Senior Lego Robotics

The Senior Lego Robotics groups is well underway now and the group have all mastered the simple programming ideas.
They have been working on constructing their robots and then have been given challenges which they have to get their robot to do.  As they have become more familiar with using the Mindstorms programming, the group have gone from getting their robot to move in a straight line to a range of different tasks; performing a group Mexican Wave, being able to move in a square, travel up to a man and stop without running him over, follow a line, move around furniture without hitting anything and now they are working on getting it to travel down the road, stop at the crossing to let a man walk across and then follow the road around and reverse back into their car park.

The group are enjoying mastering the programming and getting their robots to do exactly what they want them to do.  We regularly get boys popping in during the lunchtime to watch and learn about the robots.
 
Now we are in the process of organising whole classes to come and have a few sessions with the robots so that everyone can benefit from learning simple programming and problem solving.

Mrs Stevens has also started another lunchtime group with the Year 5 and 6's and they are also beginning to really enjoy what the Mindstorms can offer.

Year Four Magnets

Over the first half of term two, Year Four have been learning about magnets.  Each class came along for three sessions in the science room.  The first session was lots of fun as I put out all of our magnet kits and let the boys have a big play.  Afterwards it was great to hear what they had learnt through their play.

The classes then went on to learn about how magnets attract and repel, the names of the ends of the magnets, what types of objects are magnetic and the magnetic field around a magnet.

Now that they've covered these ideas about magnets they are going on to use their new knowledge in their classrooms to construct their own magnetic games.  Well done Year Four!

Science in a Van

Yesterday we were fortunate to have Science in a Van visit our school.  Emily and Alan are two passionate people who enjoy sharing science ideas in a fun and interactive way.

In the morning they arrived and set up in the hall for their show titled Move It!  A number of the senior syndicate classes watched them perform tricks and experiments based around Newtons Laws of Motion.

The boys participated in a number of the experiments and had lots of fun helping Steve the chicken fly across the length of the hall.  

In the afternoon, the juniors attended the storytelling session of The Three Billy Goats Gruff.  All of the boys were fantastic, enjoying the audience participation of calling out and making actions.   Throughout the story they learnt that all forces are either a push and a pull and they learnt what friction is.

Thanks Science in a Van, we had lots of fun learning about forces!

Last Couple of Experiments from Science Week

After last weeks science show, its been surprising the number of boys who have popped into the science room during break times to ask questions and share their science ideas - fantastic!
Once again, I first saw the next idea on the Steve Spangler show and then saw another version at the Primary Science Teachers Conference in Auckland last holidays.  I had many willing volunteers wanting to stand at the front of the class with a polystyrene cup on their heads.  Little did they know that I was going to produce our new Airzooka and proceeded to shoot them with air from a distance.  It was great to hear boys ideas about what was happening and making observations of what they saw.

I had a blast!

I then did a simple chemistry experiment and explained to the boys how to do it at home.  Making a pH indicator from red cabbage, I then added the dark blue/purple liquid to a clear liquid and it changed to an aqua colour.  I then added the red cabbage liquid to a beaker of clear liquid and this time it went pink.  After a brief explanation about acids and bases I told them that the first jar was water and baking soda, and the liquid that turned pink was white vinegar.

And then I finished each session with a little talk about science and how much fun science is.  I also talked about how having a play in the stream, in the kitchen at home, pulling things apart, being curious, asking questions etc all leads onto enjoying science and possibly even becoming a scientist later.

At the teachers conference I got to hear an inspiring and really interesting scientist talk.  Siouxsie Wiles works at Auckland University and she heads the Bioluminescent Superbugs Group.  She is into bioluminescence (think glow worms and fireflies) and infectious diseases.  She was a really interesting and vibrant speaker and she had the whole auditorium listening to every word she spoke.  Siouxsie spoke about a few different topics including her daughters Harry Potter birthday party which was full of fun science experiments including screaming poohs aka dry ice sitting on metal spoons. She also shared a small clip she has made which explains what she does.  I shared this clip with the teachers at school, some of which showed it to their classes.

Wellington Open Day Sunday 26th May

This weekend, various sites around Wellington are holding Open Days.  Anyone can visit and just pay $2 per person.  It's a fantastic opportunity to visit somewhere you wouldn't normally go to.

The Weta Cave, Miramar

Thinking about science opportunities I'm off to visit Zealandia, The Karori Wildlife Sanctuary.  We'll be packing morning tea and heading off early as last year the place was very popular and very crowded!  Usually for a family its quite an expensive day out but tomorrow will be a great opportuntiy to revisit the place.  I think the last time I was there was with a class from school about seven years ago!  I still remember seeing real baby tuatara basking in the sun on a grassy bank!

Among some of the places you can visit are:

*  Wellington Zoo

*  Staglands Wildlife Reserve

*  Sealcoast Safari

*  Te Papa Museum

* Museum of City and Sea  - Recently ranked as one of the 50 Best Museums of the World by The Times Of London!

And I haven't forgotten I still need to write my last post about our science week show!  Coming soon!