Target Audience
Key Stage 1 (Yr 1)
Link to the National Curriculum
Sc3 Materials Yr1
Children should be taught to:
•Describe the simple physical properties of a variety of materials
•Compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of their simple physical properties.
Objective
To relate the above NC link to meaningful real life situations where the children can make a clear understanding of the property relating to waterproof / non waterproof materials.
What you need
•Glass jam jars
•Various types of material both waterproof and non waterproof
•Pipettes ( medicine droppers easily obtainable from any chemist shop
•Elastic bands
•Hand magnifying glasses
What you do
•Cut a number of pieces of material porous and non porous of equal size to fit comfortably over the jam jars*
•Place each piece over the open end fixed in place with an elastic band
Group Work
•Split the children into groups each with an adult helper*
•Taking turns the children use the pipette to see how many drops of water are needed to pass through the material.
•Children record the outcome on their recording sheets
*Clearly much will depend on the adult help available. If only one group takes part then others will be gainfully engaged in associated activities related the the problem solving situation, e.g. What happened when you went out in a rainstorm? recording in picture or written format depending on the
age/ability of the individual child
How it works
Certain materials are bonded together so that they are completely non porous while other are woven together loosely.
Using the magnifying glasses the children should be able to make this distinction and come up with an appropriate response.
Preliminary activity
•Much work in terms of identification of every day materials the children come into daily contact should be undertaken eg. Cotton. Paper, Plastic, Wood, Rock, Metal, Wool.
•These materials should also be associated with specific everyday situations.
Follow up work
•Other properties of materials should be investigated giving the children reasonable reasons for investigation e.g. What coat/hat/gloves/scarf would be best to wear in very cold weather?
•Other investigations could surround such problem as which material is strongest or does not easily bend or stretches most etc etc.
It is vital that each problem surrounds a real situation to which the children can relate.