Material Strength Tug of War is an engaging and hands-on experiment that will challenge your students to consider how materials can be manipulated to make them stronger. This activity can be formalised, with an assessment rubric included, providing the opportunity to comprehensively assess student understanding and progress for the understanding and inquiry components.

With a partner, students will play tug of war with wool, paper, aluminium foil and tissue. After determining the strength of the different materials during the first round of tug of war, students will then manipulate the materials to see if they can be strengthened to the point of not breaking. Students will need to consider different material manipulations that exist and whether they are an appropriate option for the material they are working with.

The Material Strength: Tug of War experiment write-up is a wonderful opportunity for students to formalise their thoughts and observations from the experiment while gaining familiarity with terms that they will use during scientific investigations for years to come.

The Material Strength: Tug of War experiment write-up is a low-preparation resource, simply print it and teach it. The materials required for the experiment are commonly available, making this hands-on assessment a teacher’s dream. Possible answers are included for the aim and procedure sections of the experiment write-up which could be used to make correction a breeze or as a guide for students who may require additional assistance.

This resource is a part of our Chemical Sciences Year 2 UNIT PLAN.