one characteristic of the helicopter’s design affects fact that the long-ro- the helicopter’s performance. Remind the students that—to make tored helicopter did not sure they are testing only one characteristic—they should only be spin consistently. changing one characteristic at a time. In the case of the helicopters, the two helicopters should have all of the same characteristics, except one. 70 Build Knowledge

Tell students that for this activity, the characteristic that will change is the length of the helicopter’s rotors. Reinforce this concept by asking students what characteristic they changed in the previous set of tests they carried out. Students should recognize that the characteristic they changed was weight. If necessary, remind students of the previous tests by asking them to look at the results of their testing in their science notebooks. Make the helicopters students created in the previous activity available for observation, as needed. 7. Discuss how students think the rotor length will affect the drop time. Teacher Tip: After a short discussion, have students predict how they think the longer rotors will affect the drop time. If you are using a whiteboard, do not Record students’ predictions on a piece of chart paper or a erase these predictions. whiteboard. Create three columns titled “Same drop time,” They will be needed “Shorter drop time,” and “Longer drop time” and enter their later in the activity during Sharing and predictions. Interpreting.

Facilitating Student Exploration – Teams 8. Begin the exploration by having students break into their teams and give each team an area in which to work. Give students the helicopters they built in Activity 2 and explain that these helicopters have medium-length rotors. Give each team 4 pairs of scissors and 10 paper clips. 9. Make sure that students have copies of Build a Helicopter, Reproducible Master 4. Hand out copies of Different Rotor Length Template, Reproducible Master 8, to each team member. Go over the reproducible masters with students. Emphasize that they will need to be careful with cutting and folding. Point out that the two helicopter templates are labeled “short” and “long.” You may need to reiterate that their original helicopters have medium-length rotors. 10. Demonstrate how to launch the helicopter by simply dropping it. Remind students NOT to throw the helicopters, but to simply drop them. Ask students, “Why do you think this is important?” Students should recognize that throwing the helicopters would result in many differences in launch conditions and make it very difficult to compare the two helicopters. 11. Have each student build both types of helicopters using one paper clip for each as weight. 12. Hand a copy of How Are the Helicopters the Same? How Are They Different?, Reproducible Master 9, to each team. Assign roles to each student (make sure that students take on different roles in each activity). Ask students to note all of the ways in which the helicopters they built are the same and all of

71 4 Testing Rotor Length

the ways they are different. They might list some or all of the following ways in which the helicopters are the same: • They are made of the same kind of paper. • The rotors are the same width. • The stems (bottom part) are the same width and length. • They are carrying the same number of paper clips. 13. Have students first compare the short-rotored helicopters they built by dropping them at the same time from the same height. During these trials, students should find that the helicopters hit the ground at almost the same time. If a helicopter with the same characteristics performs very differently from the other three that the team made, discuss why this might have happened. Ask students, “Are there ways in which this helicopter is physically different from the others made by the team?”

14. Hand out a copy of Rotor Length Results, Reproducible Master 10, to each student. Tell students that their team will use this sheet to keep track of the helicopters they test. Remind them that the recorder can take notes about each individual trial in the Notes box. Notes might include information about how the helicopter flew (didn’t rotate, rotated fast) or any other information students might care to note. Remind students that the helicopters they previously built have medium-sized rotors. 15. Have students test their helicopters to see which ones stay in the air the longest. Students launch two helicopters at the same time from the same height and note which helicopter hits the ground first. Students race the short-rotored helicopter against the medium-rotored helicopter, then the short-rotored helicopter against the long-rotored helicopter, and then the medium-rotored helicopter against the long-rotored helicopter. Students launch both of the helicopters at the same time and note which helicopter stays in the air the longest. They do three trials of each race. During each launch, one student is responsible for watching the launch and making sure both helicopters are launched at the same time. The remaining team members are responsible for observing and recording which helicopter stays in the air longest. Remind students that they need to take turns launching the helicopters.

72 Build Knowledge

Note As teams work, circulate among them to observe what they are doing and to listen to their conversations. Use this as an opportunity to informally assess students by asking yourself the following questions:

• Are students following the guidelines?

• What are they noticing about the behavior of the helicopters?

• How are students communicating with one another about their observations and findings?

• Are they mentioning rotor length as a possible variable?

16. After 10–15 minutes, ask teams to wrap up their work and make any additional notes about their experiences in their science notebooks. Stress the importance of keeping a good record of the procedures that were followed and the observations that were made. 17. Make copies of each team’s recording sheet to give to team members and have students add their team’s reproducible masters to their science notebooks.

Discussing and Interpreting – Whole Group 18. Lead a large group discussion. Go over How are the Helicopters the Same? How Are They Different, Reproducible Master 9. Ask students, “What additional characteristics did your team come up with?” Students might suggest, “type of paper” as an additional characteristic. Explain that these characteristics are called variables. Ask, “What variables did you keep the same during your testing? What variables did you change?”

Note Students should recognize that—for this particular activity—every aspect of the helicopter remained the same except for the rotor length, which was the variable that was changed.

