Designing Mars Rovers in Year 5

Story shared by Mark Pollard
on April 28, 2021

Computing, DT, Science, The Penpol Times, Year 5

Last term, as part of our Space topic, the children were inspired by the landing of Perseverance on Mars and so created their own versions of a Mars rover, complete with a motor so that it could move forward and, most impressively a lever system to enable it to pick up ‘space rock’ to study. The children had a great time making and designing their own rover and, who knows, maybe this activity will have inspired our next rover designers of the future.

After they’d made their rovers, the children used the iPads and iMovie to virtually transport their creations to the surface of Mars with some Green Screen magic.

You can enjoy some of these videos below:

00:00

"I enjoyed making the Mars Rover. My favourite part was designing and decorating the rover, but we did have some trouble with our electrics"

Emily

Class 11

00:00

Also in the news:

An Inspiring Afternoon for Pupils at our Careers Fair

On Wednesday the 6th of April, Penpol held its second careers fair after the first, which was held back in 2019. This year, over 30 different job sectors came into school to talk about their job and

Mark Pollard 5th May 2022

Making Music with Micro:Bits in Year 3

Over the past few weeks Year 3 have been learning to code on our Micro:Bit computers. These tiny devices are a great way to get hands-on with Computing and enable our students to write programs that

Jacob Woolcock 13th June 2022

An Exciting Visit from Our Local Heroes: Ben and Ben, the Firefighter Men!

After a real-life emergency our two local Firefighter heroes re-arranged their visit to come to visit Year 1 on the last day before half-term. On Wednesday, the Year 1 children at Penpol School had a very

Clare Sara 22nd October 2025

Roman Invasion in Year 4!

Year 4 have been learning about the Romans this year and held a special day to celebrate. Everyone dressed up in their finest Roman attire, including the Year 4 teachers! To begin with, the Year group

Jack Emery 23rd November 2023

Colour Us Excited to Count in Cornish! 🌈🔢

In Cornish club, key stage 1 students have been busy creating zines (booklets) and posters to showcase their Cornish language skills. We started with colours and counting to 10—here’s a sneak peek of what we practised:

Lisa Bettens 10th February 2025

THE PENPOL TIMES