What a fantastic week of science we have had at Portpatrick primary school! On Monday, P5-7 were learning about inheritance and used ‘Reebops’ to explore different genetic information.
On Wednesday, Mrs. Hall from the STEM team taught the P1-4 class about construction. They were able to build different objects from cardboard, fitting pieces together with screws, joins and using screwdrivers and other tools. This provided some of the younger class with key skills for life.
Later on that day, Mrs. Hall enabled the children to learn about aerodynamics and drag! She used images and videos on the Promethean smartboard to demonstrate lift and drag, The children loved learning about which paper aeroplanes flew through the air quickest and adapted their planes to see if they could engineer a plane that flew through the air faster. They had a competition to see which parachutes could fall to the floor the slowest. This enabled the children to self evaluate their creations to see if they could design parachutes that achieved their learning goals. They considered various materials, size and strength / elasticity of parachutes to create designs with as much drag as possible.
Finally for Science Week, on Thursday we had a science afternoon where parents came in to participate in learning activities with the children. It was fantastic to see so many adults get involved. We had several stations where children could experiments with various scientific concepts. This included working with different properties of substance, friction, magnetism, building and identifying where vital organs are in the human body. Our younger pupils particularly enjoyed using the Code ‘n’ Go mouse to program instructions for the mouse to navigate a maze to get the cheese.
Our family visitors were able to scan a QR code at each station using the IPads. This accessed animated videos and information so we could all learn about the scientific principals behind that activity.
It was a great week, in which the children learned a variety of new concepts and had fun. Thank you to everyone who was involved!
UNCRC Rights of the Child –
Article 5 – Family guidance as children develop, Article 29 – Aims of Education.
SHANARRI – Nurtured, Achieving, Responsible.