Go over students’ observations and findings. Ask teams to use stickers to add the data they collected to the class data chart (see Preparation for the Activity). Each sticker represents the helicopter that stayed in the air the longest in each trial.

73 4 Testing Rotor Length

As a class, look at the chart. • What do they notice about the data? • Ask students whether the data they collected supported their predictions (in Step 7). • How are the results of each team different? Similar? • Discuss the differences. For example: The green team found that the helicopter with the longer rotors stayed in the air the longest most of the time, but the yellow team found that the one with the shorter rotors stayed in the air the longest. Why might this have happened? What should we do now?

Note Teacher Tip: Students should recognize that similar helicopters should If students are perform similarly. If groups did not generally find the same results, it interested, test some of is important for them to retest to make sure that their data are valid. the other variables to see which ones affect the performance of the 19. Ask students, “What else could we test about the helicopters?” paper helicopter most. Students may have a variety of answers, including the following: • Width of helicopter • Width of rotors • Length of the “stem” • Width of the “stem” • Type of paper used Keep track of student suggestions on a piece of chart paper or a whiteboard.

74 Reproducible Master 8

DIFFERENT ROTOR LENGTH TEMPLATE

75 Reproducible Master 9

HOW ARE THE HELICOPTERS THE SAME? HOW ARE THEY DIFFERENT?

Names:______

Make a list of the ways in which the characteristics of the three helicopters you built are the same and the ways in which they are different. Also, list other characteristics. Use the Notes column to explain your thinking.

Characteristic Same Different Notes

Stem (bottom of the helicopter)

Weight

Rotors

76 Reproducible Master 10

ROTOR LENGTH RESULTS

Names:______

Color the rotor length of the helicopter that stayed in the air the longest in each trial. For Notes, you might include information about how the helicopter flew (didn’t spin around, spun around fast) or any other information you think is important

Stayed in the Air Longest Notes Rotor Length vs. Rotor Length

SHORT MEDIUM

SHORT LONG

MEDIUM LONG

5 Floating Seeds Build Knowledge

INTRODUCTION A-Ha Parachute seeds are similar to What Students Do in this Activity parachutes in that they both carry In this activity, students consider how parachute seeds work. They a weight below a canopy. It is the then have the opportunity to build their own parachutes and test canopy that causes the weight them. As they conduct their investigations, they consider the similari- to float. However, the canopy of ties and differences between parachute seeds and the toy parachutes. a seed is made up of many small filaments, while the canopy of Objectives a parachute is a solid piece of material. Students will: • Examine seeds that work like parachutes (such as dandelion seeds) • Build toy parachutes • Note the similarities and differences between parachute seeds and toy parachutes

Time 30–40 minutes

Materials For the teacher: • 1 dandelion seed • 1 acorn • 1 maple samara seed • Model parachute (see Preparation for the Activity) • 1 parachute canopy (25 x 25 cm) • 4 sticky tabs • 1 paper clip • 1 pair of scissors

79 5 Floating Seeds

• 120 cm piece of string • 1 ruler • 1 copy of Build a Parachute, Reproducible Master 11 • Chart paper or whiteboard • Markers • Adhesive tape (optional) For the class: • Once Upon a Time in the Woods book For each team: • 1 dandelion seed • 1 magnifying glass • 12 paper clips • Permanent marker • Adhesive tape (optional) For each student: • 1 pair of scissors • 1 parachute canopy (25 x 25 cm) • 120 cm piece of string • 10 sticky tabs • 1 ruler • 1 copy of Build a Parachute, Reproducible Master 11 • 1 copy of Similarities and Differences Between a Parachute and a Floating Seed, Reproducible Master 12 • Science notebook (see Introduction, page ix, for more information)

Preparation for the Activity Make a model parachute using Build a Parachute, Reproducible Master 11, and the materials that have been made available for this purpose (string, parachute canopy, scissors, a ruler, sticky tabs, etc.). For Presenting the Activity, be sure to have the dandelion seeds and sample parachute handy. For Facilitating Student Exploration, ensure that student teams have enough space to build and test their parachutes. Have the book Once Upon a Time in the Woods available for students to consult, as needed.

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITY Presenting the Activity – Whole Group 1. Gather students for a whole group discussion. Have students sit next to their turn and talk partners. 2. Tell students you are going to drop a parachute seed (dandelion) several times and allow it to fall to the ground.

Ask students to observe closely. Ask students to describe what they observed. Write their observations a piece of chart paper or a whiteboard. Ask students if they have ever seen a seed like this one. Encourage them to notice that it does not drop directly, but that it floats on the wind slowly down. Drop an acorn, a samara, and a parachute seed and ask students to describe the differences they see.

3. Drop the seed again if needed. 4. Distribute dandelion seeds and magnifying glasses to student pairs. 5. Ask students to turn and talk with their partners about the following question, “What do you think keeps this seed from falling directly?” Give students a couple of minutes to discuss this question. If they are not familiar with dandelion seeds, they may want to look at them more closely. 6. Ask the student pairs to share their thoughts with the rest of the group. Record students’ thoughts on a piece of chart paper or a whiteboard. If necessary, guide them to recognize that the crown of hairs (pappus) helps the seed stay aloft.

