Category Archives: Special event

Numeracy, Primary 6, Science, Special event, Technologies

STEM Fortnight: Day 5

After plotting our results from the insulation experiment on a chart, we couldn’t easily decide which material was the best insulator.

As a class we thought it would be better to plot the temperature drop of the water from the start to the end of the experiment.

After sorting our results, we can now see that the material that resulted in the least amount of temperature drop is cotton wool.  This means that cotton wool was the best insulator and aluminium foil is the worst insulator.

Initially, we thought aluminium foil would be the best, but because metal is such a good conductor of heat eg. warms up quickly when in contact with heat, it does not keep the water warm.  The aluminium foil quickly heats up using the temperature of the water, cooling it down rapidly.

However, cotton wool is full of spaces and gaps that are full of air which is not a good conductor of heat.  Therefore, the air does not heat up easily and the heat cannot transfer from the hot water keeping it hotter for longer.

 

Numeracy, Primary 6, Science, Special event, Technologies

STEM Fortnight: P6 Science Club

Why doesn’t ice cream melt in a very hot oven?

This week in our Science club we were looking at why we can put ice cream in the oven without it melting. To prove this we made some baked Alaska.

First we made some meringue by whisking up egg white at high speed until they formed stiff peaks.  We then place a few scoops of ice cream on top of a slice of cake and completely covered the ice cream.

We then baked it at 220oC (very hot) for 10 minutes.  Normally ice cream would melt completely at these sort off temperatures, but when we served it the meringue was hot and the ice cream was still very cold. How is this possible?

When we whisked the egg whites we trapped millions of air bubbles in the mixture. Air is not a good conductor of heat and therefore the meringue mixture acts as an insulator protecting the ice cream from the heat of the oven. This is why fabrics that trap air keep us warm and why igloos provide people with shelter in polar regions.

As well as being a great insulator, meringue tastes great with cake and ice cream.

 

 

Numeracy, Primary 6, Science, Special event, Technologies

STEM Fortnight: Day 3

This morning we had a visit from the Dog Trust who told us about the needs of dogs and the time, money and consideration needed to invite a dog into our homes.

Following this, we had a visit from Chris from Rolls Royce who told us about his work in the lab analysing the materials to insure there are no defects in the machine parts.

This afternoon, we conducted an scientific investigation into which material would be best suited or have the best insulation properties to used for polar exploration kit.

Each group of four children selected a different material to cover or insulate a hot drinks cup.

The selection included: aluminium foil, bubble wrap, card, cotton wool, cardboard, felt and cotton fabric.

In order to conduct a ‘fair test’ we kept everything the same, filling each cup with exactly 100 ml of hot water.

We then measure the temperature of the water at the start of the experiment and placed the cup outside.

We then measured the temperature again after 15 and 30 minutes.

We also included a control sample to find out the temperature drop without any insulation.

Later this week we will analyse our results and use them to finally determine the best insulator.

 

Primary 6, Science, Special event, Technologies

STEM Fortnight: Day 2

STEM fortnight continued today with an exciting show from the Glasgow Science Centre. The show was called Future Fuels and gave whistle stop tour of  alternative fuels from wind and solar to hydrogen powered vehicles.

There were lots of exciting hands on demonstrations including solar car races and generating hydrogen to fuel a rocket.

This was followed up by a visit from Tia the ethical hackers who explained all about her job as a legal hacker to improve cyber security.

Finally, in class we continued with our topic, Our Frozen Worlds, by looking at how animals have evolved adaptations to survive their harsh environment. We designed our own species using the adaptations of existing animals.

Numeracy, Primary 6, Science, Special event, Technologies

STEM Fortnight: day 1

Today was the first day of our STEM Fortnight and we kicked it off in P623 with a visit from biologists from the University of Strathclyde.

They spoke to us about their research work into finding new bacteria from the seas and coastal areas, to discover new antibiotics as the ones we have discovered from the land are becoming ineffective.

They showed us how they grew bacteria in a Petri dish using agar jelly to feed and support the bacteria colonies, and we also had the chance to create our own samples.

In the afternoon, STEM fortnight was official launched with a whole school assembly with guest speaker Dr Peter Hughes OBE.  He spoke to us about the importance of engineering and its application in our everyday lives.

 

 

 

Health & Wellbeing, Primary 6, Special event

Anti-bullying week

This week is National Anti-bullying week.  Today, we attended class P726’s assembly on Anti-bullying and followed it up with a class discussion.

We discussed what bullying means and what the difference between bullying and the kind of conflict we sometimes have with school friends in the playground.

Then we thought of strategies we could use if we are being bullied or know of anyone who is being bullied.

Finally, we designed our own Anti-bullying posters to show our understanding of what we’ve learnt.

Health & Wellbeing, Home, Special event

Debib week

This week was Def Week at Mearns Primary school.  We would like to purchase a defibrillator for the school as part of our goal as a First Aid school and are currently fundraising  to help us achieve this.  Defib Week will help us raise money through a sponsored whole school Zumba class as well as educating the children, staff and their families in how to perform CPR.

The week kicked off with a visit from Jamie from St Andrews First Aid.  He brought along his training mannequins to demonstrate how to administer CPR.

Next, Leon from the Red Cross came to our classroom to discuss general first aid techniques and how to offer first aid without a first aid kit.

The recovery position.

You can cool a burn with more than just water if its not available. Lucozade!

On Thursday, Lewis the First Responded brought in his defibrillator in with him and showed us how to make a 999 in an emergency.

Finally, the week was rounded up by a Zuma session in the Street to get our hearts pumping.