Welcome to STEM PBL PARACHUTE PROJECT
Learning Made Fun
Parachute STEM Project: Overview
In the parachute design project, students in groups or teams of 3 students will construct a model of a parachute and test if the parachute falls slowly and land safely. They will design their parachutes with different materials and with different surface area for each material to solve their design challenge. Students will redesign and retest their parachutes until landing of the parachutes have improved performance. The aim is for the attached weight to the parachute land must land safely.
KEY CONCEPTS
Scientific Inquiry
Mathematical Modelling
Engineering design & Technology
Critical Thinking
Collaboration
Creativity
Communication
Exploration
Observation
Making & testing predictions
Problem solving
These are the 21st century skills required for today's living. These are the 4Cs which you can learn more from the link below.
https://k12.thoughtfullearning.com/FAQ/what-are-21st-century-skills
First formulate a word problem with a few variables involved to make the problem easier to solve at the start.
Then make the word problem challenging by adding more variables in the word problem.
After the formulation of the word problems or real world models, students then apply the appropriate Mathematical model for the given problem, find the Mathematical results, and explain the real world meaning of the result and finally checking or validating the results as per the real situation
From https://tophat.com/glossary/s/scientific-inquiry/
Scientific inquiry extends beyond development of process skills such as observing, inferring, classifying, predicting, measuring, questioning, interpreting and analyzing data, which must occur in that order for proper scientific inquiry to happen. Scientific inquiry includes the traditional science processes, but also refers to the combining of these processes with scientific knowledge,critical thinking and scientific reasoning to develop scientific knowledge.
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PARACHUTE DESIGN CHALLENGE
INQUIRY
Can the students design a parachute that falls slowly and can land gently without causing damage to the weight or parachute man?
SCENARIO
The Grade 9 science students have been asked to design and construct a Parachute man as a STEM project in time for the upcoming school STEM expo to promote STEM projects in the school.
DESIGN PROJECT
The students have been assigned the task of designing and building a prototype model of a parachute man that will fly and land safely after being dropped from a height. The parachutes will be judged for their overall design and performance. Time is of the essence and the students must work through the design process to prepare the prototype model in time for the school show.
MATERIALS
Newspaper(parachute)
Aluminium foil(parachute)
Nylon rope (attach parachute to weight)
Tape (attach nylon rope to the parachute)
Masks (COVID-19) (to hold the weight)
Weights (2 marbles and eggs)
Measuring tape (measure height)
Ruler (measure radius of a circle)
Mobile or stopwatch (record time)
Scissors
Key concepts are the curriculum content applied in this parachute project
Teaching Sequence outlines the steps involved in the teaching & learning involved in the project.
Introducing myself
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