81 5 Floating Seeds

7. Continue discussing the dandelion seed. Ask students, “Have you ever seen this kind of seed?” If students haven’t, explain that they just observed a dandelion seed. Ask them if they have ever blown a dandelion head. Continue probing by asking, “What happens when you blow on a dandelion?”

Note Not all students may have experience blowing dandelion heads, but they may be intrigued by other students’ experiences. Some students may share that the crown flies apart easily with the slightest wind.

8. Ask students to think about whether the dandelion seeds resemble anything they have seen that is made by humans that help things float in the air. You may want to ask them to imagine that the seed is a person.

Note While it might not immediately be apparent to students, the dandelion’s seed is much like a parachute. The pappus is made up of many individual tufts, but it acts much like a parachute.

Show students the model parachute you built. Launch both the dandelion seed and the parachute several times.

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Facilitating Student Exploration – Teams 9. Have students break into their teams and explain that they will be building parachutes in this activity. Give each team an area in which they can work. 10. Hand out Build a Parachute, Reproducible Master 11, to each team member. Provide each student with 1 pair of scissors, 120 cm string, 1 ruler, 10 sticky tabs, and a parachute canopy. Also, provide the team with paper clips. Explain that students will need to be careful as they put together their parachutes because the sticky tabs are almost impossible to remove without tearing the canopy. 11. Have each student build a parachute. Explain that they are building a small-sized parachute. Have students write their names and the size of the parachute (small) on the canopy. Give the students a few minutes to try out their parachutes in whatever ways they want to. 12. Hand out Similarities and Differences Between a Parachute and a Floating Seed, Reproducible Master 12, to students. Go over the reproducible master with them as appropriate. 13. Give dandelion seeds to the teams. Have teams explore their parachutes and the seeds and discuss/ record on their reproducible master the similarities and differences between them. 14. Give students 15–20 minutes for their exploration. Students should add the reproducible master to their science notebooks after they have finished their investigations.

83 5 Floating Seeds

Discussing and Interpreting – Whole Group Teacher Tip: 15. Gather students together with their science notebooks to share their observations. Ask students to be certain their names and Ask, “What did you notice about your parachutes?” canopy size are on the Keep a record of students’ observations on a piece of chart paper parachutes then collect them from students. or a whiteboard. They will be needed in the next activity. 16. Ask students how they think the floating dandelion seed resembles the parachute. If necessary, have students refer to Similarities and Differences 17. Between a Parachute and a Floating Seed, Reproducible Master 12. As they talk about the parts of the dandelion and the parachute, start to use the words canopy and lines for the parachute and pappus and beak for the dandelion. If the students don’t mention it, ask them how they think the pappus and the canopy of the parachute are similar?

canopy

lines

risers

containers

84 Reproducible Master 11

BUILD A PARACHUTE

1. Gather the materials you need. You need a parachute canopy, a piece of string, a paper clip, a permanent marker, and some sticky sticky circles.

2. Fold your parachute canopy in half and then in half again.

3. Make a mark in the center of your canopy using the permanent marker.

mark

4. Cut four equal pieces of string. Each piece of string should be 30 cm long.

85 Reproducible Master 11

5. Use the sticky tabs to stick a string to each corner of the canopy.

sticky tabs

6. Wrap a sticky tab around the loose ends of all four strings to hold them together.

7. Attach a paper clip to the ends of the strings to add weight.

8. Your parachute should look like this.

9. Write your name and the size of the canopy on your parachute.

10. To launch, grasp the mark in the center of the canopy and release it. Make sure the weight (the paper clip) is not swinging around before you let the parachute go!

86 Reproducible Master 12

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES BETWEEN A PARACHUTE AND A FLOATING SEED

Names:______

Make a table that lists the things you notice about the floating seed and the parachute you built. Do the seed and the parachute look or act the same or different? Explain your thinking in the Notes column.

Characteristic Same Different Notes

Pappus/Canopy

Beak/Lines

Seed/Person

6 Parachute Weight Build Knowledge

INTRODUCTION A-Ha The more weight added to the What Students Do in this Activity parachute, the faster it should In this activity, students explore how weight affects the parachute’s fall. However, it may be that the drop time. They also discuss their observations and results. weight will help to stabilize the parachute, causing it to catch the Objectives air faster and so seem to fall more slowly. Students will: • Conduct fair tests to explore how weight affects the drop time of a parachute • Share their results and discuss any conflicting results, as do scientists

Time 30–40 minutes

Materials For the teacher: • 1 dandelion seed • Model parachute created in previous activity • Chart paper or whiteboard • Markers For the class: • Once Upon a Time in the Woods book

89 6 Parachute Weight

For each team: • 12 paper clips • 9 stickers (a different color for each team) • 1 copy of Parachute Weight Results, Reproducible Master 13 For each student: • Parachute built during Activity 5 • Science notebook (see Introduction, page ix, for more information)

Preparation for the Activity Have students’ parachutes from Activity 5 available, as well as your model parachute. Make a class data chart on a piece of chart paper so that students can enter their data on the chart. The chart should look like the following: Parachute Weight Results

1 2 1 3 2 3 One vs. Two One vs. Three Two vs. Three

Have the book Once Upon a Time in the Woods available for students to consult, as needed.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY Presenting the Activity – Whole Group 1. Open the activity with a group discussion. Remind students of the parachutes they built in Activity 5. Drop both the dandelion seed and the model parachute. Discuss the similarities and differences students see between the floating seed and their parachutes.

