Science and Technology

Grade 6: Matter and Materials: Properties of Air and Characteristics of Flight	Achievement Level
Overall Expectations	1	2	3	4
•demonstrate an understanding of the properties of air (e.g., air and other gases have mass) and explain how these can be applied to the principles of flight;
•investigate the principles of flight and determine the effect of the properties of air on materials when designing and constructing flying devices;
•identify design features (of products or structures) that make use of the properties of air, and give examples of technological innovations that have helped inventors to create or improve flying devices.
Specific Expectations
Understanding Basic Concepts
•recognize that gravity does not depend on the presence of air;
•demonstrate understanding that gases expand to fill a space;
•demonstrate that air expands when heated (e.g., heat a garbage bag partially filled with air using a blow dryer);
•demonstrate and explain how the shape of a surface over which air flows affects the role of lift (Bernoulli’s principle) in overcoming gravity (e.g., changing the shape of airplane wings affects the air flow around them);
•demonstrate and describe methods used to alter drag in flying devices (e.g., flaps on a jet aircraft’s wings);
•explain the importance of minimizing the mass of an object when designing devices to overcome the force of the earth’s gravity;
•describe the sources of propulsion for flying devices (e.g., moving air, propellers, combustible fuel);
•describe how unbalanced forces are used to steer airplanes and spacecraft (e.g., rocket firings to control docking in space).
Developing Skills of Inquiry, Design, and Communication
•design, construct, and test a structure that can fly (e.g., a kite, a paper airplane, a hot air balloon);
•design and create a device that uses pneumatic power to move another object;
•formulate questions about and identify needs and problems related to the properties of air and characteristics of flight, and explore possible answers and solutions (e.g., investigate whether the shape of a plane affects its flight path);
•plan investigations for some of these answers and solutions, identifying variables that need to be held constant to ensure a fair test and identifying criteria for assessing solutions;
•use appropriate vocabulary, including correct science and technology terminology, to communicate ideas, procedures, and results (e.g., use terms such as lift, thrust, streamline, and aerodynamics when discussing flight materials);
•compile data gathered through investigation in order to record and present results, using tally charts, tables, labelled graphs, and scatter plots produced by hand or with a computer (e.g., record the flight distances of different styles of paper airplanes, and present their findings in a graph);
•communicate the procedures and results of investigations for specific purposes and to specific audiences, using media works, written notes and descriptions, charts, graphs, drawings, and oral presentations (e.g., hold an invention convention on things that fly).
Relating Science and Technology to the World Outside the School
•identify devices that involve the application of Bernoulli’s principle (e.g., paint sprayer, carburetor);
•describe how the properties of air, such as its compressibility and insulating quality, are used in common products (e.g., automobile tires, double-glazed glass, sleeping bags, fire extinguishers);
•describe and justify the differences in design between various types of flying devices (e.g., airplane versus helicopter, spacecraft versus hot-air balloon); •identify characteristics and adaptations that enable birds and insects to fly;
•compare living things to identify the different features that allow them to be transported by wind (e.g., differences among spores, pollen, seeds);
•describe milestones in the history of air and space travel;
•compare the special features of different transportation methods that enable those methods to meet different needs (e.g., features of bicycles, cars, airplanes, spacecraft);
•assess whether the materials in student-designed projects were used economically and effectively (e.g., decide whether paper was wasted during the construction of paper airplanes);
•describe practices that ensure their safety and that of others (e.g., directing flying objects away from oneself and others).
Student Name:

 Expectations: Copyright The Queen's Printer for Ontario, 1998.  Format: Copyright B.Phillips, 1998.