Transport - Blake Education · PDF fileTransport Blakes T’ opic Bank Each integrated unit contains: 6 pages of teaching notes in an integrated teaching sequence 10 practical blackline

Transport

Blake’s Topic B

ank

Each integrated unit contains:� 6 pages of teaching notes in an integrated teaching sequence� 10 practical blackline masters� National Profile outcomes� A useful resource list

by Virginia Preddey

IU10 � TransportLower Primary

© Blake Education – Transport Integrated Unit

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LOWER PRIMARY

Learning Area Focus ScienceTopic Throughout history people have looked for the means to transport objects and themselves moreeasily. From the wheel to space travel, the quest to achieve ever-greater speed and distance remainsrelentless. There is no doubt, however, that the greatest and most important breakthrough was theinvention of the wheel 4,000 years ago. Without it, modern transport as we know it would not exist. Duringthe course of this unit students will investigate, research, observe and express their understanding of howtransport affects their lives and the world in which they live.

National Profile Outcomes Students will:� Science 2.12 Identify some of the problems

that occur because of transport, for examplepollution, accidents and traffic jams, and offerpossible solutions.

� Science 2.13 Brainstorm words that are relevantto transport.

� Science 2.14 Conduct tests to see what types ofboats will float and what types of aeroplanes will fly.

� Science 2.15 Place pictures in a sequence to make a timeline of the history of transport.

� Science 2.18 Understand that traffic lights, seatbelts, bike helmets, etc are related to safety.

� Technology 2.1 Investigate and identify the social uses of some forms of transport.

� Technology 2.2 Draw and label a steam engineand a futuristic car.

� Technology 2.9 Describe and operate, by playing with Meccano or Lego, some of the elements of a simple machine.

� SOSE 2.2 Use pictures to describe a sequence ofthe changing forms of transport.

� SOSE 2.3 Identify how transport has changed over the years.

� SOSE 2.15 Describe ways people and shops obtain products.

ResourcesFactual BooksCaroline Bingham (ed), The Big Book of Things that Go,Dorling Kindersley.Eryl Davies, On Land, Road and Rail, Franklin Watts.Maria and Mike Gordon, Float and Sink, Wayland.Ian Locke, The Wheel and How it Changed the World,Simon and Schuster Young Books.Geraldine McCaughrean, The Orchard Book of GreekMyths, ‘Daedalus and Icarus’, Orchard Books.Philip Steele, How Do People Travel?, McDonald Books.Anthony Wilson, Transport: A Visual History, Angus &Robertson.

Picture BooksL Hawthorn, Tram To Bondi Beach, Methuen.V Marshall, Bernard was a Bikie, Bookshelf, Scholastic.J Cowen-Fletcher, Mama Zooms, Scholastic.N Hunt, Whistle Up The Chimney, William Collins.C Thompson, and M Ottley, Sailing Home, Hodder.

VideosInfants’ Road Safety, Classroom video (20 min, Yrs K-3).

CD-ROMsAn Australian Journey: Images from Our TransportHistory, Libraries of South Australia.History of Australia, Webster Publishing.

Transportby Virginia Preddey

For all your teaching needs visit www.blake.com.au

Downloaded from www.askblake.com.au © Blake Education – Families integrated unit

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Transport Teaching notesIntroductionList the words space, sky, land, rail, water andpedestrian on a piece of chart paper. Use thesewords as headings. With students, brainstormdifferent types of transport and have studentsnominate which heading they would go under.Generate a class discussion by asking:

� What type of transport do you use in your daily lives?

� Where do you travel using this transport?

� How might you get to these places if thesemethods of transport did not exist?

Explain that transport is not only useful forpersonal needs, it is also important for businessesand industry. Ask students to consider:

� How would shops, such as supermarkets, gettheir goods if trucks did not exist?

� What else is transport important for?

History

The horse before the cartAsk students what the term ‘beasts of burden’might mean. Explain that before the invention ofthe wheel, people relied on the strength of animalsto help transport themselves and objects from placeto place. Have students suggest types of animalsthat might have been used, for example horses,donkeys, camels, water buffaloes, etc. Ask students:

� Why might these animals have been chosen?

� Do you think some animals were more suited totransporting things than others?

� Did the environment affect which animals were used? (e.g. would you use a water buffaloin the desert?)

� Are these animals still used as a means oftransport today? If so, where?

Animal helpersEither in pairs or small groups, have studentsimagine they are animals transporting a heavyobject. Invite volunteers to act this out in front ofthe class. Ask students to search through books tofind pictures of some of these animals. Havestudents draw their own picture of one and askthem to label it by writing what type of animal itis, where it was used, when it was used, what itwas used for and if it is still used today. Displaythese on the wall.