90 Build Knowledge

2. Hand out a copy of Parachute Weight Results, Reproducible Master 13, to each student. Assign roles to students. Tell students that the recorder will keep track of the parachutes they test using this sheet. Go over the reproducible master with students. Explain that in these trials, they will be varying the weight of their parachutes. Remind students that they should race each parachute against another three times, noting the first parachute to reach the ground in each trial. Remind them that the recorder can take notes about each individual trial in the Notes box. Notes might include information about how the parachute flew (canopy didn’t open, spun around) or any other information students might care to note. Teacher Tip:

Facilitating Student Exploration – Teams All of the parachutes 3. In their teams, students compare the four parachutes they built made so far have the in Activity 5 by dropping them two at a time from the same same characteristics. They were built using height. the same materials and Each student chooses two parachutes and drops them at the same carry the same amount time. of weight, so they should perform The student whose role is judge should watch to determine which similarly. If you find a parachute stays in the air the longest. team that has parachutes that Discuss whether students think the parachutes behaved similarly, perform very differently, you might wish to and if they didn’t, why students think they didn’t perform in the same stop the class for a ways. discussion of why the parachutes perform 4. Provide students with paper clips. Have students test differently. their parachutes by varying the weight attached to the parachutes. Some reasons might be: As you circulate, remind students that: • Using different paper clips • One student should act as the launcher and launch both parachutes at the same time. • Improper cutting or string lengths • One student is responsible for watching the launch and making sure both parachutes were launched at the same time. • Dropping from different heights • The remaining students in the group are responsible for observing and recording which parachute stays in the air • Dropping at different times longest.

91 6 Parachute Weight

Note As teams work, circulate among them to observe what they are doing and listen to their conversations. Use this as an opportunity to informally assess students by asking yourself the following questions

• Are students following the guidelines?

• What are they noticing about the behavior of the parachutes?

• How are students communicating with one another about their observations and findings?

• Are they mentioning weight as a possible variable?

• Are they making any connections to the helicopter investigations?

5. After 10–15 minutes, ask teams to wrap up their work and make any additional notes about their experiences in their science notebooks 6. Make copies of each team’s recording sheet to give to team members and have students add their team’s reproducible masters to their science notebooks.

Discussing and Interpreting – Whole Group 7. Lead a large group discussion. Help students identify the variable that was tested for in this activity. Ask, “What variables did you keep the same during this test? What variables did you change?”

Note Students should recognize that for this particular activity, every aspect of the parachutes being tested was the same, except for the weight.

Go over students’ observations and findings. Ask teams to use stickers to add the data they collected to the class data chart (see Preparation for the Activity). Each sticker represents the parachute that stayed in the air the longest in each trial.

Ask the class to look at the chart. • What do they notice about the data? • How are the results of each team different? Similar? • Ask students, “How do you think weight affects the performance of the parachute?” Encourage students to use the data they collected to inform their answers. • Discuss the differences. For example:

92 Build Knowledge

It looks like the green team’s heavier parachute stayed in the air longer than their light parachutes, but the red team found the opposite. Why might this have happened? What do you think we should do now?

Note Students should recognize that similar parachutes should perform similarly. If teams did not generally find the same results, it is important for them to retest to make sure that their data are valid.

93 Reproducible Master 13

PARACHUTE WEIGHT RESULTS

Names:______

Circle the number of paper clips that are on the parachute that stayed in the air the longest in each trial. For Notes, you might include information about how the parachute flew (spun around, canopy didn’t open) or any other information you think is important.

Stayed in the Air the Longest Notes Trial # paper clips vs. # paper clips

94 7 Parachute Surface Area Build Knowledge

INTRODUCTION A-Ha The larger the parachute, the What Students Do in this Activity more drag it will produce and the In this activity, students explore how the size (surface area) of a more slowly it should fall. parachute affects the time it takes to drop to the ground. They build parachutes with larger canopies and explore how the larger-sized canopies change the time it takes for the parachute to hit the ground.

