Category Archives: STEM 2016

Anytime Anywhere Learning, English & Literacy, Sciences, STEM 2016, Technologies, Uncategorized

Mission 4: Astronaut Adventures

May 18, 2016 Miss Burton 1 Comment

Mission 4 arrives at project Project Planetarium this week and it was all about Space Missions!

Part 1:

We used Twig on Glow videos to investigate how the news reported Neil Armstrong landing on the moon compared to Tim Peake at the International Space Station. We recognised that videos have changed over the years, for example videos now are clearer, coloured pictures, sharper images and have zoom. We also noticed how Tim Peake used Social Media to share his adventures in space via Twitter and a Video Log, this is something they could not do during Neil Armstrong’s mission.

Part 2:

Each Home Team are currently researching 2 space missions each. We made notes under the following headings:

Name of the Mission
Date of the mission
Important information about the mission

We skimmed and scanned a selection of websites and books to find out the relevant information. We had to use key words to research using different search engines. We used Yammer to make a list of useful child friendly websites that we could use – this was so we could help each other. We will use this information to make a timeline of missions.

Part 3:

We have been learning about the job of a astronaut. We used books, videos and websites to discuss:

The role of an astronaut
The experience you need
The skills/ qualities you need

We found out that you need to have a qualification in Science or Technologies, and that is was useful to have a knowledge of different languages. We will use the information we found out to write a job advert for an Astronaut.

We also have been trying to build our own spacecraft – watch this space!

Interdisciplinary Learning, Maths & Numeracy, Primary 5, Sciences, STEM 2016

Creating Craters

May 14, 2016 Miss Sherlow Leave a comment

This week, Primary 5 have been learning about how craters are formed. We learned all about the key features of asteroids, comets and meteoroids, and the differences between each. We know that a meteoroid that survives falling through the Earth’s atmosphere and hits the Earth’s surface is known as a meteorite, and, if these are big enough, they can cause craters. The Moon is scarred with millions of impact craters as it doesn’t have an atmosphere to protect it. We experimented witch creating our own craters using a tray filled with flour to represent the inner crust of the Moon and cocoa powder to represent the outer crust. We dropped ‘meteorites’ onto our surface from different heights, then measured the depth and diameter of our craters, recording our results. Next week, we will transfer the data we have collected into a graph using Purple Mash to help us to analyse and compare our findings.

Maths & Numeracy, Primary 2, STEM 2016, Technologies, Uncategorized

The Great Deserted Island STEM Challenge One

May 13, 2016 User deactivated Leave a comment

LI. We are learning to construct a model using measurement, area, force and motion, scientific process and properties of shapes.

SC. We can plan, design and build a hut that will with stand a small wind storm

SC. We can work together to share ideas.

SC. We can adapt and change our plans as required.

SC. We will test and evaluate our design as appropriate.

This week P2 have been trying to help Sir Harley Houndstooth III survive on the deserted island by constructing a hut that he could use to shelter in away from the tropical storms. We worked in teams and each team built our own hut. We learned lots about the skills we need to work effectively as part of a team such as, good cooperation, good listening skills and effective use of time. After we built our huts we then tested them to see if they would survive the storm (using a hair drier.) We discussed what a fair test is and decided how to make the test fair. We are very happy to report that none of the huts fell over but most of them moved and we recorded how far then moved in centimetres. Each team then set group targets for what good team work will look like and sound like for the next challenge.

Next week we will be helping Sir Harley Houndstooth III by building a bridge we will keep you posted on how we got on.

Anytime Anywhere Learning, Sciences, STEM 2016, Technologies

Mission 3 complete!

May 8, 2016 Miss Burton 11 Comments

We are learning to use websites to research information about our solar system.

We are learning to use text and images to communicate information in an interesting way.

A successful fact file will include the following information about each planet:Name

Photo
Description of appearance
Diameter
Distance from the sun
Rings/moons
Rotation
Temperature
Length of day

Your presentation should include

A title
A slide for each planet
The planets in order of their distance from the sun

First of all we had to read websites to gather information about the planets.

Then we collaborated on our fact file together by using Sway.

