Tomorrows Engineers

In school this week the whole of the school is doing a topic called Tomorrows Engineers. In p1/2/3 they have been getting their parents in to help them make their models which were chairs. In p4/5 they have been making fabulous bridges some are small and some big. In p6/7 we have been making grabbers to pick up something.

Here is one of p6/7’s grabbers:

Here is one of p4/5’s bridges:

Here is one of p1/2/3’s chairs:

By Abi Logan

Brilliant Bridges

We created a sturdy bridge with 2 coffee can as supports as well as 1 tower of lego in the middle, on top there is a strand of card , a welcome sign on top of the card and some triangles made out of sticks. it is a very sturdy bridge because of all of the supports. we can also fit some boats underneath. so overall it is a very good bridge design.

Tomorrow’s Engineers Week

This week, 6-10th November is Tomorrow’s Engineers week.  At Port Ellen we will be doing lots of engineering challenges and finding out more about what an engineer is and how they solve problems.  We will be engineers on a mission, solving problems and sorting the planet.  See the PPT below to find out more about engineering careers.

make-a-difference-be-an-engineer-2

Port Ellen welcomes our Rolls-Royce Science Prize mentor

We were delighted to welcome Neil Chattle, our mentor for the Rolls-Royce Science Prize, to Port Ellen on Wednesday.  Children enjoyed listening to a presentation about Rolls-Royce and Neil’s career as an engineer with the company.  They got a chance to handle some pieces of jet engines and we were all amazed how lightweight some of the components were and how the cooling systems within the engines would be able to stop ice cubes from melting in a hot oven! We were then introduced to the Bloodhound, a supersonic car powered by a Rolls-Royce engine, and got to work in teams to build a model Bloodhound powered by balloons.  Neil said that he’d never seen balloon models go so far!

Engineering Bridges

A big part of our Rolls-Royce Science Prize project this year is developing engineering skills and encouraging children to think like engineers.  Our first challenge was to build a bridge with a span of 30cm that could support a plastic cup which would then have weights added. To make it even more tricky there was a strict time limit!  In P1/2/3 the winning bridge held 20 marbles!!

New Islay Timeline Panels Unveiled

Last session Port Ellen took part in the Scottish Diaspora project – a national project which produced a series of hand-sewn tapestry panels showing the movement of people into and out of Scotland over it’s long history.  Twenty pupils from Port Ellen worked together with Mrs Hazel Onions to produce a panel depicting the arrival of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers on Islay and this was put on display in St. Giles cathedral in Edinburgh. Just before the summer the whole school then worked on a timeline for Islay using appliqué techniques rather than stitching.  We had an amazing day with lots of support from the Islay Quilters, parents, grannies and community members.  Over the school holidays the quilters have finished the panels off for us, ready to hang and be enjoyed by everyone – here is the finished display, which was unveiled at our Farmer’s Feast.  We’d like to say another HUGE thank you to all of those who were involved in this project, producing a lasting and meaningful display which we hope at some point will be moved out of the school to be enjoyed more widely in the community.

October Diary

Renewables Engineering Islay

Our project for the Rolls-Royce Science Prize aims to build children’s understanding and experience of engineering within the context of renewable energy. Living on a small island means that children have a limited experience of different jobs  and we want to promote engineering.  We feel that developing Engineering Habits of Mind as a way of tackling problems will not only apply to engineering tasks but many other learning experiences that children encounter. The renewables context for the project comes from our amazing natural environment. Islay is surrounded by sea and subject to regular strong winds. It is home to the Limpet Wave Station – a prototype wave turbine and there are plans to use the strong tidal currents to  power an array of underwater turbines in the future. We also have our first community wind turbine.

 

What is an Engineer?

In this first phase of the project we have tried to establish some baselines so that we can measure the impact of our project at the end of the year.  In all classes, children were asked ‘What is an engineer?’  The results of this were fascinating; nearly all of the children in P1/2/3 thought that engineers ‘fixed cars’ while children in P6/7 almost all children saw engineers as wearing hard hats, steel capped boots and having tool belts.  Many children also saw engineers as being ‘only boys.’ P6/7 have started to research different fields in engineering such as chemical and biomedical engineering.

 

Assessing our Engineering Skills.