Objectives Students will: • Investigate how the surface area of a parachute’s canopy affects drop time • Share their results and discuss any conflicting results, as do scientists

Time 30–40 minutes

Materials For the teacher: • 1 dandelion seed • Model parachutes (see Preparation for the Activity) • 1 parachute canopy (30 x 30 cm) • 1 parachute canopy (35 x 35 cm) • 8 sticky tabs • 2 paper clips

95 7 Parachute Surface Area

• 1 pair of scissors • 240 cm piece of string • 1 ruler • 1 copy of Build a Parachute, Reproducible Master 11 • Chart paper or whiteboard • Markers • Adhesive tape (optional) For the class: • Once Upon a Time in the Woods book For each team: • 1 copy of Different Canopy Sizes, Reproducible Master 14 • 2 parachute canopies (30 x 30 cm) • 2 parachute canopies (35 x 35 cm) • 9 stickers (a different color for each team) • Permanent marker • Adhesive tape (optional) For each student: • 8 sticky tabs • 2 paper clips • 1 pair of scissors • 240 cm piece of string • 1 ruler • Parachute built during Activity 5, with one paper clip attached • 1 copy of Build a Parachute, Reproducible Master 11 • Science notebook (see Introduction, page ix, for more information)

96 Build Knowledge

Preparation for the Activity Make a class data chart on a piece of chart paper so that students can share their data on the chart. The chart should look like the following: Parachute Canopy Results

Small Medium Small Large Medium Large Canopy Canopy Canopy Canopy Canopy Canopy

Small vs. Medium Small vs. Large Medium vs. Large

Make two more model parachutes using Build a Parachute, Reproducible Master 11. The canopies of these parachutes should be 30 x 30 cm and 35 x 35 cm. Do not write the sizes on the canopies. For Presenting the Activity, be sure to have sample dandelion seeds and your three model parachutes handy (the one you made in Activity 5 and the two you made for this activity). For Facilitating Student Exploration, ensure that student teams have enough space to build and test their parachutes. Have the book Once Upon a Time in the Woods available for students to consult, as needed.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY Presenting the Activity – Whole Group 1. Gather students for a group discussion. Make sure that they bring their science notebooks. 2. Have students look at their notebooks and remind themselves of the parachutes they explored in the previous activity. Discuss their earlier results of how weight affects drop time. Have the parachutes that students created in the previous activity handy. They may need to use their parachutes to explain their observations.

97 7 Parachute Surface Area

3. Show students the three model parachutes you built. Ask students how they are different from each other. You may Teacher Tip: need to hold up the parachutes so students can see the canopies. If you are using a whiteboard, do not If the students don’t mention it, point out that the sizes of the erase these predictions. canopies are different, but that everything else is the same. They will be needed later in the activity, 4. Discuss how students think a larger canopy size will affect during Sharing and drop time. Interpreting. Be sure to ask why they think so. You may want to suggest they think about their tests with the helicopters. After a short discussion, have students predict how they think having a larger canopy will affect drop time. On a piece of chart paper or a whiteboard, record students’ predictions. Create three columns titled “Same drop time,” “Shorter drop time,” and “Longer drop time,” and enter their predictions.

Facilitating Student Exploration – Teams 5. Have students break into their teams. Give each team of students an area in which they can work. Remind them that it is their job to explore how the size of a parachute’s canopy affects the time it takes to drop to the ground. Give students the parachutes they built in Activity 5. 6. Make sure that students have copies of Build a Parachute, Reproducible Master 11. Each student should have 1 pair of scissors, 1 ruler, 240 cm string, 8 sticky tabs, and 2 paper clips. 7. Have two students in each team build a parachute with a 30 x 30 cm canopy, and the other two students build parachutes with 35 x 35 cm canopies. Distribute the materials needed for building the parachutes (string, parachute canopies, scissors, rules, sticky tabs, etc.). Students should write their names and the size of the canopy on the parachute (medium or large). 8. Hand out copies of Different Canopy Sizes, Reproducible Master 14, to each team. Make sure that each student has a role for this activity. Explain that the recorder will keep track of the results of their tests using this sheet. Remind them that the recorder can take notes about each individual trial in the Notes box. Make sure students have the parachutes they created in Activity 5 handy. Remind students that each parachute should have only one paper clip as weight.

98 Build Knowledge

9. Have students test their parachutes to see which ones stay in the air the longest. Remind students that: • One student is responsible for launching the parachutes. Both of the parachutes should be launched at the same time. • One student is responsible for watching the launch and making sure both parachutes are launched at the same time. • The remaining students in the group are responsible for observing which parachute stays in the air the longest.

• Are students following the guidelines?

• What are they noticing about the behavior of the parachutes?

• How are students communicating with one another about their observations and findings?

• Are they mentioning surface area (size of canopy) as a possible variable?

• Are they making any connections to the helicopter investigations?

10. After 10–15 minutes, ask teams to wrap up their work and make any additional notes about their experiences in their science notebooks. 11. Make copies of each team’s recording sheet to give to team members and have students add their team’s reproducible masters to their science notebooks.

Discussing and Interpreting – Whole Group 12. Lead a large group discussion. Help students identify the variable that was tested for in this activity. Ask, “What variables did you keep same during this test? What variables did you change?”

Note Students should recognize that for this particular activity, all aspects of the parachutes being tested were the same except for the canopy size (surface area).

Go over students’ observations and findings. Ask teams to use stickers to add the data they collected to the class data chart (see Preparation for the Activity). Each sticker represents the parachute that stayed in the air the longest in each trial.

