Bugsocopters

Muta, Mae, Syris, Greer, Noah, Lola and Moebius took part in the Bugsocopters science unit. Bugscopters are a t-shaped, paper, helicopter-like creation of Larry Schafer, formerly professor of Science Teaching at SU. The students completed six experiments in which they compared their standard bugsocopter to another that varied in just one way. Each experiment consisted of two tests. The first test was comparing if the varied bugsocopter fell faster, slower or the same as the standard bugsocopter and the second test was comparing if the twirling was faster, slower or the same. Each student stood on a desk to drop their two bugsocopters and carefully observed the falling and twirling. These experiments gave students the opportunity to graph their data on histograms, gather data as a class, interpret and compare data, make careful observations, define and understand variables and recognize the importance of limiting the variables to just one in an experiment.