Investigating the push of air

Air is largely invisible, but we can feel it and see its effects when the wind blows. This set of five simple activities provides opportunities for students to observe the push of air and effects of air pressure in a variety of settings.

The activities can be used with students working at New Zealand Curriculum levels 1 and 2. They also support the Exploration – Mana Aotūroa strand in Te Whārik i.

For students working at NZC levels 3 and up, create and utilise diagrams to support and explain the mechanism behind the phenomenon.

Simple investigations to observe the push of air

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Even though we cannot see air, simple activities allow us to experience the push of air.

Rights: The University of Waikato Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato

These activities support the development of the science capabilities as students:

• engage in discussion with peers, using evidence to support their position

• critique their own ideas and/or the ideas of others in terms of their validity and applicability

• draw and utilise diagrams to show and explain the mechanism behind the phenomenon.

During the activity, teachers are encouraged to support critical student thinking and use questioning to develop increased use of evidence and scientific reasoning.

In this activity, students investigate the ‘push’ of air via a serie s of hands-on activities.

By the end of this activity, students should be able to:

• discuss how air is invisible yet we can still observe how it takes up space

• identify situations in which air acts as a physical barrier

• make careful observations of phenomena

• make inferences based on their observations

• draw diagrams showing what they noticed during the activities (optional)

• use the diagrams to provide supporting evidence for their explanation of the phenomena (optional).