Well, we’ve had another busy couple of weeks.  Last week we had our Christmas Enterprise in school.  Each group had their own stall and we had to market and promote our stalls in order to generate business.  We kept a tally of the number of customers who came and the amount which they spent, so we could cross-check these figures with the money actually received.  However, like most business, things didn’t go according to plan………..

In class, on Monday, we gathered all our tally sheets and discussed why the amounts on our sheets and the amount of money received differed.  We all decided that we either didn’t tally up everyone who paid or if one person wanted more than one shot, then we only marked down one tally mark.  After we had analysed our data, we added our results to our accounts and calculated if we had made a profit or a loss. More details to follow on the actual amount(s) later on.  After all the stress of how much everyone made we are glad of a rest – well as much of a rest you can get in P7!

In our Topical Science subject, Destination Mars, we held a class debate.  The Question was,

‘Is it worth spending £4.5bn on a Mission to Mars?’ 

We watched clips from BBC1 Question Time and discussed how to conduct ourselves in a debate.  We had quite a heated debate and Sophie, the Chairperson, had to step in a few times to keep us on track…….and calm a few of us down!  Overall, it was a good experience and we were able to discuss what we have been learning to others.  We’re hoping to have more debates on lots of different subjects next term.  In the end, our audience voted and the results were in:

For spending £4.5bn on a Mission to Mars – 15%

Against spending £4.5bn on a Mission to Mars – 58%

Undecided – 27%

Lastly, we’ve also been working with the James Young High School pupils looking at all things ‘Viscous’.  Viscosity is the thickness of a solution.  We conducted experiments putting by steel ball-bearings into test tubes filled with water and oil.  We timed how long it took for each ball-bearing to reach the bottom and noted this in our table.  We did this three times for each to ensure that the results were accurate.  We also had to ensure that the amounts of oil and water were the same so each ball-bearing had an equal distance to travel.

We then analysed our findings and concluded that the test tube with oil was more viscous than water – it took longer for the ball-bearing to reach the bottom of the test tube filled with oil.  We also got to put out knowledge of decimals into a real life science context as we were timing using tenths and hundredths of a second.

Next week, we’re hoping to do radio broadcasts from the surface of Mars.  Watch this space – Primary 7, over and out!

By Logan, Husna & Mr Hunter