Learning Area (Te Arotanga Marautanga):

Date:

Lesson 2 of 5 OR ROUTINE

Forces: Go-Karts

May 2016

Part of a unit

Curriculum Achievement Objective(s) and

Level 3/4 (Whinga Paetae):
Conduct investigations using the statistical enquiry
cycle: gathering, sorting, and displaying multivariate
category and whole-number data and simple timeseries data to answer questions; identifying patterns
and trends in context, within and between data sets;
communicating findings, using data displays.

Learning Intentions/Learning Outcomes

(Ng

Whinga P):

record data in tables and interpret the results with the

help of representations
identify the relationship between mass or height and
the distance travelled

Key Competency

Select ONE
Thinking;
Using language,
symbols, and texts;
Managing self;
Relating to others;
Participating and contributing

WALT

(E ako ana mtau):

(Te tino Pkenga):

We are learning

We are learning to name the forces that occur on a car

when it moves, and to record the changes that happen
when we alter one of these forces.

Concept: Forces act upon all object including humans

playing sport
NOS: Explore and act on issues and questions that link
their science learning to their daily living.

Bicultural Perspective(Kkano Ruatanga):Mori cultural

value explored /encouraged or related content

Awhina: helping each other to observe and express

opinions and incorporating Whakatauk: all pulling
together to get the job done

Resources and Organisation

(Rauemi Whakarite):

recording tables (as in FIO resource)

a toy car
identical blocks of wood or books
a plank of smooth wood (1 m long)

Success Criteria (Paearu Angitu):

We will know we have achieved our WALT when we
have written up a table of the results we gained after we
had made small changes to the car or the ramp.
Assessment Methods

(Tikanga Aromatawai):

Select One

or add
observation of the learning,
interviewing &
conferencing,
work sample analysed using success criteria,
test,
audio/video recording with analysis,
self- assessment,
peer assessment

small weights to place on or in the car

a measuring tape or ruler
classmates
FIO, Forces, Levels 2+-3+, Zoom, Zoom!, pages 19 21
Youtube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=tJel8dJuPH8

Lesson Duration

60 mins

Teacher/Kaiako: Key teaching strategies to

develop new and/or reinforce understandings,
concept/s & skill/s.

Learners/Akonga: Key learning activities for

students, for the development of
understandings, concept/s & skill/s.

Introduction
(Te Timatanga)

To catch the
childrens
attention/make
connections/activa
te prior knowledge

Begin with the question: Does anyone have a

go-kart? Has anyone ever been in a go-kart?
Maybe even a bike?
Then show students a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=tJel8dJuPH8
Questions: What are they doing? Id like for us
to watch it again, and pay attention to the
sorts of things that could be affecting the
speed of the go-karts. (students have already
had a lesson on forces)
Play the video again.
Questions: When these kids created their gokarts, what sort of things do you think they
were trying to do? What do you think could
have been affecting the speed of them? Tell
the person beside you.

Students reflect on their own experience going

downhill on wheels.

Students get to watch a video (its really cool!)

of some other young people riding go-karts in
real life.
Watch again (children have already
experienced the simple excitement of the
video and can now relax a bit more to focus in
on the WALT)

Students consider what is affecting speed of

the go-karts.
This question links the video to the real world
again.
Students get a chance to chat to the person
beside them about what they observed.

Share with whole group. Teacher is looking for

answers such as: The weight of the car, the
Confidence has been built through peer chat,
surface they are driving on, (incl the
now the group can discuss and learn from
grass/friction and the steepness/gradient of
eachothers suggestions.
the hill), the size of the wheels, the shape of
the car and the person driving it.
Provide praise for all answers and let students
know the forces that are acting on the car to
change the speed, and that these are
Confidence to do with scientific vocabulary is
INDEPENDENT (write on whiteboard)
reinforced.
variables, once all suggestions have been
made.
Tell the students the WALT: We are learning to
name the forces that occur on a car when it
moves, and to record what happens when we
change an independent variable in a fair test.
We are going to do this through an
investigation involving our own mini go-karts.
The changes we observe are the
DEPENDENT variables (write on whiteboard).
Share success criteria.

