May the Force be with Year 2
Year 2 have unleashed their scientific creativity in their latest PYP unit of inquiry into How the World Works, looking at the central idea: understanding forces can aid us in creating useful products.
Without a doubt Obi-Wan Kenobi would have been impressed with Ms Peck’s Year 2 students this term. The force has definitely been with them. Not only have they mastered key concepts such as form, function and causation, they’ve also used their critical thinking skills to explore the following lines of inquiry: the use of force and energy in products; properties of materials and their uses; and thinking scientifically helps us solve problems.
Working from home, with the support of their incredible parents, the students have channelled their inner scientists, coming up with all sorts of interesting experiments to investigate different forces such as gravity, friction, air resistance and buoyancy. They’ve experimented with the centre of gravity and they’ve designed and made their own Rube Goldberg Machines to explore energy and forces.
They’ve designed water balloon drops to research air resistance – which they are really looking forward to trialling by dropping them from the roof at Woodstock when they are back on campus… although some students have already made a big splash by trialling their designs at home!
They’ve made ramps to investigate friction, experimenting with different heights and surfaces to see how it affects objects like balls or toy cars as they roll down. And they’ve made foil boats, adding informal units of measurement such as coins or Lego to see how this affects their buoyancy.
So much learning, so much creativity! As a final challenge, Ms Peck asked the students to design their own product, incorporating their learning to devise a product that uses force, energy or both. The students were only limited by their imagination!
Camilla designed a swing to be used with magnetic shoes. Olivia designed a parachute for puppies to save them from walking downstairs. Charlotte designed a Marshmallow blaster game and Amelia designed a tea-making mug for her tea-loving dad. Ruby made a dictionary flipper that helps you find the meaning of words by saying the phoneme and the word itself. Jessie designed a dog jacket to give her dog Daisy more buoyancy. Amelia designed a cat toy for her new pet cat – that is arriving soon. Annabelle designed a cat-pulling machine that helps you move things and Leela designed a tunnel for her little brother to play in. Sibylla designed a playground and Josie designed a table for bike riding so you can eat while you ride!
Since the evolution of mankind, our world has been driven by flashes of inspiration, the process we call creativity. And it has been fantastic to see the spontaneous burst of new ideas from our Year 2 students as they came up with some fantastic new products. Bravo students, parents and Ms Peck!