Octopushy!

 

 

TEACHERS’ NOTES

Key Stage 2

 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

Octopushy! is based on the sections on forces of Attainment Target 4 of the National Curriculum for Science.  We aim to make the scientific content self-explanatory but these notes will give you a guide to the topics covered so that preparatory and follow-up work can be done.

 

The play is presented as a James Bond pastiche and follows the fortunes of Max Thrust, secret agent, as he tries to uncover the whereabouts of his colleague and discover the nature of ‘Octopushy!’.

 

 

SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS EXPLORED

 

 

FORCES AND WHAT THEY DO

 

The concept of forces is introduced and they are demonstrated as pushes, pulls, twists and turns.

 

Max Thrust’s boss ‘B’ explains that between any two objects there exists an invisible force of attraction and this force pulls them together.  She explains that everything has a pulling force and that the larger the object the larger the force of attraction. The Earth is so big that the pulling force is large enough to notice and that that pulling force is called Gravity.  The Earth pulls every­thing  towards it.

 

Max and the Boss then sing a song, the chorus of which they teach to the audience and the children join in:

 

They push and pull

        And twist and turn.

        That is what you have to learn.

        They change a shape,

        Or change a speed.

        On that I’m sure we’re all agreed.

        And that’s what makes a force!

 

The song is repeated with its accompanying actions.

MASS, WEIGHT AND THE USE OF NEWTONS

 

We meet the evil Dr Blowoff and his sidekick Gripper.  Gripper explains to Dr Blowoff that there is a connection between mass and gravity giving weight and that weight is measured in Newtons.

 

The mass of various objects is measured and recorded on a chart.  Newtons are introduced as the unit of weight and the weights in Newtons of the same objects are measured and recorded in a separate column.  We then see a pattern emerging and conclude that the force of Gravity, which is exerting a pulling force on the mass of an object, is 10 Newtons for every one kilogramme.

 

 

MAGNETISM

 

We see Max Thrust’s trusty compass going haywire at the North Pole and he introduces magnetism to us as a type of force.

 

We explain that magnets have a ‘north’ and ‘south’ pole and Max experiments with the two poles to see how the forces react.  Firstly the north and south poles of two magnets are put together and we see that there is a force of attraction between them – they pull each other together.  Then two ‘north’ poles are put together and we see that they repel.  We repeat the experiment with the other ‘north’ and ‘south’ poles and see that they attract once more and then put the two south poles together to see that they repel.  We conclude that different poles attract and the same poles repel.

 

Later in the play we see magnetic forces in action eg. a magnet attracts a paperclip, and we see that a magnet has a magnetic field – the area of magnetism around the magnet.

 

At the end of the play we see the evil Dr Blowoff trying to upset the magnet poles of the earth by building the world’s largest magnet and placing its north pole at the south pole.  However, Dr Blowoff had made one fundamental error: the north pole is in fact a south pole magnetically and so the whole plan could never have worked!

 

 

 

 

FRICTION

 

Friction is introduced as the force which stops movement.  We see that when Max rubs his hands together to keep warm heat is a bi-product of friction.

 

Again an experiment is set up to measure the force of friction between a brick and various different surfaces.  Using a Newton Metre to measure the force needed to move the brick we experiment with different surfaces to see which has the most friction.  We use ice, sandpaper and a tea towel and record the results on a chart.

 

Friction is discussed and we see that it can be a useful force e.g. for an athlete the force of friction will help their shoes grip a running track and that there are situations when the force needs to be reduced to a minimum eg. an ice skater needs to reduce friction to glide over the ice.

 

 

 

FORCES WORKING IN OPPOSITION

 

We look at the action of pulling out a chair and find the forces at work.  Firstly we see the pulling force used to move the chair and we also see that there is friction at work against the direction of the movement.  We see that gravity is pulling the chair down, keeping it on the floor, and also that there is  an equal pushing force, the up thrust from the floor stopping the chair from being pulled through the floor.

 

We use force arrows to denote the direction of the force, and see that forces tend to work in pairs in opposition.

 

We repeat the process, finding the force pairs at work when hammering in a nail: the pushing force of the hammer on the nail, the up thrust from the head of the nail and the friction countering the push of the nail going through the wood. 

 

We repeat the forces song  with the actions to reinforce what we have learnt about forces.

 

 

 

THROUGHOUT THE PLAY   

 

Throughout the play we underline the need to carefully set up experiments and to record our findings accurately in order to draw sensible conclusions.  Max Thrust is issued with a pen and a pad of paper as two of his most useful gadgets and with the audience’s help he carefully logs the findings as each experiment is done.

 

 

 

AT THE END OF THE PLAY

 

The actors will take a question and answer session for 5 – 10 minutes after the performance when they will quiz the children on the science they have just seen in the play and will take questions from the audience on any aspect of the production.  We hope you all enjoy the show and take away plenty to think about in the classroom.