Year 6 on safari?

Year 6 used their microscopes to search a moss clump for micro-organisms. 

They saw paramecium

And rotifers

And nematodes

And euglena

And lots of other things. 

A very successful safari without leaving the lab. 

Year 3 find out what's reversible

Year 3 experimented with reversible and irreversible changes in the laboratory. They blew up balloons, stretched elastic, dissolved sugar cubes and observed a lit candle.

Digesting starch

Year 7 have been learning about digestion. They have learnt how enzymes can break down large food molecules into smaller ones. We then used our knowledge of this to digest starch. 

We placed iodine in each well of a spotting tile.

Then we took some starch and added an enzyme called amylase, this is the enzyme found in our saliva. Some groups used 5ml and the others used 10ml of enzyme. 

We started the timer. 

We tested the mixture with the iodine every twenty seconds.

At the start the iodine turned black but once the starch had been digested the iodine remained a brown colour. The mixture with 10ml of enzyme did this first. 

The starch had been broken down into glucose. To prove this we poured some Benedict's solution into the boiling tube and placed this into a water bath. The solution turned from turquoise to brick red which tells us it contained lots of glucose. 

Extracting DNA from onions

Year 7 are doing a lot of work on the human body this term including reporduction.
They have learned about DNA and know that your genetic plan is carried on this double helix.
Here they have a go at extracting the DNA from an onion.

 First get your equipment ready

 You need some pureed onion

and add salt water to it

 And mix it up

 Then filter the suspension

 You must get 50ml of filtrate

 

 

 

 Now add some washing up liquid and then cold ethanol

 

 Add the ethanol very carefully

And then you have finished

Se the layer of cloudy white stuff in the middle

 That is DNA

Did you know that onion cells have more DNA than our cells!

 Scientists think that most of it is junk DNA but some genes like those for metabolism will be the same as the metabolism genes that are in our cells.

 

Year 3 experiment

Year 3 carried out an 'absorbency' experiment as part of their focus on 'Materials and their Properties'. 

The children tested different paper samples to see which type absorbed more water.

Where does the owl fly

Here in the theatre, if the owl is Aluca or Big Pete.
See them in action here
https://www.dropbox.com/s/psips9q7wt66as7/Owls%202014.mov
They came with their freinds from the British Wildlife Centre.

Scrappy a Little Owl

Ethel a European Eagle Owl

Here is Big Pete the Barn Owl

And Aluca the Tawny Owl

The year 8 pupils were very quiet for our guests as owls have very sensitive ears. They can hear the heart beat of a mouse at 20 paces.Watch out rodents!!!

Year 4 test the water

Year 4 made another visit to the lab this morning

They are doing work on temperature. 

They want to see how boiling water cools

They start the timer and take the temperature of the water. 

They have to wait for two minutes. 

Then they take the temperature again. 

They keep ding this so they can see if there is a pattern. 

They keep going for 12 minutes. 

Will their prediction be correct?

What did the owl eat?

The bones have been soaked in bleach solution for the last few days. 

Now to identify and present them.