The cartProvide groups of students with some three-dimensional cylinders and cubes. Let them playwith them and explore their properties. Have themcompare the cylinder’s movements to that of thecube. Ask each group to discuss:

� What might have happened if a square wheel had been invented instead of round one (e.g. travelling would be very bumpy and roads would get damaged).

� Are round wheels a better shape than square wheels?

� Would another shape work?

Ask each group to experiment with shapes beforereading their answers to class members. Encouragethem to justify their answers by givingdemonstrations with the three-dimensional shapes.Discuss what early forms of transport could bemade by using wheels, for example carts and otherobjects that could be pulled by animals.



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Water transportBecause many places were separated by water,people wanted to find ways to transport themselvesand objects across it. The first boats are thought tohave been hollowed out logs. Ask students howthey think this type of transport worked. Whydidn’t the logs sink? Organise students into groupsand provide each group with two even-sized piecesof plasticine. Have each group roll one piece into aball and shape the other piece to resemble a cup orboat. Ask them to put the plasticine pieces into acontainer of water. What happened? (The ballshould sink.) Why is this? Explain to students howthe boat-shaped piece has more water pushing itup, enabling it to float. Allow students to furtherexplore this theory with other floating and non-floating objects (see Resources).

Ship ahoy!With the realisation that wind could move objects,an important breakthrough for using watertransport was the invention of the sail. Soon shipstravelled the seas, exploring the world. They notonly transported people but also goods, or cargo,to trade with other places. Because of the vastdistances and the dependence on the wind, thesetrips could take a long time. Ask students to try toimagine what it might have been like travelling atsea. Have them research some of the problemssailors might have encountered, then cometogether as a class to brainstorm reasons, forexample pirates, over-crowding, scurvy, limitedfood and water, terrible working conditions, etc.

Is it a bird?From the earliest times some people have dreamtof having wings to travel up into the sky andbeyond. However, before people began tounderstand the concepts of flying, most attempts tofly met with disaster. Retell the Greek Myth ofIcarus, who failed in his attempt to fly when hiswax and feather wings melted when he flew tooclose to the sun (see Resources). Ask students ifthey would like to fly. How might they go about it?Encourage students to look through referencebooks that have photographs and pictures ofdifferent types of flying machines (see Resources).Discuss other ways people have attempted to fly.

Using BLM 1encourage studentsto invent their ownexciting andimaginative meansof air transport.

Let’s flyDemonstrate, if necessary,how to make a paperplane. Encourage students to make paper planesusing assorted types of paper and designs. Allowthem to experiment with their initial design bysuggesting that they shorten the nose of theirplane or increase the length of the wings, etc.Have some test flights to see which planes can flythe fastest and the furthest. Have students observehow the slight changes in design can alter theperformance of the flight. Encourage students toconsider whether the weight of the paper or theweather conditions also have an impact on theflight. Discuss the results.

What goes up must come down!The discovery that air rises and takes up morespace when it is hot did much for theunderstanding of flight. Prove this principle tostudents with a simple experiment. Attach aballoon to the top of a plastic bottle, then stand itin a container of hot water. The balloon will inflateas the air inside the bottle heats up and expands.This discovery led to the development of the hot-air balloon. Provide students with some factualbooks about hot-air balloons and let them browsethrough them. Discuss what the balloons look likeand how the hot air lifts them into the sky. Withstudents, brainstorm what it might be liketravelling in a hot-air balloon. Ask if they wouldfeel scared, excited, sick, etc. Discuss theadvantages (the peace, the views, etc) and thedisadvantages (at the mercy of the wind, needingto keep the air hot, etc). Using BLM 2, havestudents list five things they think they would feelor experience if they travelled in a balloon.



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Steaming alongMethods of transport really started to developwhen it was discovered how to build engines thatmade machines work. The first type of power usedby these machines was steam. With students,brainstorm a list of steam powered vehicles, forexample steam trains and steamships. Showstudents pictures of steam engines. Explain thatthe steam was produced by heating water from afire made from wood or coal. Demonstrate this bybringing in a kettle and boiling it in front of classmembers. Ask students what the kettle isproducing when it boils. Place students into smallgroups. Try to ensure that each group has at leastone able student for reading and writing. Borrowsimple and clear factual books from the library andprovide each group with at least one book. Havegroups investigate how steam makes a vehiclemove and to write a short report about it. Thefollowing headings might be useful

� type of steam engine researched

� when it was invented

� who invented it

� what it was used for

� illustrate and label the steam engine.

Speeding upTravelling and transporting things was easier andfaster using steam transport. Train stations werebuilt as steam trains began replacing horses.Towns and other areas became more accessiblewith the faster transport. Place students intogroups to research and discuss this dramaticchange in transport. Ask them to consider howpeople might have felt changing from the transportthey knew to move onto the unknown. Cometogether as a class to brainstorm some of thechanges, for example trains might be much fasterbut they were also much noisier than horses. Askgroups to make a poster advertising the benefits oftrain travel. Have each group display their posterand report their findings to class members.