We have finally completely our Solar System fact file by using Sway to present our work.

You can view our fact file below.

Please leave us some feedback by adding a comment.

Anytime Anywhere Learning, Sciences, STEM 2016, Technologies

Mission 3 continued: Using Sway to make a presentation

April 29, 2016 Miss Burton Leave a comment

Today we looked at how we could make our solar system factfile, following the research we had completed at the beginning of the week. We looked at how we could use Sway, another application available with our Glow log in to collaboratively create a factfile.

Each group used their research about specific planets to create a card in the Sway. We found it very exciting that all 6 groups could work on the one factfile using different netbooks, this was our first experience of collaborating on the one activity online. We decided that because this was our first time using Sway we wanted to use the netbooks so we could support each other. We will add a link to our finished factfile next week.

Primary 7, Sciences, STEM 2016

More P7 Science Centre Photos

April 27, 2016 Mrs Murray Leave a comment

Primary 7, Sciences, STEM 2016

P7 at Glasgow Science Centre

April 27, 2016 Mrs Murray 2 Comments

‘bmfy f ifd’!!! Only P7’s will be able to read this coded message that we learned about today at Glasgow Science Centre!

What a fantastic day. First up was a workshop to learn more about Caesar Cipher and cracking cryptography. The children will be able to take their code cracking skills back to school and use them in our CSI topic.

We then had a chance to look around the interactive games in the Science Malls. On floor 3 we took on the role of the snot barrier, burned some energy in the giant hamster wheel, performed a virtual autopsy and bust some moves at the DNA disco. Floor 1 offered us more inspiring games that made our minds work. We had to offer ideas on how to meet ever increasing energy demands without breaking the bank or damaging the environment, we had the chance to feel the force of wind in a hurricane booth, find out what happens in a nuclear chain reaction and crank the handles to generate enough power to race around a Scalextric track.

All of the activities were testing different skills – strength, patience, concentration, reaction times, organisation and team work.

In the afternoon we went to the workshop ‘My World of Work – All about Me’. We learned about our personality traits by completing the personality quiz, used the careers information wall to discover more about different careers linked to STEM and we were able to talk to a High School career officer about what subjects we should study if we were interested in working in one of these roles.

Staff from the Science Centre commented on the superb behaviour of the P7’s, how hard they worked and were impressed by there knowledge of STEM and code cracking. Well done P7 – another great day out. Your teachers are very ‘uwtzi’ (proud – caesars cipher)!

Anytime Anywhere Learning, Maths & Numeracy, Sciences, STEM 2016, Technologies

Mission 3: The Solar System

April 27, 2016 Miss Burton Leave a comment

Creating a Human Solar System

Today we braved the weather to create our own human solar system to scale in the playground so we could put into perspective the distance each planet was from the sun.

Making a Solar System Factfile

This week in our home teams we have been busy researching the planets in the solar system. We had to use websites to use find out specific information about planets, and had a list of questions to research. We use Yammer to share useful websites that were reliable so we did not waste time. We also used the key questions to search for key information. We learned that the phrases we use in a search engine is important to finding answers quickly. We also had to skim and scan websites for key information. We supported each other with using a range of search engines and finding the AAL network. Then we shared our notes with each other. Our next steps are to look at reliable sources on the internet as we realised some of us had different answers. We will now use this information to create an electronic factfile.

Sciences, STEM 2016, Technologies

Cosmos Planetarium

April 26, 2016 Miss Burton 1 Comment

Today Primary 4 had a visit from Cosmos Planetarium to help put our current context of Project Planetarium into a real life. Cosmos Planetarium is a state of the art, 360° theatre experience. We were transported on a journey through the solar system and beyond – from flying through Saturn’s rings to diving into Jupiter’s icy moon, Europa, to search it’s vast ocean for signs of life. We learned about the first moon landing, as well as what life might be like on the moon in future. We took a virtual tour of the International Space Station and were able to share our knowledge of Tim Peake from the biographies we wrote about his life and experiences last week. We also were able to ask different questions about the solar system and find out new information that will help us with Mission 3!