Since developing Engineering Habits of Mind underpins our project we have used a Do you think like and Engineer? self-assessment tool with children to see how they felt about their skills at the outset.  The resource we used was developed by the Royal Academy of Engineering for schools participating in the ‘Thinking like an Engineer’ project during 2014-2016. Staff also decided that we should try and assess the children’s engineering skills in a practical task at the beginning and end of the project – we decided on a bridge to span a 30cm gap and support a plastic cup into which weights would be dropped. This was also the first session where we used the video camera, which made us all nervous! It was interesting to compare notes at the end of the day – almost all children had just gone for a wad of straws taped together with Sellotape.  However, one boy in P1/2/3 had visited a bridge and remembered details of how the structure was supported.  He then built his bridge single-handedly and put on some railings to stop the cup falling off – this was really unexpected.

In all the classes, staff are talking to the children about engineering and how engineers work and all opportunities are being taken to encourage thinking like engineers. Jo Clark has encouraged P6/7 to create design boards for the Young Imagineers competition run by Statoil.  They had to come up with an engineering idea that could solve a problem for the future, and lots of great ideas were generated. 3 were chosen by the class to enter for the competition; Sarah’s Scaredy Sheep device stops sheep getting stuck on their backs by barking like a dog, Rebecca has designed a device that uses static electricity from clothes to repell rain from your glasses and Lauren has invented a device that knows when the inside of your car gets too hot and sends an alarm to your key.

In the Early Learning and Childcare Centre Alison Logan and Katie Bonar have been making the most of their new equipment. The children have been working together to build bridges and ramps, problem solving to make sure that the structures were sufficiently wide and long for everyone to fit across.  They have also been problem solving to bail out the boat in the outdoor area.  Using lengths of bamboo, they have engineered a solution where bailed water can flow down and be collected at the other end.

 

Thinking about Energy

The first phase of our project has been Thinking about Energy, how important it is to our lives and how we use it. In P6/7 with Jo Clark, children have been working on a farming topic in which they calculated their own carbon footprint and looked at the carbon footprint involved in food production and transport.  They cooked their own low carbon footprint foods for a buffet for pensioners in the local community for Harvest.  They have started work on the School’s Carbon footprint and will complete this next term.

Kate Brown’s P4/5 class have been looking at the energy they use in school and at home.  The devised questionnaires to find out how many different electrical items children had at home and made tables and graphs to show their results.  The class then looked at the energy use of different appliances and were amazed how much energy was used by their showers.  Next term they are going to engage with the community to encourage energy saving and will hopefully be getting hold of some energy meters to look more closely at what we use in school.

P1/2/3 with Maggie Harrison have been finding out what makes their toys work.  As well as looking at forces they have been finding out about toys that produce movement, sound, light and heat and thinking about how energy is needed to make them go.  Linked to their transport topic, they have also thought about what powers different vehicles and designed their own cars and boats.  They have started to Think like Engineers, working in teams on engineering challenges.

We have enlisted the help of George Read from the Islay Energy Trust. Our team also includes Maureen MacDonald, Head Teacher. Maureen began her career at Port Ellen as a class teacher, was promoted to Head Teacher in 2008 and in 2016 became shared HT of Port Ellen and Bowmore Primary Schools.  Having worked with Education Scotland as an Associate Assessor, Maureen has been a member of various teams engaging in evaluative and professional dialogue.  This experience has been invaluable and has influenced practice within the school.  Community involvement and parental engagement feature highly in the work that Maureen does. She has conducted the school Gaelic Choir for many years, achieving national success and helping to raise the profile of Port Ellen Primary School.  During the October holiday the choir have been competing, and winning, at the National Mod!

Moving forward into the next phase of our project. we are looking forward to our first visit from our mentor, Neil Chattle, just after the October break.

 

Young Imagineers Competition

Primary 6&7 have been busy inventing.  They have been creating design boards for the Young Imagineers competition run by Statoil.  They had to come up with a great engineering idea that could solve a problem for the future, and lots of great ideas were generated; extra robotic arms and hands so you can get more done, high viz vests for cows, smart material kneepads that bounce you back when you fall in the playground, the Scooper for stopping ice cream dripping on your hands and lots more.  3 were chosen by the class to enter for the competition; Sarah’s Scaredy Sheep device stops sheep getting stuck on their backs by barking like a dog, Rebecca has designed a device that uses static electricity from clothes to repell rain from your glasses and Lauren has invented a device that knows when the inside of your car gets too hot and sends an alarm to your key.  Good luck in the competition and great engineering!