99 7 Parachute Surface Area

Ask the class to look at the chart. • What do they notice about the data? • Ask students whether the data they collected supported their predictions (in Step 4). • How are the results of each team different? Similar? • Discuss the differences. • Ask students, “How do you think canopy size affects the performance of the parachute?” Encourage students to use the data they collected to inform their answers. Ask students, “What else could we test about parachutes?” Students may have a variety of answers, including the following: • Shape of the parachute • Length of the strings • Material for the canopy

Keep track of student suggestions on a piece of chart paper or a whiteboard. Pick one of the tests suggested by students and discuss a possible procedure for such a test. For example, if students suggest testing the canopy material, ask them how they think they could test this. Teacher Tip: As a group develop a procedure. A sample procedure might be You may wish to allow as follows: students to carry out the procedure they develop. If so, you will Procedure need to add a session or two to allow 1. Choose materials that you will test. students to carry out the testing.. 2. Cut materials into the same size pieces.

3. Make parachutes that have all of the same characteristics, except for the material.

4. Run test flights to determine which parachutes stayed in the air the longest.

It is important that students recognize that everything about the parachutes except the material from which the canopies are made should be the same in the test parachutes.

100 Reproducible Master 14

DIFFERENT CANOPY SIZES

Names:______

Circle the size of the canopy that stayed in the air the longest in each trial. For Notes, you might include information about how the parachute flew (spun around, canopy didn’t open) or any other information you think is important.

Stayed in the Air the Longest Notes Trial Canopy Size vs. Canopy Size

1. SMALL MEDIUM

2. SMALL MEDIUM

3. SMALL MEDIUM

1. SMALL LARGE

2. SMALL LARGE

3. SMALL LARGE

1. MEDIUM LARGE

2. MEDIUM LARGE

3. MEDIUM LARGE

101

8 BUILD THE BEST FLYER Build and Test

INTRODUCTION A-Ha Students will use the knowledge What Students Do in this Activity they’ve gained over the course In this activity, students build a toy that will stay aloft as long as possible of the unit to build a flyer that using knowledge that they’ve gained over the course of the challenge. In stays aloft for a long time. They teams, students discuss how they will design their toy and build some may choose to create a larger prototype toys to test. Based on their tests, students build a toy to be entered parachute or a longer-rotored into the flight challenge. helicopter. Some teams may want to experiment with other variables to determine how to create the Objectives best flyer. Students will: • Use the knowledge they’ve gained over the course of the challlenge to build a flyer that stays aloft as long as possible

Time 60–80 minutes (or more)

Materials For the teacher: • 1 copy of Letter from EarthToy Designs, Reproducible Master 2 • 1 set of literary genre posters (optional) For the class: • Once Upon a Time in the Woods book For each team: • A variety of craft materials, including: • Various types and weights of paper • Aluminum foil • Feathers • Plastic bags

103 8 BUILD THE BEST FLYER

• Pipe cleaners • Dental floss • Thread • Tissue paper • Wooden craft sticks • Dowels • Adhesive tape • White glue • Glue stick • 12 paper clips For each student: • 1 sticky note • 1 pen or pencil • 1 pair of scissors • 1 copy of Make Your Own Flyer, Reproducible Master 15 • 1 copy of Our Flyer, Reproducible Master 16 • Science notebook (see Introduction, page ix, for more information)

Preparation for the Activity This activity can be undertaken in a single session or in multiple sessions, depending on how much time you wish to give students to experiment with their designs. Determine how much time you will allow teams to work on their flyers. For Facilitating Student Exploration, ensure student teams have enough space to build and test their flyers. With the exception of the posters for fiction and nonfiction, post the literary genre posters around the room. Have the book Once Upon a Time in the Woods available for students to consult, as needed.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY Presenting the Activity – Whole Group 1. Gather students for a class discussion. Make sure that they bring their science notebooks.

104 Build and Test

Literacy Extension 1a. Reread Once Upon a Time in the Woods. Explain that books are categorized as fiction, nonfiction, and other categories. Point out the fiction and nonfiction posters to students, and read aloud the definitions provided.

Explain that books can be further categorized by their literary genres. Ask students if they are familiar with some genres. If they are unable to list some of them, point to the literary genre posters and quickly go over them.

Remind students that they just read a book about how seeds are dispersed. Ask them to consider the following questions but not to share their answer yet:

• What type of book is this (fiction or nonfiction)?

• What genre does it fall into?

Pass out a sticky note to each student.

Have students examine the genre posters. When they think they know the genre of Once Upon a Time in the Woods, tell them to write the genre on their sticky note. Tell them not to discuss their selection with classmates!

When all students are finished, make a histogram of students’ sticky notes on a piece of chart paper or a whiteboard.

1b. Discuss the genres that students felt the book might belong in.

Which genre was selected the most by the class?

If there are multiple genres represented, ask students, “What was it about Once Upon a Time in the Woods that made you think it belonged in ?”

Continue to discuss until students have come to a consensus. If they have not decided that the story is a myth, ask some probing questions to help them move toward that conclusion.

2. Reread Letter from EarthToy Designs, Reproducible Master 2, to the class. Explain that teams will now have a chance to design their toy flyer as requested by EarthToy Designs. Tell students that it is each team’s job to build a flyer using any of the materials they will be given. Emphasize that EarthToy Designs is interested in a flyer inspired by nature.

