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Whirlygigs

Essential Concepts & Skills: Iowa Core, Grades 3-5


Identify and generate questions that can be answered through scientific investigations. (Inquiry) Plan and conduct scientific investigations. (Inquiry) Use evidence to develop reasonable explanations. (Inquiry) Communicate scientific procedures and explanations. (Physical)

What students will be doing: This activity is designed to teach students all about controlling variables. Students will learn about research questions, fair tests, independent variables, dependent variables, and constants by creating and experimenting with Whirligigs. Materials: Whirligig (one for each student and one for teacher) Template of Whirligig Scissors Different sized paper Different weighted paper Paper clips

Introducing the Activity & other Teacher Directions: Boys and girls, today we will be playing with Whirligigs! Whirligigs can do a very neat trick. I am going to hand each of you your very own whirligig and I will give you a few moments to explore what your whirligig can do! (hand out whirligigs- come back together after a few minutes) After playing with your whirligigs, have you noticed what they can do? (someone answers- spin, fly, etc.) That is right! Our whirligigs can fly! Today, we are going to try and figure out how to make the best whirligig ever!

We will need to first decide what makes a whirligig the best ? What do you guys think? (field students answers) Yes, I think we should pick the whirligig that stays in the air, the longest. What should we call this? (hang time, etc. make sure to use students language) Alright, this is going to be called our dependent variable, because it changes depending on how we change the independent variable. How are we going to measure the hang time? (example student answer: a stop watch!) Hmmlets try that? (try it and show students that it might be too close to tell.) What other ways could we see which whirligig stays in the air longest? (example answer: do them both at the same time!) Yes, great idea! Lets do both of them at the same time and see which whirligig stays in the air the longest! Now that we know how to determine the best whirligig, we should talk about things that we could change on our whirligig. These can be called independent variables, because they are things that we can change on purpose and they will affect the dependent variable (hang time) (field students answers and write all ideas on whiteboard) Examples: # of paper clips, size of fold at bottom, position of paper clips, thickness of post, size of whirligig, length of post, thickness of paper, length of wing cut, wing length, # of wings, height of drop, shape of wings, air movement, amount of wing bend, etc. Now that we have a list of variables that we can change, we need to think about the outside variables that could affect the whirligigs performance. (create list on whiteboard with students answers) These can be called controlled variables. If we change only one variable at a time and keep the other ones constant, that is called a fair test. I would like each group to pick a variable that they will be testing. (Pick groups in order to pick variable by popsicle sticks.) Now that we have picked our variables, I would like you to fill out the worksheet according to the experiments that you do.

We need to first establish what the research question will be. The research question will have the independent variable and dependent variable stated. An example would be How does the number of paper clips affect the hang time of the whirligig? (write the example on the whiteboard and label the independent variable and dependent variable on the board) (everyone go off and do their experiments) Assessment: Use your ipad to record then present information about your experiment. Display the following information using popplett on your ipad. Include these components: Research question Independent variable Dependent variable Constants Your experimental data Conclusion (answer the research questions) Photo of your whirligigs Experimenters names

Be prepared to share your summary with the class.

Student Pages Name: _________________ Whirligig Exploration Play with the Whirligig for a few minutes to discover how it works. Describe everything you notice. ____________________________________ _______________________________________________________ ___ _______________________________________________________ ___ _______________________________________________________ ___ _______________________________________________________ ___ _______________________________________________________ ___ Think about all of the important variables that might affect how much the Whirligig spins. Write a list of important variables, including as many as you can think of. ____________________________ _________________________ _ ____________________________ __ ____________________________ __ ____________________________ __ ________________________

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Student Page: Part II of Whirligigs Activity Name: __________________________ Whirligigs Revisited Controlling Variables to Discover More about Whirligigs What will you test? Design and carry out a FAIR Test on one of these variables: i.e., paper thickness, overall size, wing length, tail length. For wing and tail length, you must do some measuring with a metric ruler and record these values as part of your data. Research Question you will test: _______________________________________________________ ______ _______________________________________________________ ____________________________________________ What is your independent variable? _______________________________________________________ __ What is the dependent variable? _______________________________________________________ ______ List all of the other variables you will control (keep constant) in your experiment. _______________________________________________________ __________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Outline your experimental procedure (Exactly what will you do?) Be detailed. _______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________

_______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Write your data below. You can either make a table or use sentences and/or drawings to represent your findings.

Based on your data, what is the answer to your research question? _______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ If you could redesign this experiment to improve it, what changes in your experimental design would significantly improve the quality of your experiment? _______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ ___________________________________________ Experiment Assessment: Use your ipad to record then present information about your experiment. Display the following information using popplett on your ipad. Include these components: Research Question Independent Variable

Dependent Variable Constants Your experimental data Conclusion (answer the research question) Photo of your whirligigs Experimenters names Be prepared to share your summary with the class.

Extension: Challenge students to do some internet research and home on Garden Whirligigs. Using materials around your home, make a working garden whirligig.

Student Pages- Sample Answers Name: Student Name Whirligig Exploration Play with the Whirligig for a few minutes to discover how it works. Describe everything you notice. Hold upside down- does not work Hold horizontal (side)- it works Depending on which fold is forward and backward- spins opposite way If both the same way- does not work It works with or without paperclip Think about all of the important variables that might affect how much the Whirligig spins. Write a list of important variables, including as many as you can think of. # of paper clips position of paper clips size of whirligig thickness of paper wing length height of drop air movement size of fold at bottom thickness of post length of post length of wing cut # of wings shape of wings amount of wing bend

Student Page: Part II of Whirligigs Activity Name: __________________________

Whirligigs Revisited Controlling Variables to Discover More about Whirligigs What will you test? Design and carry out a FAIR Test on one of these variables: i.e., paper thickness, overall size, wing length, tail length. For wing and tail length, you must do some measuring with a metric ruler and record these values as part of your data. Research Question you will test: How does the number of paper clips affect the hang time of the whirligig? What is your independent variable? # of paperclips What is the dependent variable? Hang time List all of the other variables you will control (keep constant) in your experiment. Size of whirligig Thickness of paper Wing length Length of wing cut Height of drop Size of bottom fold Position of paper clip # of wings length/thickness of post

Outline your experimental procedure (Exactly what will you do?) Be detailed. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Make one whirligig without a paperclip. Make one whirligig with one paperclip Make one whirligig with three paperclips. From the same height, drop whirligigs. Then, observe which whirligig hits ground first. Do the experiment three times and record data.

Write your data below. You can either make a table or use sentences and/or drawings to represent your findings. Using a whirligig with two paperclips vs. one paperclip were too similar to tell a difference in land time. When the whirligigs had three paperclips, it took longer than one paperclip. When the whirligig had zero paperclips it had a longer hang time.

Based on your data, what is the answer to your research question? We learned that the best whirligig does not have a paperclip. If you could redesign this experiment to improve it, what changes in your experimental design would significantly improve the quality of your experiment? I would have planned to do 0 paperclips, 1 paperclip, 2 paperclips, and 3 paperclips to start with. I would have recorded all of the data separately and made it into a table. We did not think it through before starting the activity.

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