Science Hits the Senior School In recognition of Education Week last week the children in grades 5 and 6 focussed on developing their knowledge around a science theme. The children thoroughly enjoyed their experiences and have shared some of them with you here. It was such a success that we are looking forward to the following sessions that these ones have kick-‐started. Stay tuned!
EDUCATION WEEK – In Grade 6N Last week students experimented with white vinegar, bicarbonate soda and raisins to observe and record the process of change. The students successfully made raisins dance up and down in their containers without touching the raisins! They can also explain why this happens in scientific terms.
Jade and Shenelle (6N) preparing to make raisins dance!
Jack and Matt M, (6N) exploring the process of change
As part of Education Week, 6K and 6W investigated protons and electrons and static electricity. Amongst many other things, the students of 6K and 6W discovered that when you rub a balloon on your head/hair, the contact between your hair and the balloon allows electrons to be transferred. This is known as the triboelectric effect. Coby, a student from 6K said, “I really enjoyed the activity. It was fun and I learnt lots of new things…” Mark from the same class commented, “It was fun and fantastic! I would really like to do these In this photo, Callum and Liam from 6K demonstrate activities again.” Reece and Matt from 6K the triboelectric effect. echoed the same thing and Ebony humorously concluded with, “It was a ‘hair-‐raising’ experience! It was both very exciting and funny!” by Mr Kelly.
Static Electricity By Cooper, 6W On the 25th of May 2012, the Grades 6W and 6K conducted experiments on static electricity. Aim: To see how static electricity works. Materials: Balloon, carpet (If needed), head of long hair. Predictions: I think that the balloon will attract the hair after being rubbed on your head. Experiment: 1. Blow up the balloon to a medium size. 2. Rub the balloon on your head (or carpet). 3. Raise the balloon slowly away from your head, keeping it close to your head. 4. Observe. Result: The balloon attracted the hair because of the positive and negative char
Super science -‐ Changing Flowers By Kayla W. Aim-‐ The aim is to find out what would happen to a white flower if you put food dye in the water it is in. Equipment/Materials Method 1. Fill each cup with water. • White flowers 2. Add 5 drops of food colouring to each cup of water. • Water 3. Place a flower in each cup of water. • Cups 4. Leave the flowers overnight. • Food colouring Hypothesis-‐ My prediction was that the flower would change colour. Observation-‐ After leaving the flower overnight I went to see the flowers and they had turned green. Wow! Conclusion-‐ At the end of the experiment my prediction was right. The flower had changed colour, this is because the flower needs water so the flower drank the water with the food colouring and then the flower changed colour!
Oobleck By Tharushi 5C! On the 25th of May, 5C made Oobleck for Education week and it made a real mess but we all enjoyed it happily. We all got into groups and made Oobleck. When we started mixing it felt revolting. It was very smelly too. When we picked it up and squeezed it the oobleck became hard but we let go, it trickled down our hands. We also got to pick a colour, which were red, blue, green and yellow. We all thought it was fun but in the end there was a lot of mess!
An exert from Amy Post’s recount about “Making Oobleck”. "On the 28th May Grade 5D make Oobleck. I thought it was really fun. We were split into groups and I was with Alex and Meryn. When we were making the goo, Miss D put too much food colouring in it. The colouring stuck to our hands and made them green even though I had washed my hands. When I picked up a handful of the Oobleck, it felt rubbery and gooey at the same time. When I started to squeeze the Oobleck it went hard like a rock but when I stopped squeezing the Oobleck, it turned watery and gooey. The Oobleck behaves like a solid and a liquid at the same time." By Amy Post, 5D.
Brodie – On Wednesday 23rd May 5T had a Science Day! On the day we participated in lots of interesting experiments. One of the experiments was Oobleck. Oobleck is a green goo that is a replicate of quicksand. We put a nail in the Oobleck and it sunk straight to the bottom like quicksand. Then we played around with the Oobleck and afterwards our hands turned green. I had a lot of fun playing around with Oobleck and I hope we can do it again! Science is fun and is a very interesting topic to learn. I hope we can learn more Science in the future! Suvi – On Wednesday 23rd of May we had a Science Day. We did lots of cool stuff like making Oobleck, making quicksand and Chocolate Crackles. Oobleck is very fun to make. The instructions are easy to follow. When I hold the Oobleck it turned from a solid to a liquid. We learnt that Oobleck is a unique substance that is both a solid and a liquid. After that we made Chocolate Crackles and it was fun too. We did this in small groups. We used copha, which was a solid. We melted it and it became a liquid and then when we mixed it with the rice bubbles and it turned into a solid when it hardened. Then we got to eat and it was DELICIOUS and chocolaty. Science is very fun and cool. I love to do science with all of 5T!