Paper spinner Investigation (appropriate for KS2 & KS3)

This is the paper spinner investigation that can be used in both primary (ideally Year 5 or Year 6/ qualitative approach) and in secondary (Year 7 or Year 8/ quantitative approach) as a fun lesson when talking about forces.
It can also be done separately during Science week as a fun investigation.

The students are investigating how the size, the length of the blades and the number of paperclips affect the paper spinner’s flight time.

Instructions:

Students are split into three groups that work on the different factors simultaneously.
Students need to keep all the variables the same when only investigating how one of them (e.g. size of paperspinner) affects the flight time, to keep the investigation a fair test.
In primary the students can complete the results table by using their observation skills, but in secondary students can use stopwatches to record data and find average values. Secondary students can also plot a graph with their results if the time allows.
At the end of the lesson, some students from each group can present how they conducted their investigation in front of the rest of the class to identify good practices and/ or errors.
This investigation is better conducted as a double lesson to allow enough time for the students to conduct the investigation and think about variables and forces.