Typically completed by 5-11 year olds, CREST Star and SuperStar challenges relate to everyday experiences. Children complete eight activities to gain a CREST Award, with each activity taking between 45 minutes and 1 hour to complete.
The activities are designed to be easy-to-run and low-cost. You don’t need to be a teacher, have a science background or have access to specialist equipment to run them. The packs contain helpful hints and tips for you to use, explaining the scientific themes and offering guidance on conversation topics for your children.
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SUPER SPINNERS Super Spinners Activity Card SUPER SPINNERS Mr Sycamore, class 5 teacher at Startown Primary School, amazed pupils and staff when he arrived for work in a helicopter! “It’s a bit of a hobby really,” said Mr Sycamore, “I’m flying a different one every day and then I’ll buy the one I like the best. This helicopter has a short blade design, I wonder if the size of blade makes a difference? I’ll need some Super Spinner test pilots to help me decide!” Your challenge Can you help Mr Sycamore decide if the size of the blades makes a difference? Building full size helicopters is difficult SUPER but SPINNERS you can have fun making paper helicopter blades and watching how they fall. Discuss What happens if you drop flat and scrunched up paper? What do you notice about the way that they fall? What might be making a difference to the way that they fall?
Getting started SUPER SPINNERS You can make paper spinners to use as a model. You will need to put a paper clip on the bottom to help them to fall properly. What sizes will you make them? How big will you make the blades? How many clips will you add? Test your ideas Watch the spinners carefully as they fall. Can you make them go faster and slower? You could try landing them on a target and score points for where they land. Remember to change only one thing at a time. Share your ideas You could make a display for Mr Sycamore using your spinners to show him what happened. Extra things to do Does the spinner act differently if you change its shape? What if you make spinners from different kinds of paper? What else could you change? Can you make a bar chart to show your results? British Science Association Registered Charity No. 212479 and SC039236