Year 5/6 Science and Engineering Project
Helpful instructions
We are so pleased you have joined the ‘Chain Reaction’ project and hope you have lots of fun with
science when you take part. In order to make it easier and to help you involve your staff, children
and parents, we have devised a set of instructions you can follow if you would like, or amend to
suit your specific situation.
Introduction Has anyone watched the introduction to Wallace and Gromit – The Wrong Trousers
- when Wallace wants his breakfast? Several machines and mechanical devices are used to tip him
out of bed, put on his clothes, deliver him to the table and spread jam on his toast.
1. Watch a video with a Rube Goldberg device, such as the ‘page turner’.
https://www.rubegoldberg.com/rube-tube/joseph-herscher-the-page-turner/
2. Discuss the mechanics of some of the actions seen in the video, including the associated
vocabulary such as rolling, swinging, release, pushing, reversing, wind/un-wind,
momentum, pull, fall, turn, hit, touch etc. You could relate these to the concept of forces or
energy. [We have also created a Powerpoint presentation, looking at energy types and
transfers, which would suit able pupils and/or provides useful background science
information for teachers; this could be used at a later stage, once the devices are built.]
3. If possible, allow the children some time to play with dominoes, marble runs, a Mousetrap®
game, packs of cards, balls, skittles etc. and explore how each works. You can also see short
clips of a Mousetrap® game in action on the Internet if one is not available.
4. Introduce the homework task for the Easter holidays (also supplied in a Word document
for convenience) and make sure the children understand the 4 basic rules. Their
contraption is to be brought into school for the first science lesson of the Summer Term.
5. In this lesson, the children set up their homemade mechanical devices and then
demonstrate these to their classmates, setting them off for everyone else to watch. Take
photos and a short video of each one if possible. They could ask their classmates to predict
what should happen before the action begins.
Discuss:a. How it works (identifying type of movements where possible)
b. The positive elements (what worked well)
c. Whether it would be possible to could join it on to another one
d. How it could be modified/improved
6. If you have time, allow groups to join up and reconstruct their devices so they form one
longer chain reaction.
7. Sue has already completed this part of the activity with the children at St Martin’s School
in Bournemouth. You can see photos and video clips from the children’s efforts in the
gallery:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stmartinsbournemouth/albums/72157665339283846
8. Set up a Chain Reaction lunchtime club. We suggest a half hour + club for a limited period
(i.e. up to end of June) and involve Y5/6 staff, other staff, TAs and parents. The aim of this
club is to make one larger contraption that will be brought along to the GRAND CHAIN
REACTION EVENT on 28th June 2016 @ a secondary school in Poole (details to follow). [As a
school, you may alternatively wish to organise a specific class or group of children to work
on this task – it is completely up to you]. At the event, we would like to demonstrate each
large-scale device and then join these together to make a single, very large chain reaction.
Your contraption should:
a. Contain at least 4 sections with different mechanical movements;
b. Be as relatively large scale as possible;
c. Be transportable – you will need to bring it to the event in e.g. a car/minibus;
d. Be able to be set up in 1 to 2 hours maximum;
e. Have the possibility to be joined to another device (at either end or both);
f. Be as varied as your imagination allows.
For creating devices on a larger scale, we envisage utilising materials such as drainpipes, guttering,
wooden blocks, etc. This might be a good time to make friends with a local builders’ merchant or
joinery or to find which of your parents have useful construction skills that they could bring along
to your school!!
Part of the fun is in not knowing what each child will invent or how each device will turn out at the
various schools involved. We are certain, however, that the children will benefit from an exciting
event, sharing each other’s ideas and looking at different approaches to the same task.
If you have any questions please feel free to get in touch with Caroline Galpin at
[email protected]