The Forces & Energy Investigation class takes place outside on a suitable grassed area with at least 60 metres firing range.

Dan's marquees and safety barriers are used to contain and control the activity for a group of thirty children with a member of staff and two teaching assistants (or responsible parent volunteers), plus Dan in overall control of proceedings.

The children use six air powered tennis ball cannons to shoot objects of three very different masses and observe the effects of how fast, how far, how easy and how they interact with the atmosphere and gravity.

The class presents in the most interactive way possible the concept of applying a force to an object, transfer of energy, changing its motion and how other forces can then influence this action.

Since each child is using his or her body to generate the force acting on the ball they are directly linked to the experiment and therefore more likely to grasp the principles being put forward.

We do not just dive in immediately to shooting the cannons. There is a suitable introduction of the basic ideas on force and energy, what gravity and air friction are and what observations we are looking for in the investigation.

Additionally we have a very serious talk on correct cannon operation and safety which is absolutely paramount even with all the precautions in place. It is demonstrated in unforgettable fashion to each class just what high performance devices they are dealing with. The ease and efficiency with which the cannons can be fired can often take people by surprise.

The cannons are powered by the operator stamping on the inflated bag attached to one end of the barrel, accelerating the ball out the other end. They resemble giant peashooters in this respect and are very simple to use. All sizes of cannon operated by Dan follow this general principle. Needless to say it is extremely good fun!

At the end of the investigation we have a final discussion with question/answer time in parallel with the activity sheets to analyse the class observations and make our conclusions to take away.

To help accommodate a full class of thirty children and introduce another meaningful activity, we typically split the class into three groups. Dan takes one group of ten children to the Wolf medium cannon adjacent to conduct an aerodynamics investigation shooting the large darts from this more capable cannon.

We start with the standard design dart which has the features of good aerodynamics and then go through a series of other darts which have deliberate problems built into them. We discuss and predict what we think is going to happen and then shoot the dart to observe.

Again the principle of this activity is to understand how forces act on an object, making certain changes and thinking about what is likely to happen. It goes without saying that this is highly entertaining.

The children are encouraged to ask questions and not be afraid to suggest or speculate on the science and engineering displayed. The three groups are rotated through the two activities. This has proved to be a highly successful arrangement.

By engaging a third of the class at a time on the dart aerodynamics, this means a group of twenty children are spread across the six tennis ball cannons, which with three adult staff supervisors in attendance, is a safe and sustainable activity.

Dan's Cannons Public Liability Insurance requires one adult supervisor per two cannons - experience shows this to be quite correct.

A class is typically 1 hour 45 minutes but when the timetable allows, it is always better to have a bit more time. Usually I will draw up a timetable plan particular for a school to pass round the relevant staff in advance.

Normally two cannon classes can be hosted in a school day, morning and afternoon. Dan did try three in one day and found it just wasn't physically possible due to the fairly high intensity of each class and the necessary preparation in between!

The classes go ahead as planned unless the weather is extreme (lightning/torrential rain) when we might need to consider another slot but this is rare especially in summer term time. Light rain does not normally present a serious problem for example.

Since each school circumstance and requirement can vary significantly, it is difficult to present any standard prices for classes. Much will depend on quantity and type of class, school location and ease of integrating within your site facilities with cannon and marquee equipment.

Please get in touch with your likely requirement and general site information and Dan should be able to respond with a reasonably detailed proposal and equally reasonable cost quite quickly. Spreading a number of class activities over a week yields considerable efficiency both physically and financially whereas just coming in to set up equipment just for one class and one day would clearly be highly inefficient!

Sometimes costs can be mitigated to some degree by the arrangement of a school article in the local newspaper highlighting the cannon event or other guaranteed publicity method. Arranging parental permission for photos or a brief video to be taken of a class in action for advertising purposes is clearly worth a great deal to the business if offered. 

Dan will normally make at least one reconnaissance visit to a school prior to any classes to ascertain the practical details of running cannon classes on site as well as meeting the staff to exchange further information, quick cannon demonstration outside and answer any questions.

One popular thing to do is arrange the cannon class week to coincide with a summer fayre at the school normally on a Friday or Saturday. Dan will already be there set up and the visitors will be queuing up in crowds to come and pay for a go since they have all been hearing about the cannons in the days before! We can split the takings between Dan's Cannons and your school funds. This happened twice last summer and was manically popular.

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