Science - Year 3/4A Spring 2 Plants A Feast of Flowers, Fruits and Seeds Session 5 Task PowerPoint © Original resource copyright Hamilton Trust, who give permission for it to be adapted as wished by individual users. We refer you to our warning, at the foot of the block overview, about links to other websites.

What kind of seeds are dispersed by wind? Seeds that spin or glide or float to the ground slowly. This gives time for the wind to catch them so they can drift gently away from the parent plant on the breeze.

Let’s all make a paper seed that spins to the ground Let’s all make a paper seed that spins to the ground. We will call it a Paper-copter. 1. Take a paper-copter template and a pair of scissors. Cut along all the solid lines but not the dotted ones. 2. Now fold flap A towards you and flap B away from you by folding along the dotted lines.

3. Next fold flaps C and D behind the central “stem”. 4. Then fold up a section of the stem along the dash-dot line. 5. Finally push a paperclip over the fold. Your paper-copter is now finished.

Try out your paper-copter by dropping it from above your head. Does it spin gracefully to the ground? A really good one will take the longest possible time to fall. This is because the longer it is in the air, the more chance there is that the wind will carry it away to a find a new place to grow.

Your task is find out which type of paper-copter will stay in the air the longest. Work with a partner on one of these 4 challenges. Size What difference does size make to the paper-copter? Do you think a large one will stay in the air longer than a medium one? Or perhaps a tiny one will stay up for longest. Experiment with different sizes and find out. Weight Try making paper-copters with different weights at the bottom. You could compare paper-copters with 1, 2, 3 or 4 paperclips at the bottom. You could also try one without a paper clip. Which one do you think will stay in the air for the longest? Investigate and find out.

Material Try making paper-copters out of different thicknesses of paper and card. You could try tissue paper, tracing paper, photocopy paper, art paper and card. Think about how to keep your test fair. Which material do you think will fly for the longest time? Shape Make some slightly different shaped paper-copters by making your cuts a little bit longer or shorter than the template. You could try folding up a different amount from the bottom of the stem as well. How will you make it fair? Find out which of your changes makes the best flyer.

Predict Think about the question you are testing. Before you start make an educated guess about what you think will happen. Test it Out Test out 2 paper-copters at a time by dropping them from the same height. Remember the best seed (or paper-copter) takes the longest time to fall. Try it a few times, dropping different pairs and comparing how long they take to fall. Keep it Fair Scientists always want their tests to be fair! So for example, if you are testing size, try to keep everything else the same, e.g. Same height drop Same amount of paperclips at the bottom Same type of paper Record your Results Scientists always note down what happened. Think of a way to record your results.