Saturated Solutions and Separating Mixtures

First week back and the science room has been busy with boys using different science techniques.

After firmly deciding that dissolving does not involve disappearing, boys got to make a saturated solution.  They experimented using cold and hot water and looked at the rates of change.  We've saved some of the saturated solutions to see what happens to them over the next week.

They also got to work in groups to decide what would be the best method to separate mixtures of
*  Sand and sawdust
*  Iron filings and sand
*  Soil and water

Once they had decided, in their group they experimented with their agreed method and then carefully observed what happened and made conclusions on the best methods to separate these mixtures.

It's been great to see all of the boys enjoying science and applying their problem solving and reasoning skills in science.

Static Strangeness!

The last couple of sessions for the year six electricity unit, were based around exploring static electricity and then applying their new knowledge to construct a simple torch using a limited amount of equipment.
For the static electricity investigations, the classroom was set up into seven different stations.  At each station, the boys had to do an activity using static charge and then answer a couple of questions or draw a quick sketch of what they saw happening.  Activities included getting a can to roll without touching it, making paper jump around on it's own, bending water, moving tin foil on its own as well as a couple of different experiments using balloons.

The boys had lots of fun creating and playing with static electricity.  It was great to see many of them beginning to think like scientists and beginning to understand the basic concepts of atoms, electrons and protons and the charge that they carry.  Well done Year Six!

In the last session, the boys were paired up and each given a couple of wires, 2 batteries, a bulb, some tin foil, a piece of card and a roll of tape.  Using the knowledge they had learned from the previous lessons, they had to construct a simple torch that they could turn off and on.

Let there be Light!

This week we finished off our lessons about light and colour.  Some of the Year 6 classes finished making their colour spinners and I was surprised at how much they enjoyed playing around with the colours to see what would happen.  Following the simple pattern from a website they were easily able to divide the circle into segments and then attached their paper to an old CD.  Using a hot glue gun, they then glued a marble into the centre.

We then learnt about refraction and did a few experiments using a glass of water and different objects.

After sharing our ideas, the boys then explored what happens when light travels through convex and concave lenses.  It was a sunny day, and boys being boys, a couple of them just couldn't help themselves with a lens, some sunlight and some paper...  Needless to say, we didn't want the smoke alarms going off and didn't want to encourage anything that could lead to a fire!

This week in the Science Room

This week was the last session for Year One.  They got to finish painting their air dry clay peg labels, finish constructing their rubberband powered boats and finish a little assessment task all about which objects float and which objects sink.

It certainly was a busy day in the science room.

This week also saw some of Year Six come down and experiment with light and shadows.  A darkened room, a torch, a couple of mirrors and suddenly there's plenty of fun to be had.  We looked at how light travels, reflection, refraction and the visible spectrum.  The class were then given a challenge to hit a target using a $2 shop laser pointer.  The challenge was that the laser beam had to be reflected three times before it could hit the target!

Fortunately, the weather stayed fine so the Year Five classes were able to get back out into the stream for some testing.  The boys learnt how to measure the stream velocity using a table tennis ball, a length of string and a stopwatch.  They also all learnt how to take a quadrat count.  We didn't have a lot of extra time so instead of measuring out a square metre, each group used a plastic hoop from the PE shed.  This was a nice, simple way of marking out a space to count the objects inside a perimeter.

This week in the Science Room

Look what I found waiting for me on my desk on Monday morning!

Just fantastic!  Thanks Jude.  I love it when boys bring in and share something that they have found interesting about their world around them.

The Year Six classes have started their sessions on looking at light and colour. We found out about the visible spectrum (and the electromagnetic spectrum). We experimented with torches and making shadows, how to change the size of them and the different sources of light.  We did some experiments that looked at how light travels and then we had some fun using $2 shop laser pointers and mirrors.  Each group had to reflect their laser beam using the mirrors and then hit their target pinned to the walls.  Great fun and they certainly learnt about how light travels!

Year Five were fortunate enough to start their stream study yesterday and today before the wet weather arrived.  Both classes were given the opportunity to explore and have a good look in and around our stream.  How lucky are we that we have streams bordering both sides of our school!  The boys really enjoyed lifting the rocks and a few managed to spot a few eels, fish, spiders and flying insects.

After our play and explore, we then spent some quiet time taking a closer look at our stream and sketching the path of our stream, noting the width of the stream and how shady and sunny the different parts are.

Then this afternoon we started putting together our new 3D printer! Stay tuned for further updates on the building of it...