Before and nowAsk students to interview a grandparent or anolder person to find out how transport haschanged over the years. Give students copies ofBLM 3 and ask them to fill it in during theinterview. Encourage them to ask other relevantquestions. When completed, display the interviewsaround the classroom so that students can readthem in their free time. Encourage students todiscuss the changes in transport.

Looking backAsk students to choose a method of transport toresearch, with a partner. Ask them to investigatehow it has changed and developed over time.Have them consider:

� when it was first invented

� what it looked like

� what it was used for

� how it moved

� its comfort, safety and speed

� how it has changed over the years.

Students can share this information by giving atalk to the class. Encourage them to use pictures,models or a timeline to make their presentationmore interesting.

Getting outRevisit the chart listing the different forms oftransport (made in the introductory activity). Askstudents if they would like to add anything else tothe list. With students, discuss the types oftransport they depend on to get to school. Wouldthe type of transport vary depending upon whereyou live? Ask students to predict what forms oftransport students living in other places might useto get to and from school, for example wouldthose students in the country rely on differentforms of transport to students living in the city?Why would they need to use this transport? Have students use the Internet to connect withschools in other parts of the country or world to check predictions. Give students copies of BLM 4 asking them choose the most appropriatemode of transport for the people and fictionalcharacters listed.



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Walking aroundTake students on a walk around your localshopping centre. Provide them with BLM 5 andencourage them to mark on it the types oftransport they see. On your way back to school,stop in a safe place for five minutes and allow thestudents to observe the kinds of transport in theschool area. Have them fill in the results on BLM5. Discuss the results. Did students find that therewere more types of transport at the shoppingcentre or were there more near the school. Whymight this be?

Invite students to paint a wall mural of your localarea, featuring its transport.

Wheel countPlace students into pairs and ask each pair todiscuss the number of wheels on the vehicles theysaw on their excursion in the above activity. Theymight also like to count the wheels of the vehiclesthey see in the books on display. Ask students tofill in BLM 6. Have them read their completedwork to class members. Allow students to add anyvehicles they had left out. Discuss which vehicleshave the most wheels and which have the least.Why might this be?

Move it!Explain to students that Australia is a primaryproducer. This means that products such as wheat,rice and sheep are grown on the land. Some of thisproduce is sent, or exported, to other countries.Display a map of the world and a map of Australiaand pose the question: what is the best way ofgetting the wheat that is grown in Griffith, NSWacross to Tokyo in Japan? Ask students to locateGriffith and Tokyo on the maps. On which mapswill these places be found? Why is this?Brainstorm the possible options of transporting thewheat. Organise students into groups and giveeach group a transport problem to solve, forexample sending fresh fish from Sydney to Tokyoin Japan; moving ripe cherries from Orange toBrisbane; transporting a giraffe from theMelbourne zoo to a zoo in San Francisco, America.Make sure that students can locate the relevantplaces on the maps. Allow time for each group todiscuss and plan their transport route and askthem to present their solutions to the class. Afterthe presentations, discuss how much we all rely ontransport. What might people have done in thedays before these forms of transport wereavailable?

PeopleWith students, discuss the importance of people intransport. Establish with students that people areneeded to drive and look after different types ofvehicles. Have students brainstorm as many ofthese people as they can think of. List these on theboard. What types of transport are these peopleinvolved with? Have students complete BLM 7.

Have students hypothesise what would happen ifwe did not have bus, ambulance or truck drivers,people who work in traffic control or makingroads. If possible, invite someone who works inthe transport industry to talk to students abouttheir job.



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Safety Looking at the advances in transport, it is clearthat much attention has been devoted toincreasing the power and speed of vehicles. Overthe past 100 years, the speed of land vehicles hasrisen from 20 km/h to over 300 km/h. Because ofthis, attention has to be given to safety –protecting not only those who are travelling in thevehicle but also those who are near them. Havestudents brainstorm safety features related totransport, for example, seat belts, road signs,traffic signals, buoys, lighthouses, car air bags,helmets, etc. Ask students what safety measuresthey take when they are travelling in, or using,various types of vehicles. Have students role-playcorrect and safe behaviour for such things asriding in a car, riding a bike or skateboard,crossing a road, catching a bus. If possible, arrangefor a local police officer to visit the school to talkabout road safety.

Space travelForms of transport have come a long way since thewheel. People have now landed on the moon andspace probes (machines, without people, that arecontrolled by computers) have flown past all theplanets except Pluto. Ask students to imagine thatthey are going on a trip into space. After allowingtime for research and discussion, ask students towrite about the things they think they will find themost exciting while on their trip. Encouragestudents to illustrate their work and then displaythem around the room.