The National Mòd in Fort William

This year the National Mòd is going to be in Fort William. Port Ellen Choir will be singing 3 songs and the joint choir will be singing two. In the joint choir is some members from both Port Ellen and Bowmore choir, this choir was started when Mrs MacDonald became the head teacher in both schools. We hope that we will win all of our songs and we also hope that all the people doing solos, poems and duets will be fantastic and win their competition as well!

by Sophie and Rowan

Farmer’s Feast

On Tuesday 3rd October 2017 primary 6/7 made a delicious buffet for elders in the local community. Some of the delicious food that were available: Bramble muffins, pancakes, tomato soup, egg sandwiches, nettle soup, bramble meringues, oat and apple cookies, bramble and apple cakes and jam sandwiches. After everyone got welcomed and took a seat the P6/7s told everyone about the feast. While everyone ate some people from the class were on a table with each other and we had to talk to the people on our table. Soon after everyone had had a wee bit to eat the Gaelic choir sang some beautiful songs and some of the choir did poems and solos. After the Gaelic choir sang the Primary School band played some songs. The instruments that were played were the flute and the clarinet. The final thing that happened was primary 1,2 and 3 did some poems and they sounded lovely. Everyone had a great time, enjoyed the entertainment and very much appreciated our lovely foods.

Sarah

New Captains Means New Plans

In Port Ellen Primary there were new captains chosen for the different houses. Most houses have one captain and two vice captains but this year Nave, one of the houses, had three vice and one captain. All the houses are based on an Island around Islay. Orsay’s captain is Rowan Morris and their vice-captains are Matthew Campbell and Sophie Macdonald. Texa’s captain is Rebecca Morris and their vice captains are Jack Shaw and Abi Logan. Nave’s captain is Lauren Macdonald and their vice captain are Sarah Maclennan, Taylor Swanson and Mara Magilvery.  All of the houses have chosen a foundraiser and a sport for each tearm.

by Matthew and Jack

Author Visit

On Friday 30th September an author came in to p6/7 called Barbra Henderson and she talked to us about her books and one of them was called Fir For Luck. She also talked to us about her newest book called Punch and it is not out in the real world yet but we are the first to hear it. We have heard the first chapter of it.  She also choose some of us to act out some of the parts of the story. At the end she gave us all a bookmark and the choices were Punch or Fir For Luck.  I loved acting out one of the parts in Fir For Luck. I learned that one of her books had 37,000 words. We also learned she has writen more that ten book but not all of them are published.  We enjoyed the author coming in and we hope that another author comes in soon.

By Abi and Freya

Learning about Energy

 

 

P1/2/3 have been learning all about energy.  They have explored lots of different toys, old and new, to see what they do and thought about what makes them go.  They have discovered that toys can move, make sounds and light and that all of this is produced by putting energy into the toys – from electricity, by pushing, pulling and twisting.  The children were amazed to see the liquid move when it was heated with your hand. Learning about energy is part of our Rolls-Royce Science Prize project for this year.

 

 

Aerospace Engineering

In class we all researched an engineer. I researched aerospace engineering. To be an aerospace engineer you have to have a lot of qualifications such as: Software engineering, electrical engineering, you need to know mathematics,  you need to have applied some physics, manufacturing engineering and you need to have completed some space related courses.  They also need to have a lot of different skills like: To be able to think creatively, problem solving, strong knowledge of aerospace systems, organizational skills, time-management and writing skills. This job includes: applying science and technology to create aircraft, researching and developing designs.It also includes taking part in flight test programs to measure take-off distances, measuring and improving the performing of aircraft and investing aircraft accidents.  Now I definitely know more about aerospace engineering that I knew before.  I was very interested when I was learning about it and I would like to do it again.

By Rebecca Morris

Auto Engineer

We have been finding out about different types of engineering.  An auto engineer is an engineer that works with vehicles. This job involves working on computers and fixing cars. The average salary is up to £28,000. To be an auto engineer you need to be good at maths and be good at dealing with technology, but most important you have to have good group work to get the job done. You would also have to think about seeing when working with Vehicles. It would also help if you had a degree. I thought that it would be good to be an auto engineer because you always have a task to get done with a team.

Engineering Habits Of Mind

We have been learning about Engineering. We have been looking at the Engineering habits of mind here are some and what they mean.  Curiosity: asking lots of questions about something. Open- mindedness: showing and telling new ideas. Resilience: don’t give up.  Resourcefulness: always organized. Collaboration: able to work in a group.  Reflection: look back at your work and rethink your ideas. Visualising: think in your head about what you think your idea is going to turn out like.   We have been learning these because the whole schools topic is Engineering. I think that I have learned how to work in a group, how to ask questions, to keep working hard and never give up and how to look back at my work and improve it to make it better. I also learned that Engineers are not just men some engineers are women as well.

By Abi Logan

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