With all the changes taking place in schools during 2020, your classroom probably looks very different to this time last year!
To provide some LEGO based learning tools, Imagination Station has created a range of worksheets covering a broad selection of curriculum and other topics. These include a variety of tasks involving different media - drawing, building, writing, photographing. Many of the worksheets include experiments that reinforce key learning themes.
We’ve designed these worksheets with all kinds in mind - whole families or groups can work together and LEGO is not always essential (although highly recommended)!
Now that we’re safely reopening schools across NZ, you can integrate these worksheets and the experiments involved into your classroom teaching, or do them at home with your whānau. Science demonstrations are a super way to get kids talking (and thinking) about science! They explore unfamiliar topics by playing with familiar objects in different ways, and can help us visualise some big ideas!
We’ve included lots of experiments because we love getting excited about learning, and that’s especially easy when you’re exploding anything in the name of science! Here’s a handy list of all the worksheets that use experiments to explain concepts. We recommend some level of adult supervision for all of these experiments, but they can be done as a group or individually.
"How do Planes Fly?": Explore paper plane design to learn about thrust, air resistance, and gravity.
"How is a Rainbow Made?": (Junior & Senior) Create rainbows to learn about colour, light, and refraction. Play with combinations of red, blue and green light to create cyan, magenta, yellow, and white light.
"How do Volcanoes Work?": Baking soda vinegar volcanoes!
"How do Fireworks Work?": Canister rockets to learn about pressure build up and release.
"How do Cars Work and Move?": Build a car and use a rubber band to make it move.
"How do Roller Coasters Work?": Swing a bucket of LEGO or water in circles to learn about centripetal force. As an alternative, tip a bucket of LEGO or water over your head, to learn about gravity.
"How are Skyscrapers Built?": Master gravity and compressive strength by balancing books on paper. At school or round the block, measure distance using steps, and identify a 2 mile walk or bike route.
"Sounds Like Surface Tension": Play with density, surface tension and surfactant by placing small objects on the surface of a cup of water, then try adding a little detergent.
With such a broad range of topics to discover, we hope you find something to suit you and your classroom or family! There’s lots of room to make these tasks your own, and follow up the experiments with other kinds of learning. To see worksheets related by topic, come back soon to check out our next blog! Each of these worksheets can also be signed off as an hour of learning with Te Mātāpuna Mātātahi | Children’s University, so why not make them a challenge for your young learners?
We hope these worksheets are useful in whatever learning projects you are working on, and we’d love to hear how you’ve been using them. We also value feedback on all our resources.
To let us know what you think of the worksheets or request an answer sheet, email us at education@imagination-station.org.nz.