3. Remind students to review their science notebooks. Encourage students to look at the work they have done in the challenge: the tests they have conducted, the observations they have made, and the results they have gathered. Encourage them to consider and use the data in their completed reproducible masters while they build their flyers.

105 8 BUILD THE BEST FLYER

Encourage them to conduct tests in the manner they learned over the course of this challenge to determine information that they do Teacher Tip: not already know. The building and testing of a flyer can be constrained to 1–2 class Facilitating Student Exploration – Teams periods, or you can allow teams more time 4. Ask students to break into their teams. to build. You might Give each team an area in which they can work. want to base your Remind them that they are to build a flyer that will stay in the air decision on the quality of student interactions as long as possible while carrying AT LEAST one paper clip. about the design process. If students are 5. Hand out Make Your Own Flyer, Reproducible Master 15, to building and testing each team member. different designs to Provide each team with the craft materials they will have to determine the optimum design and referring to choose from. Students can use any of the materials listed under prior work, it might be Materials to create their flyers. a good idea to give 6. As teams work, circulate among them to observe what they are them more time to work on their designs. doing and listen to their conversations. Use this as an opportunity to informally assess students. Pay particular attention to whether students refer to the experimentation they carried out previously in the challenge. Ask yourself the following questions: • Are they applying what they learned previously to their toy design? • Do students refer to the earlier findings when suggesting how to build their flyers? • Do students suggest ways to test their proposed designs? It might be necessary to remind them to hold all but one variable constant by asking them if a test they are proposing will give them enough information to make a decision. Is the test they are thinking of running a test that will give them the information they desire? 7. Hand out a copy of Our Flyer, Reproducible Master 16, to each Teacher Tip: student. Have each student draw their flyer and explain how and why they If time allows, you may decided to build it the way they did. want to encourage students to record Explain to students that they will be presenting their flyers to predictions and explain other teams and then racing them in the next activity. Encourage their thinking on a them to come up with a name for their flyer. piece of paper as they examine other teams’ Remind them to include their completed reproducible master in designs. their science notebooks.

Sharing and Interpreting – Whole Group 8. When students have finished, collect their designs and put them where the class has access to them. 9. Encourage students to examine other teams’ designs.

106 Reproducible Master 15

MAKE YOUR OWN FLYER

1. With your team, explore the materials you can use to create your flyer. Which materials do you think will help you build a toy that will float in the air the longest? Remember, your flyer should be inspired by nature!

2. Experiment with the materials to decide what you will use to build your flyer.

3. Draw a picture of your flyer design in your science notebook.

4. Build your flyer! Remember, make a flyer that will stay in the air as long as possible.

107 Reproducible Master 16

OUR FLYER

Names:______

We used the following materials to build our flyer:______

______

Here is a picture of our flyer:

We designed our flyer this way because . . .______

______

108 9 Drop Time Racing Present

INTRODUCTION What Students Do in this Activity In the previous activity, students had the opportunity to create a flyer designed to stay in the air as long as possible while carrying at least one paper clip. In this activity, student teams compete in races to compare their flyer’s drop time performance with other flyers.

Objectives Students will: • Demonstrate their flyer toys • Test their toys against flyers built by other teams • Examine the elements that make up the flyer that stayed in the air the longest • Reflect on what they’ve learned

Time 30–40 minutes

Materials For the teacher: • Chart paper or whiteboard • Markers (optional) For each team: • Flyer they built in the previous activity • 10 paper clips

109 9 Drop Time Racing

For each student: Round Team Team Winner • 1 copy of Drop Time Races Results, Reproducible Master 17 1 Team 1 Team 8 • 1 copy of Building a Great Flyer, Reproducible Master 18 1 Team 2 Team 7 • 1 copy of My Science Myth, Reproducible Master 19 (optional) 1 Team 3 Team 6 • Science notebook (see Introduction, page ix, for more information) 1 Team 4 Team 5 Preparation for the Activity 2 Team 7 Team 1 Make the flyers students built in the previous activity accessible. 2 Team 8 Team 6 Students will be moving a lot in this activity as they conduct the 2 Team 2 Team 5 races. Make sure that you have cleared enough space in the classroom 2 Team 3 Team 4 to allow teams to move around safely. If possible, identify a place 3 Team 1 Team 6 within your school where students can drop their flyer from a greater distance, such as a balcony or an overlook. If there is no suitable 3 Team 7 Team 5 space, you may wish to launch the flyers YOURSELF while standing 3 Team 8 Team 4 on a chair or desk. Be sure take safety precautions if you do decide to 3 Team 2 Team 3 stand on furniture. 4 Team 5 Team 1 Set up a race schedule in which each team races their flyer against 4 Team 6 Team 4 every other team’s flyer. For every team to race against every other team once, it is necessary to have a round robin tournament. The table 4 Team 7 Team 3 to the right shows a sample round robin schedule for eight teams. 4 Team 8 Team 2 5 Team 1 Team 4 Optional: Obtain 4–5 books of myths for this activity. Examples of myths can be found on the A World in Motion website. 5 Team 5 Team 3 5 Team 6 Team 2 5 Team 7 Team 8 6 Team 3 Team 1 6 Team 4 Team 2 6 Team 5 Team 8 6 Team 6 Team 7 7 Team 1 Team 2 7 Team 3 Team 8 7 Team 4 Team 7 CLASSROOM ACTIVITY 7 Team 5 Team 6 Presenting the Activity – Whole Group 1. Gather students for a class discussion. 2. Remind students of the flyers they built in the previous activity. You may want to ask students to articulate the criteria for Teacher Tip: building the flyer: If you had students • The flyer should stay in the air as long as possible. record predictions on a piece of paper in the • The flyer must carry at least one paper clip. previous activity, you 3. Ask student teams to share the toy they built. may want to discuss those predictions as Be ready to hand each team the flyer they built to show to the part of Step 3. class. Have each team explain their design and why they built their flyer the way they did.

