Super Scientists! 🔬🌡⚗

December 1, 2016 by Miss Thomson | 2 Comments

We’ve been very busy on the science front over the past couple of weeks!

Last week, we learned all about the treatment of waste water and how this is cleaned before being returned to our rivers and streams. We were then given the challenge of using our new found knowledge to help us build our own working water filters! We worked collaboratively to decide what materials would be most useful and then considered carefully which order they should be put in our filter. We are pleased to report these were a success! This surprised some of us, as some people thought that using the sand in our filter would make the water dirtier. We now know that the sand wasn’t able to pass through the next layer, which was cotton wool. We also learned that this water still wouldn’t be safe to drink, as there could be germs in the water which we can’t see. Drinking water goes through an extra process to kill any nasty bugs!

This week, we investigated changing states. We learned that materials exist in three states – solid, liquid and gas. We learned about freezing, melting and boiling as part of our water topic. We carried out some investigations to observe water in its different states. One of our favourite activities was using a thermometer to measure temperature – especially when we moved it from boiling water to ice & back as it shot up and down!!

We have been learning how to write up our experiments using the correct format for scientific reports. We have to include details such as the aim of our investigation, our prediction, the equipment used, our methods as well as including the results and conclusion – that’s a lot of work!

Our water topic has also led to us learning all about toilets! As well as investigating how the cistern works and how the waste water is cleaned, we have found out that around 2 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. We learned about the problems this can cause, including the dangerous diseases that can be spread. We used simulated germs and ultra-violet light to highlight the importance of basic hygiene such as hand-washing, and were surprised how easily germs can be passed between us and onto objects such as door handles and tables. We are now working in groups to create learning experiences for other pupils in the school so that we can share this important information.