Year 2 have been learning about structures in our DT lessons this half term. First, we explored the stability of different 3D shapes – cylinders, spheres and cubes. We made these shapes out of playdough then tested to see how high we had to lift the cardboard or our whiteboard before the shape toppled. Next, we explored the strength of a cylinder, a triangular prism and a cuboid by seeing how many books we could place on top of each shape before it fell over. Having established that cylinders were the strongest, we then made our own cylinders and saw how many books different sizes and thicknesses could hold. As you can see from the photos, some of our cylinders were incredibly strong!
Finally, we put all our learning into practice by making a chair for Baby Bear. We chose our own materials – some of us used paper and others used pipe cleaners and art straws. Making a stable chair to support Baby Bear was tricky but we showed perseverance and learned a lot in the process!
Michael Faraday 