These units have been developed by pilots who are teachers and engineers, to offer teachers and youth leaders something a little bit different. Each unit addresses a particular part of the National Curriculum in England at Key Stages 2, 3 and 4 and is guaranteed to inspire and excite your class – and the activities are equally suitable for youth groups outside the school environment with their emphasis on fun practical learning!
The activity packs are ‘stand-alone’ and provide all the material you need to deliver the lesson from the pre-recorded video. Alternatively you can use the presentations to deliver them yourself, or contact us to see if we can get a pilot along to help deliver the activity.
Each pack consists of:
- One or more videos which take the class through the activity and introduce a gliding role model. Some units have a choice of role models and some have optional videos showing elements of the activity or experiment – this is all detailed in the Teachers’ notes. Some units have an optional presentation for the teacher to deliver instead of using the main video.
- Teachers’ notes on how to run the activity with additional background information and fun facts.
- Student worksheet.
The support notes are downloadable below, click on the links to run the videos via our YouTube Channel.
Key Stage 2
These units are suitable for upper KS2 classes and younger ages in youth groups equivalent to primary school age.
This activity builds students’ ability to work scientifically, investigating convection and how air currents rise. National curriculum areas addressed include comparative and fair tests, observations, states of matter and the water cycle.
This unit builds students’ ability to work scientifically, investigating the fact that air has weight which creates air pressure. National curriculum areas include comparative and fair tests, observations, taking measurements, mass, gravitational force and weight.
- KS2 Science Gliding into the Stratosphere Teacher notes v1 1
- KS2 Science Gliding into the Stratosphere Student worksheet v1 1
- Gliding into the Stratosphere video
- KS2 Gliding into the Stratosphere 16 9 – optional Powerpoint presentation in place of the video if required
- ‘Fly Away With Me’ video – only needed if Teacher is presenting with optional Powerpoint rather than main video
This activity builds students’ ability to work scientifically, investigating properties of materials to design a wing spar of a specific strength. It involves calculating average values, constructing a results table and drawing a chart.
This unit builds students’ mathematical thinking and their ability to work scientifically. The class will make 3 designs of glider, measure how far they fly from a given height and calculate the glide ratio of each, followed by practice with a number of examples.
Key Stage 3
These units are suitable for KS3 classes and similar aged youth groups broadly equivalent to the first two years in secondary school.
This activity addresses the following KS3 National Curriculum areas: opposing forces and equilibrium, pressure measured by ratio of force over area, using force arrows in diagrams, adding forces in one dimension, balanced and unbalanced forces, moment as the turning effect of a force, non-contact forces.
Coming soon!
Coming soon!
This activity builds mathematical thinking and addresses the following KS3 National Curriculum areas: speed, distance, time calculations, conversion across time and distance units, ratios and drawing charts.
Key Stage 4
These units are suitable for KS4 classes and similar ages in youth groups equivalent to third and fourth years at secondary school.
This activity addresses the following KS4 National Curriculum areas: weight and gravitational field strength, forces as vectors as well as opposing forces and equilibrium, pressure, balanced and unbalanced forces, moment as the turning effect of a force.
This activity builds students’ ability to work scientifically, addressing the Design and Technology syllabus at KS3 or 4 by designing & building a simple launch machine to launch a glider, investigating the impact of various design elements and identifying possible improvements.
This activity builds students’ ability to work scientifically, investigating different types of energy and the transfer that occurs between them as a glider is launched into the air, flies and then lands. It covers the different types of energy, drawing an energy transfer diagram and conservation of energy.
This activity builds students mathematical thinking and addresses the following areas from the Maths National Curriculum: conditional probability and rules; speed, distance, time calculations, conversion between fractions, decimals and percentages and across measurement units.