FutureAsk students to revisit the interview theyconducted with an older person. Discuss how thetypes of transport have changed. With students,brainstorm what transport might be like when theyare adults and, perhaps, in 100 years’ time.Encourage them to consider what materials maybe available, what will make it move, what it willbe used for and where it will be travelling(perhaps on an intergalactic journey!). Havestudents draw a vehicle of the future, labelling itsspecial features. When students have completedtheir drawing, ask them to present it to the classand explain how it works.

Nuts!When learning about transport, it is important tounderstand how machines work. Bring into schoolsuch things as a bike, toys, clocks and motors.Discuss how they move and work. Providestudents with such materials as Lego Technics,Meccano and similar building matter. Havestudents examine the various sizes and actions ofthe pieces. Invite students to make models for a‘Models that Move’ exhibition to display in theirclassroom or school library.

Transport through timeFrom the information students have acquiredduring the course of this unit, have them create apictorial representation of what they consider to bethe highlights in the history of transport.Brainstorm and list on the board the important‘milestones’ in transport, for example from relyingon yourself to animals, hollowed logs, sailingships, the wheel, steam, etc. Decide on the order inwhich they should be placed. Give students theopportunity, if necessary, to revisit the books ondisplay. Once the order has been decided, placestudents into pairs and ask each pair to completeone part of the timeline. They can do this bydrawing a picture and then writing where thisparticular type of transport was used, when it wasused, what it was used for and if it is still usedtoday. (Students might like to incorporate theanimals they illustrated and labelled in the earlieractivity of ‘Animal helpers’.) The pictures and textcould be placed in order and then put on the wallsto form a timeline of the history of transport.


Fly like a bird!

© Blake Education – Transport Integrated Unit© Blake Education – Transport Integrated UnitThis page may be reproduced by the original purchaser for non-commercial classroom use.

BLM1

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Invent your own exciting and imaginative way to travel in the air.

What is your flying machine called?...................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

What special features does it have?..................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

What are its safety features?...............................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Where can it take off and land?.................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Illustrate and label your flying invention.



BLM 2

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Up, up and away!

I would/would not like to ride

in a hot-air balloon because

..............................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................

..............................................................................................................................

1. ........................................................................................................................................

2. ........................................................................................................................................

3. ........................................................................................................................................

4. .........................................................................................................................................

5. ........................................................................................................................................

Write five things you might feel or experience if you wenton a ride in a hot-air balloon. Then colour in the balloon.



BLM 3

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Interview: how transport has changedName of person interviewed: ...........................................................................................................................:

What type of transport did they use in their childhood?

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

What were the main forms of transport? ...............................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Did all families own a car? .........................................................................................................................................

Why or why not? ................................................................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

How has transport has changed the most? ....................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Interesting facts: ...................................................................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................



BLM 4

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Moving around!Draw pictures or write about suitable (and creative!) types of transport to movethese people and objects from one town to another.

Santa 30 school children

An alien A herd of cows

Your family A robber


transport type shopping centre near school

bicycles

motor bikes

cars

trucks

taxis

buses

trains

prams

other


BLM 5

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Observing transportPlace a tick in the box each time you see that kind of transport.

Name of town: ....................................................................................................................................................................................................

When you were at the shops, what type of transport did you see the most?

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

When you were near the school, what type of transport did you see

the most?

.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................



BLM 6

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Wheel countVehicle 2 wheels 4 wheels 6 wheels more than six wheels



BLM 7

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

People who work in transportMatch the person and their transport type by filling in the blank spaces.

person job transport



BLM 8

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Getting around!Describe these types of transport and include a picture.

Hot-air balloon

Steam train

Hollowed-out log

Space rocketTruck



BLM 9

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Let’s go!Draw and label pictures of forms of transport that go

under the water, in the sky or space, on water, and on land.

on water on land

under the water in the sky or space


t r a n s p o r t x

r o i x p e x w x x

u a r x e t r a i n

c d a f e r f l y x

k x i u d o x k x s

x x l e g l i m h t

b a l l o o n x x o

u x c t r a v e l p

s k a t e b o a r d

a e r o p l a n e x


BLM 10

Name:................................................................................................................Date:............................................................

Transport termsFind all the transport words in the puzzle below.

Words can go across or up and down and many overlap.

Transport word answers: car, truck, fuel, transport, petrol, balloon, road, speed,

aeroplane, train, rail, travel, bus, skateboard, walk, fly, air, stop, go.


Documents

Transport - Blake Education · PDF fileTransport Blakes T’ opic Bank Each integrated unit contains: 6 pages of teaching notes in an integrated teaching sequence 10 practical blackline