top of page

Energy and Forces

 

Exploring Light with our buddies

Energy and forces > Light

6th class Ms Burns & 2nd class Ms Annett

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

Friction Rockets

Energy and Forces > Forces

2nd class Ms Donnelly & 5th class Ms Travers

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

Helicopters

Energy and Forces > Forces

1st class Ms Martin

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Floating and Sinking - Design a Boat

Energy and Forces > Forces

2nd class Ms Donnelly

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Strongest Shapes - Design a tall structure

Energy and Forces > Forces

2nd class Ms Donnelly and 5th Ms Travers

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sound and String Telephones

Energy and Forces > Sound

2nd class Ms Donnelly

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Push and Pull, Friction

Energy and Forces > Forces

2nd class, Ms Donnelly

 

 

 

 

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magnets, Magnet Maze and Fishing

Energy and Forces > Electricity and Magnetism

1st class, Ms Martin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Light and Shadows

Energy and Forces > Light

2nd class, Ms Donnelly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Static Electricity

Energy and Forces > Static Electricity

5th class, Ms Grier- Gavin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parachutes

Energy and Forces > Forces

Senior Infants and 3rd class Ms Gibson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Electricity

Energy and Forces > Electricity and Magnetism

5th class, Ms Travers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buddy Science

Energy and Forces > Forces > Gravity

5th class, Ms Travers and 1st class Ms Martin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magnetism

Energy and Forces > Electricity and Magnetism

4th class Ms Klein and Junior Infants, Ms McCarthy

We explored light with our buddies in second class. We explored shadows by shining a torch behind our hands. We made shapes and animals in the shadows. We learned that light is blocked by opaque objects and a shadow is formed where the light has been blocked.

We investigated the way in which light travels. We learned that light travels in straight paths. 

We explored reflections with mirrors. We discussed periscopes and used mirrors to try to see in different directions. We saw how the Lego man’s reflection changed size depending on the size of the angle of the mirrors. 

We investigated the different colours which could be seen when the torch was shone at different angles at the plastic cup. The cup contained water and a small bit of milk. We saw blue and then moved the torch to create a sunset in the cup.  

Second and fifth used the power of friction to launch their rockets. Friction is a force that acts against an object that is moving. We thought the the string might slide down the string due to gravity, but we learned that friction holds up the rocket when we moved the string. Friction between the surfaces of the string and the straw caused the rockets to move.

 

Make your own moving Rocket using the power of friction.

​

Materials:

- A piece of card

- A drinking straw

- String

- Cellotape

- Scissors

- Colouring pencils

​

First Class learned about gravity and that gravity is a force through this helicopter activity. Students made helicopters using paper and paperclips and dropped them from a height. The shape of the helicopter rotor blades made it spin when dropped from a height. Gravity pulled the helicopter down. The air resisted the movement and pushed up each rotor separately, causing the helicopter to spin. They looked at how the size of the rotor blade affected how the helicopter fell. We really enjoyed this activity and we used our measuring skills from maths during our investigation.

Second class are investigating objects that float or sink in water. They investigated a range of objects by placing them in water and then discussed why certain objects floated while others sank. Following this, second class used plasticine to make boats that would float in water.

Second and fifth worked together on some S.T.E.M. challenges for science week. One challenge involved determining which shape was stronger; a square or a triangle. Buddies constructed these 2D shapes using toothpicks and plasticine. They then investigated how applying a force can distort these shapes. They determined that triangles were the stronger shape and used this knowledge to construct tall structures.

We began learning about sound and hearing in Second Class. We learned that sound is vibrations. We placed our hand on our throat and felt the vibrations as we spoke. We learned that sound travels. We learned that sound can travel through the air, water and even through materials like string. We used two polystyrene cups and string to make a telephone. Speaking into the cup created sound waves which were converted into vibrations at the bottom of the cup. The vibrations travelled along the string and were converted back into sound waves at the other end of the string. We tried communicating with the door closed to see if the vibrations were interrupted by the closed door and we found that we could not hear as well.

We are learning about energy and forces and we are looking at friction and what it is. We leaned that friction is a force and it acts against an object that is moving. We learned that by rubbing our hands together quickly, the energy created heats up our hands. We also learned that friction can speed things up or slow things down. We looked at how a toy car moves over different surfaces. We used our metre stick to record how far the car goes. We found that the car travelled furthest over wooden or cardboard surfaces and less so over carpet and bubble wrap.

First class learned all about magnets. They used magnets of different shapes and sizes to explore their effects on different materials. They designed and made a fishing game using a magnet. They investigated that magnets attract magnetic materials and that magnets attract materials through water. They used their knowledge of magnets to design a magnetic maze.

Second class learned about light. They learned that it takes 8 minutes for light to travel from the sun to earth. They learned that light can be natural or man made. They learned that light goes through materials that are transparent but does not go through materials that are opaque. For this reason, shadows are formed and we watched how shadows moved throughout the day on our tinfoil characters. We learned that light can also be reflected and absorbed and we found out that the sea is blue due to it reflecting the sky and also that water absorbs all other colours except blue. We looked at how the earth rotates around the sun and how it is day in some parts of the earth while others are in darkness.

Objectives:

​

  • learn about electrical energy

 

We investigated static electricity using balloons and pieces of paper.

During Science Week, we decided to investigate air pressure with our buddy class. We did this by making parachutes in pairs using plastic, string, rulers, markers and a paper clip as a weight. It took a little while to form our parachute but it was very worthwhile as we had lots of fun testing them with our buddies in senior infants. We dropped them from a height and watched them glide to the ground- some parachutes were slower than others.

 

Materials:

  • plastic bag

  • marker

  • 2 paper clips

  • string (same size)

  • tape

  • scissors

  • pencil

  • a ruler

 

Method:

  1. First get your plastic bag and your marker.

  2. Draw an octagon on the plastic bag with your marker.

  3. Cut out your octagon with a scissors and draw circles on each corner.

  4. Poke the dots out with a pencil.

  5. Next get out your ruler and string and scissors. Then choose the size of your string (minimum 10cm and maximum 30cm).

  6. With your ruler, measure the string and cut it at the size you want (8 times). Then tie knots on top of all the pieces of string.

  7. Put all of the pieces of string through the holes in the plastic bag.

  8. Then get the pieces of string and tie them to the two paper clips (attached) and tie all the pieces of string together on the paper clips.

  9. Then check what size your plastic bag is and stand up on a chair (with adult supervision)

  10. Drop the parachute and see how fast or slow it goes down. If it is small it should go down fast enough if it is medium than it should not go down too fast or too slow- it should go down just normally. If it is big it should go down very slow.

 

We tested these out with our buddies in Senior Infants. Also, the best smallest, medium and large were tested out of our window to see if they worked properly. We had lots of fun making and testing these hope you have fun too.

 

By: 3rd Class

Written by: Ameila, Hugo and Ewan

Objectives:

​

  • learn about electrical energy

​

Fourth class were working with our buddies in Junior Infants and investigating what things around the classroom are magnetic and sorting the paper cards into magnetic and non-magnetic.

bottom of page