Playing at Science?

Year 8 pupils investigated the energy changes in toy cars today. 

This involved pulling them back, which winds them up, for a measured distance. 

Then the car is released and the clockwork mechanism takes over. 

Hopefully the car does not crash into anything. 

Then the distance travelled is measured

And recorded. 

Some went so far they had to be done outside. 

They found the relationship between the pull back distance and how far the car travelled. 

Maggots

6M have been studying the requirements for life. Part of this work involves investigating sensitivity. 

Here they are seeing how maggots behave in the light. 

All the results are recorded. 

And the test repeated from the other side. 

And that result compared with the first. 

The blinds were down so sunlight didn't affect the result. 

And the maggots were put back carefully. 

Experiments are repeated to test reliability. 

Careful counting required. 

They found that maggots crawl away from the light. 

7A investigate stoma

7A have just started on the topic photosynthesis. 

They have been looking at stoma under the microscope. 

And made diagrams of what they see. 

A good start to the topic. 

And label the diagrams. 

Year 8 spring to action

Year 8 are testing sting toys in their energy studies this week. 

They are calculating the energy that the toy stores in its spring. 

The toy's mass was found. 

This was then converted to newtons 

Then the spring toys were primed and their jump filmed using the slopro app. 

This meant the height it reached could be recorded accurately. 

The flight was reviewed

And then repeated 

A couple of times to check 

This way we can see if the test is reliable. 

many toys were tested to compare the results

All the results were recorded on a spread sheet 

So they could be analysed easily. 

And the experiment written up. 

Not all spring toys are equal!

8S measured the energy in spring toys today. 

Are all spring toys equal?

First select your toy

Then find its mass

Prime the toy by pushing it down and wait. 

Its difficult to see how high they jump so the pupils used slopro to film the jump. 

This makes it more accurate. 

Each toy was measured more than once to check reliability. 

Then the footage needs reviewing so the jump height can be recorded. 

Analysis of results tomorrow. 

6M meet Captain Beaky?

In their work on adaptations 6M got all beaky today. They used different types of tongs as beaks and tried to pick up different foods

Some had small pointy beaks

And others had big long beaks

The "food" consisted marbles, string, rice, pin pong balls, water, rubber bands and all sorts of other things.

They used all sorts of techniques not just pinching and squeezing.

This helps show why birds have different beaks.

Some were better at picking up certain foods.

But were rubbish for picking up other foods.

The pupils had 30 seconds at each feeding station.

Then they changed places and could opt to use a different beak.

They learned that different shaped beaks are better for different types of food.

And had a lot of fun.
IRP