4C host the Maggot Olympics

This morning Year 4 had a special Science lesson in labs. 

They had a look some maggots and we discussed their movement and life cycle. 

Then we looked at how they respond to light. The maggots would move away from the light. We used this fact to help us race our maggots! 

First each pair chose their champion maggot. And then we held the qualifying races. Only three maggots could make it into the grand final. 

And then we all cheered as the grand final took place. Poor "Speedy" got a little bit confused and went the wrong way. Then it was a close race to the finish line between "Maggie" and "Red Mags". The two maggots were very close the whole way down the track and the leader constantly changed. In the end the maggot to cross the finish line first was.....

......RED MAGS!!!

7C get testing

Today 7C did an experiment to prove the requirements for photosynthesis. 

They tested a leaf that was half covered with tin foil (no light on that bit)

They tested a leaf that had been on a branch that was in a bag with calcium hydroxide to absorb the carbon dioxide 

And a variegated leaf where the green bits had chloroplasts and the yellow didn't. 

They did the starch test on all of these

First boiling the leaf to kill it and remove the waterproof cuticle. 

30 seconds is enough

Then into ethanol to remove the chlorophyll 

After de colourising the leaves they were washed to soften them. 

Finally test with iodine 

They bits that go black have starch and those that stay orange don't. 

Which leaf was which?

Maggot respiration

The lime water went cloudy proving that maggots produce carbon dioxide and so they must respire. 

We can now finish writing up the experiment. 

Year 7 test a leaf for starch

It is important, when studying photosynthesis, to see if leaves make starch. This is the experiment we do to test this.

First boil the leaf to kill it and remove the waterproof waxy layer

Then we take out the leaf

And put it into a boiling tube with some ethanol

The ethanol has a low boiling point and is flammable so we have the Bunsen burner turned off.

.

Then the leaf was washed in the hot water as it became brittle in the ethanol

Finally the leaf was spread out on a Petri dish and iodine was added to it..

If the leaf turns black it has starch in it.

Our leaves went very black.

IRP

Year 7 test leaves for starch

As part of our topic on photosynthesis Year 7 have been testing leaves for starch in the labs this morning. They have written a blog post all about the experiment.

Testing a leaf for starch 

First we boiled the leaf to get rid of the waxy cuticle and stop the cell reactions.

Then we turned off the Bunsen burner because the chemical we are about to use is flammable.

We covered the leaf in ethanol and placed it in the boiling water. We did this to remove the green chlorophyll from the leaf.

We waited for ten minutes and took the leaf out. 

The ethanol had turned green and the leaf was colourless and brittle. We placed the leaf in warm water to soften it.

We spread the leaf out on a Petri dish and covered it in iodine. If it turned black it meant there was starch and if it did not change then there was no starch. 

And then we sat down wrote up the experiment.

By Miss Wybar's Year 7 Science class. 

8P presents

8P have been finding out about movement in the human body. This morning each pair was assigned a different type of joint to research and then they had to present their findings to the rest of the class. 

They used books and computer models to find their information:

And then presented their findings:

Some groups even gave us an example of the type of movement their joints allowed:

6LE meet the maggots

6LE are finding out if maggots carry out the seven life processes. This afternoon they carried out an experiment to see if they were sensitive to light. 

First they shone the light from the left and then the right and made observations on the maggots movements:

Then they shone the light from above the maggots and made a note of their position on the paper after 30 seconds:

They made sure to collect in all the maggots after each experiment and are becoming more comfortable picking up their wriggly friends!