Task 5

Materials and tools for a working group:

parachutes made from different materials from the previous task

Pupils solve a research question: Which material is best suited to create a parachute (which slows down most)? The aim is for pupils to find out by their own research (with the help of a teacher) which material is most suitable for the production of the parachute. First, the teacher guides the pupils to try and create the predictions about which materials they use to work best. Pupils have available materials to view. They should try to describe what features a material should be used to make the best parachute. Thinking about materials is important, the teacher has a chance to see if the pupil registers the link between the quality of the material and how the parachute works.

To facilitate the exploration of the pupils, the combinatorial task to be addressed in the examination of the four materials to the pupils we provide or present them an example of what to do if we want from four possible materials to find out which is better. The semifinals and the finals of various competitions work on a similar principle. The pupils first compare Sample 1 with sample 2 and in particular sample 3 with sample 4. This way we exclude materials that are less suitable for parachute formation and will remain with two „winning“ materials that just compare. When creating parachutes, we ensure that pupils construct parachutes in the same way that they use equally large pieces of different materials examined, as well as long laces, the same method of attachment to materials and equally large pieces of plasters instead of weights. When comparing two parachutes, we ensure that both of the matched parachutes always run from the same height. For these details, please note that this is part of the development capability to conduct an experiment that we can use to verify our own predictions. The results will be recorded in Task 5.