Fashion
This list consists of lesson plans, activities and ideas to support the teaching of science through the topic of 'Fashon'. It contains ideas for how to link science to the topic, tips on using the resources, suggestions for further use and background subject knowledge to support teachers in delivering the science objectives through this topic. Resources support the teaching of the science topics properties and changes of materials, living things and their habitats and forces. This enables teachers to choose which aspect of science they would like to teach within the overarching topic.
Visit the primary resources for cross curricular topics webpage to access all resource lists:
https://www.stem.org.uk/cross-curricular-topics-resources
Smart Materials
These Smart Materials ideas would be a great way of covering some of the 'Properties and Changes of Materials' objectives. UV beads are available cheaply online and work fantastically well in sunshine without the need for a UV lamp. Children could be asked to design an outfit for an astronaut that had photochromic and / or thermochromic properties. If you want to access the PowerPoint version of the presentation so that you can tailor it to your own needs, you can download it from: www.spacetoearthchallenge.org.uk.
A series of investigations using UV beads to choose materials suitable for an astronauts outfit are detailed in the next resourse: Mission Starlight.
Mission starlight
This resource looks at how outfit of an astronaut is designed to protect astronauts from the effects of harmful UV light. children experiment with different materials to discover which blocks UV light the best using inexpensive UV beads to show how much UV gets through the materials used to block the UV.
Clothes and Costume
Although clearly very dated, there are some excellent ideas in this book. Be aware that the health and safety guidance given in the book is incredibly out of date!
Section 2 contains some good ideas for testing the properties of materials used in clothing. There is also the excellent suggestion of rearing silkworms in the classroom. This would not only allow opportunities for teaching about materials, but also life cycles. More information about raising silkworms, including activities that can be done in the classroom, can be found here: www.suekayton.com/Silkworms/whole.htm
Section 3 suggests examining fibres with a microscope to explore the differences in different materials. there is also the suggestion of burning fibres to see what happens. Great care should be taken with this, especially with modern fibres. The book also suggests putting your candle on an aspestos tray - clearly we do not advise this! Pages 19 and 20 include an investigation into the strength and stretchiness of different fibres. It would be great to use a post-it planning sheet to allow children to plan their own fair test into this area. Use of a newton meter would also touch on some aspects of the 'Forces' topic.
On page 40, an investigation into the friction of different types of shoes on different surfaces is covered. This is commonly done with a car and a ramp, but using newton meters to drag different shoes across different surfaces is also an excellent way to explore the effects of friction.
Manufacturing Process for Cotton Fabric
This video includes some of the tests that manufacturers carry out on cotton products. This could be used to inspire children to design their own tests for fabrics.
Children could investigate the durability of fabrics by rubbing them with sandpaper. They could investigate the strength of fabrics by hanging weights on them. They could also investigate the stretchiness of fabrics in the same way, and then by measuring to see whether the fabric would return to its original shape and size.
Sahaja and the cotton plant
This short video clip shows children what a cotton plant looks like when it is growing. Children could watch this video and research the life processes of reproduction of cotton plants.
There are potentially lots of excellent cross-curricular links in this topic as the production of cotton clothing has many ethical implications which children could research and write about. Fashionrevolution.org has more information about the ethical issues surrounding clothing production.
Forces and Energy
This is the classic shoes and friction investigation. Children sometimes have difficulties in using Newton meters, so ensure that all are in working order and that children are confident in reading the scales on them. You will often find that the different coloured Newton meters have different scales on them, so you may need to ensure that only the meters with appropriate scales are available for pupils to use.
You will also find it easier to use shoes that do not have high heels - when the shoes do have high heels, they can fall over, leading to anomalies in results.
Sustainable stories and solutions for our planet
This collection of practical and discussion activities link to many areas of the science curriculum including materials and their properties, and many aspects of working scientifically and sustainability.
The activity ‘Which washing product?’ investigates how effective different commercial washing products are at removing stains from fabric and can be used to highlight some of the questions around sustainability using the theme of fabric.