Students listen to the word and see it written.

Students explicitly understand the meaning of

the lesson and what we are doing as well as
knowing how we will know that we have learnt
this.

Development
(Whakawhanake)

Input (including
information intake /
use of resources)

Processing/
Thinking /Making
sense of new
information

Output/ Sharing
new
understandings

Organisation of
students

Key
questions/Thinking
prompts

Formative feedback
opportunities

Effective pedagogy

Designate two resource monitors who will

Responsibility is given to students who have
make 5 stations (there will be four in each
shown attentive manners and engagement
group) of a toy car, their plank of wood, ruler. throughout the introduction.
There will be small weights, various surfaces
(pieces of material to cover the ramp with) and
blocks/books at the front of the room for
groups to use.
Describe the task.
We are seeing what happens when we
change one variable. What sort of variable is it
if we can change it?
All groups need to do the same thing first: Set New vocabulary is now asked of students.
up your ramp and start the car at the top of it. They can refer to the whiteboard if needed.
Set the ruler at the bottom and let the car go
(No pushing!). Measure and record how far it
went. This is the controlled variable as there
have been no changes.
Any questions?
Divide up into 5x groups of 4 people. Assign
each group an independent variable to
change:
Height of ramp (gradient)
Weight of car
Smoothness of the surface

There is a run down of the task so that the

students understand.

Opportunity to share anything that is unsure.

One variable per group means that the task is
not too huge for them to measure
everything.

Give each group a chart to fill in their results

(appropriate labelling to their independent
variable)
Let the groups know that they need to figure
out how to change these variables, they can
use the resources up the front of the class if
they need to. They need to record the
results in a table just like in the resource.

The chart means they can focus on the

practicality of performing the investigation
rather than how to keep track of it all (this is
another LI)
Groups will find different ways of attacking this
problem of changing the independent variable.

Send groups away, ask them to first compose

a hypothesis for their task, quick discussion
about what they think will happen, and write
it down on their sheet. They then have
20ish minutes to complete the task.
When a few groups begin finishing the task,
get everyones attention and tell them that
they need to write up one sentence that
summarizes the results of their fair test, the
conclusion. And if they want, they can try
out a new independent variable and draw

Making predictions is important for students

and provides excitement to complete the task
as they want to know f they were correct.

up their own results grid to test it.

Pack up resources and ask for students to
come back down to the mat.

Extension task for those who found it easy

and quick. Sumarising numbers into short
sentences is a good writing skill and important
in scientific conclusions.

During entire lesson, teacher needs to visit all

of the groups and ask questions to check
for knowledge, observe science
conversations looking out for vocabulary
Re grouping.
such as friction, increase/decrease, weight,
gravity, slope, independent/dependent
variable, results, conclusion.
Students know that the teacher is interested in
what they are doing and can provide guidance
if necessary (although should ideally leave it
up to the children to problem solve).

Closure
(Te Whakamutunga)

Review learning /
reflection /
application of new
ideas / next
learning steps

Relate recap to success

criteria

Ask groups to share something that they

found out through their investigation. Reiterate the forces that were acting on their cars
and how what they changed affected those
forces.

One person per group can act as spokes

person, whole group feel pride for knowledge
but not all students have to worry about
speaking if they dont feel comfortable.

Let them know that next class, we will be

graphing out results so that we can compare
them with each other, then we can make one
huge class graph with all of our results on it.

Understanding of next steps and bringing the

gaps concludes lesson.

Evaluation of learning (Aromatawai)

How well have the LI/LOs/WALTs been met?

Students can hear what other groups were

doing.

Evaluation of planning and teaching

(Aromatawai)
What worked well in planning & teaching?

What went well for learners? What challenges occurred for

learners?

What challenges occurred in planning & teaching?

Next Learning Step for students in this area:

Use the data that they gained to draw up a visual

representative such as a graph and compare the results
of their variable with results of another groups.

Next step to improve planning and teaching in

this area: