Santa Sleigh Design

STEMLinc Video Conference: Santa needs your help! There are so many presents that he has to deliver to children all over the world. The reindeers are exhausted, and Santa is worried about whether they will be able to pull the sleigh this year. Join Santa’s Engineer Elves to look at the size and shape Santa’s sleigh and how it could be pushed or pulled. Students will have the opportunity to design their own sleigh for Santa and make a model to test. (Image: Envato Elements) 

Year Level: Prep

Duration: 1 hour

STEM in a box:

You will receive a teacher guide with follow-up activities.  The program will draw on the students’ imaginations and creative skills, so the school should provide an assortment of craft materials for students to build their design.

Background Information:

On Christmas Eve, millions of children around the world will settle anxiously into bed, hardly able to contain themselves. What vision could possibly dance through their heads, turning them into twitchy, restless insomniacs for just one night? Chances are the children are thinking about toys, Santa Claus and his team of reindeer. If the children have been nice this year, jolly old St. Nick should be landing his sleigh on their roofs sometime late during the night.

Everyone has their own traditional image of Santa’s sleigh, but there is almost certainly more to it than just a sled and a team of eight reindeer. Although no one may ever know for sure just how Santa operates, we at Ecolinc have what we think are the most logical explanations for how the big guy accomplishes all that he does: science, technology, engineering & maths.

Prior Knowledge:

No prior knowledge is required.

Learning Intentions:

In this program students will:

●       Learn that the way the sleigh moves depends on a variety of factors including the size and shape: a push or pull affects how it moves in the air, as well as landing on and taking off from rooftops.

●       Compare and contrast various shapes and sizes of sleighs (modes of air transport)

●       Consider various designs of sleigh and types of push and pull

●       Compare observations and make predictions about Santa’s sleigh with other students

Activities:

In this video conference students will:

●       Respond to and pose questions, and make predictions about Santa’s sleigh

●       Participate in guided investigations, including making observations, using the senses, to explore and answer questions about Santa’s sleigh

●       Use informal measurements when observing the size of and testing the distance travelled by Santa’s sleigh

●       Use drawings to design Santa’s sleigh (mode of transport)

●       Create a model of Santa’s sleigh and demonstrate (either with a push or pull) how it moves

Victorian Curriculum:

Science – Science Understanding

• The way objects move depends on a variety of factors including their size and shape: a push or a pull affects how an object moves or changes shape (VCSSU048)
• Participate in guided investigations, including making observations using the senses, to explore and answer questions (VCSIS051)
• Represent and communicate observations and ideas about changes in objects and events in a variety of ways (VCSIS055)

Capabilities – Critical and Creative Thinking

• Identify, describe and use different kinds of question stems to gather information and ideas (VCCCTQ001)
• Make simple modifications to known ideas and routine solutions to generate some different ideas and possibilities (VCCCTQ003)
• Compare and contrast information and ideas in own and others reasoning (VCCCTR005)
• Investigate ways to problem-solve, using egocentric and experiential language (VCCCTM009)

Technologies – Design and Technologies

• Explore how technologies use forces to create movement in designed solutions (VCDSTC014)
• Visualise, generate, and communicate design ideas through describing, drawing and modelling (VCDSCD019)
• Use materials, components, tools, equipment and techniques to produce designed solutions safely (VCDSCD020)
• Sequence steps for making designed solutions (VCDSCD022)

IMPORTANT:  Cancellation Policy

1. 1. When you book you will receive an automated message from Eventbrite.  Save this carefully please.
   2. Any cancellations need to be received in time for STEMLinc to re-sell your tickets to other teachers.
   3. Please use the Eventbrite confirmation email to facilitate any cancellation of your booking.  That will automatically release your ticket for re-sale on our system.