110 Present

4. Explain to students that they will have the opportunity to compare their flyer’s drop time performance to other teams’ flyers in drop down races. As a class, discuss how you can ensure that the races are fair. Take note of students’ suggestions and then, as a class, decide which suggestions you will put in place for the races. Students may suggest the following: • The person launching a pair of flyers should not be from the teams that built the flyers. • There should be an observer who determines if both flyers were dropped at the same time. • The teacher should launch all of the flyers. • Flyers should be raced more than once. 5. Distribute Drop Time Races Results, Reproducible Master 17, to each student. Go over how the races will work and how to Teacher Tip: record their scores on the reproducible master. Instead of having every Tell students that they will race their flyer against all other flyers team compete, you that have been built. might choose to have a single elimination Each flyer should have at least one paper clip weight. tournament (which will take less time) in which Before racing, you may wish to ask students to predict the a flyer is eliminated outcome of each race. when it loses a race. Students may object to After launching the flyers, students record the winner of each race that format, as they might feel it is unfair and award the correct number of points (3 for a win, 2 for a tie, that they don’t get to and 1 for a loss). race against every other team. After racing all flyers, students total their points. The flyer with the most number of points wins.

Should there be a tie, the tied flyers race to determine the winner. Teacher Tip: 6. Go over the launching procedures with students. If possible, take the Encourage students to launch their flyers as they did while testing students to a location within the school where the helicopters and parachutes. they can safely do the Emphasize the importance of letting go of both flyers from the races from a greater same distance. height, such as a stairway. If needed, split student teams so that some students are Facilitating Student Exploration – Teams dropping the flyer and 7. Have students break into their teams, then gather the teams in others are at the the area where they will be conducting the drop time races. bottom recording results. • Observe student reactions and listen carefully to their conversations. Ask yourself the following questions: • Are students predicting and explaining their predictions before they let go of the flyers? • Are they sharing observations about what they saw? • Are students recording their predictions and results onto the reproducible masters?

111 9 Drop Time Racing

Discussing and Interpreting – Whole Group 8. After the races, gather students together with their science notebooks. 9. Ask a representative of each team to share the total score for their flyer. Record the scores on a piece of chart paper or a whiteboard. Determine which team’s flyer has the most points—and announce the winner! Should there be a tie, have students race those flyers in a face-off challenge. 10. Hold up the winning flyer. Teacher Tip: Ask students, “Why do you think this flyer is the winner?”Continue You may want to use probing by asking, “What makes this flyer stay in the air longer than some of the completed other flyers?” reproducible masters to assess student learning. Answers will vary depending on the design of the toy. Encourage students to make observations about the shape, size, and materials used to build the flyer. 11. To wrap up, distribute Building a Great Flyer, Reproducible Master 18, to each student. Ask students to write about and reflect on what they learned about making good flyers and to include these thoughts and ideas in their science notebooks.

Literacy Extension 11a. Read one or more of the myths that you obtained for this activity aloud to students.

11b. Pass out My Science Myth, Reproducible Master 19, to each student.

Have students write a short myth on something scientific that they know about using the prompts on the reproducible master to get started.

112 Reproducible Master 17

DROP TIME RACES RESULTS

Names:______

1. Write the name of your team’s flyer. 2. Write the name of the other team’s flyer. 3. Race the flyers, and circle the flyer that stayed in the air the longest. 4. Award points: 3 (win), 2 (tie), 1 (loss) 5. After racing all flyers, add your scores.

Race My Team’s Flyer vs. Other Team’s Flyer Score

Example Pegasus vs. Red Phoenix 3

1. vs.

2. vs.

3. vs.

4. vs.

5. vs.

6. vs.

7. vs.

8. vs.

TOTAL POINTS

113 Reproducible Master 18

BUILDING A GREAT FLYER

My name:______

If you had to tell someone how to build a good flyer, what are two important things you would tell that person?

1.______

______

2.______

______

114 Reproducible Master 19

MY SCIENCE MYTH

My name:______

Once Upon a Time in the Woods is a myth that explains something that is scientific. Write your own science myth. For example, you could write about why a leopard has spots or why it rains.

______

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