Higher:
Describe squashing, bending, twisting, and stretching, with reference to the direction of forces
Middle:
Describe the difference between squashing, bending, twisting, and stretching
Lower:
Demonstrate squashing, bending, twisting, and stretching.
Lesson Recap Starter: Think back to the last lesson. What makes kitchen roll a good material to use in the kitchen?
Lesson Starter: How can you change the shape of an object?
Give each child a small slip of paper and ask them to show how they can change the shape of that paper.
Presentation - Starter Slide.
Strips of paper.
Run through the presentation - asking suggested questions throughout.
Talk Partners - children to discuss how cardboard may respond when treating it in different ways - bending, pulling, squashing, etc.
Stop the presentation at the relevant slides: Talk Partners; AfLs; Songs.
Take part in the Choral Response Questions activity (see Assessment section) after the Keywords/Rocket Words slide.
Key Concept:
During this unit, each lesson contains a key concept question housed in the '30 Second Challenge' slide. To help children master this content so the knowledge moves from their short term memory to their long term memory, at the beginning of the follow on lesson the question from the previous lesson is revisited.
The questions covered during this unit include:
1. What makes brick a good material to build a house from?
2. What makes kitchen roll a good material to use in the kitchen?
3. What materials are easy to twist? What materials are easy to stretch? What materials are easy to bend?
4. Why is waterproof clothing important to a mountaineer? What properties of a material make a material waterproof?
5. Why is copper a good material to use as a saucepan? Who was John McAdam?
6. What is John Dunlop famous for inventing?
Presentation
Expert Film: Jon talks to Tim King from QCR Recycling Equipment about how materials are compressed during recycling.
Expert Film: Dr Sam Rowe explains how a metal, such as aluminium, can change shape so it can be used in a number of ways.
How we deliver the Gatsby Benchmarks:
2 - Learning from career and labour market information: Pop along to Developing Experts career’s zone to find out about jobs in your area.
4 - Linking curriculum learning to careers: This unit showcases careers in the people who work with materials. Access our 360° virtual work tours.
7 - Encounters with Further and Higher Education: Pop along to Developing Experts career’s zone to find out about training providers in your area.
Presentation - Expert Film
Making Putty
Mix together the washing-up liquid and cornflour by hand in a mixing bowl.
If the mixture becomes too sticky or tacky, sprinkle in a little extra cornflour. This should be added cautiously as too much will cause the putty to become brittle.
Once the putty has been prepared, the children can use it to demostrate squashing, bending, twisting, and stretching.
The children can keep the putty if they store it in an airtight container between playing with it. However, if it is left out in the open, exposed to air, it will dry out.
Alternative Task: Materials Investigation
Lay out the samples of materials around the room. It is a good idea to have several small samples of each material as they are likely to be damaged during the task.
The children will then move around the room and test to see if each material can be squashed, bent, twisted, or stretched easily.
Once they've tested it they can fill in their tables on the Handout with either a tick or a cross.
Emphasise to the children that each action should be gentle and if it doesn't respond to the action they should put a cross in their table.
Mission to Write - Recipe for Silly Putty
Today's extended writing task is for children to write a recipe-style set of instructions for how to make silly putty. You can explain what a recipe is and looks like first. Children can use the starter words and the rocket words at the bottom of Handout - Mission to Write! Recipe for Silly Putty to help write their recipe. Award children for accurate use of the rocket words and for spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Making Putty
Per Putty:
45g cornflour
60ml washing-up liquid
Food colouring (optional, if using colourless washing-up liquid)
Materials Investigation
Small samples of putty, foil, cardboard, paper, sponge, wood, cling film, cloth, rubber, etc.
Handout
Mission to Write! Recipe for Silly Putty
Pens or pencils
Handout - Mission to Write! Recipe for Silly Putty Handout
Bend Me, Shape Me
Ask the childrent to come up an action for squashing, bending, twisting, or stretching.
Then call out the words randomly and the children show off their actions.
Quiz
With their talk partners, the children are to go through the quiz at the end of the presentation and answer the questions.
Quiz in presentation
Interactive quiz
Observe how the children sort the objects. Can the children suggest objects that can be changed in different ways?
Are the children using vocabulary correctly?
Can they record their findings on a table?
Can they use the table to answer questions about the ways different materials can be changed?
Can they give reasons based on their observations, as to why objects made from the same materials can have different properties?
An elastic band can be.....
A screw can be....
The Science Behind the Science
It is important to distinguish between objects and the materials they are made from. It is also important to realise that different materials can have different properties depending on how they have been treated or manufactured.
Silly putty is made from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and this is what gives the putty its unique qualities. It is a polymer, which means it is made from a repeating chain. In the case of silly putty, the chain is Si-O-Si (silicone-oxygen-silicone) and this will repeat throughout the putty. Polymers often have characteristics of stretchiness and flexibility. Silly putty is elastic and also able to act as a liquid because its polymer chains are very long and due to their length, they become entangled with one another.
Find out how shapes of solid objects made from some materials can be changed by squashing, bending, twisting, and stretching.
Forces, electricity and waves - Forces - By investigating forces on toys and other objects, I can predict the effect on the shape or motion of objects. SCN 1-07a
The study of the properties, behaviours and uses of materials, both natural and human-made; the origins of human-made materials and how they are manipulated to suit a purpose.
The Australian Curriculum - Predicting and comparing how the shapes of objects made from different materials can be physically changed through actions such as bending, stretching and twisting
Performing simple tests
Grade 3 - Matter.
Grade 1 - Physical Science - Matter - Matter everywhere - Solids - What are some properties of solids?
Science Observation: describes the basic characteristics of common objects, identifying common materials in life, knowing common forces. Under the guidance of the teacher, using the methods of observation and description, compare and classify to draw conclusions.