We were honoured to have the Minister of Education Richard Bruton launch the policy and implementation plan for STEM in education in Ireland. Minister Bruton had the chance to talk to come of the students about what they have been learning in science and maths. Here are a few pictures from the day.
We investigated the respiratory system for the science exhibition.
First of all we learned how we breathe and the parts involved in the respiratory system.
We then carried out two experiments: How to Make a Model Set of Lungs and How to Measure Your Lung Capacity.
How To Make a Model Set of Lungs
Equipment needed:
A 2 litre bottle, 2 balloons, blue tack, a rubber glove, sellotape.
Method:
Step 1: First, cut a 2 litre bottle in half.
Step 2: Next, place a straw into a balloon and use sellotape to stick it on. Ensure that there is no air getting through. This will represent our trachea and our lung.
Step 3: Repeat step 2 as we have 2 lungs.
Step 4: Then, place the two lungs through the top of the bottle and secure using blue tack. Again, make sure that there is no air getting through.
Step 5: After that, place a rubber glove on the bottom part of the bottle.
Step 6: Finally, pull down on the rubber glove to show the air coming into the lungs and going out of the lungs.
What We Have Learned:
How to Measure Your Lung Capacity
Equipment needed:
Permanent marker, 5 litre bottle, basin, plastic tubing
Method:
Step 1: First, using a permanent marker, mark off a 5 litre bottle into 250 millimeter intervals.
Step 2: Next, fill the bottle up with water.
Step 3: Then, place a piece of tubing into the bottle.
Step 4: Ask your friend for some help in placing the bottle into a half filled basin of water. Ensure it is placed in the sink in case there is an over spillage of water.
Step 5: After that, place the tubing in your mouth. Taking an ordinary breath, blow out as much water as you can.
Step 6: Record, in millimeters, how much water you have blown out of the bottle.
Step 7: Then, fill up the bottle again. This time take a deep breath and blow into the bottle.
Step 8: Record, in millimeters, how much water you have blown out of the bottle.
Step 9: Do 15 minutes exercise a day for two and a half weeks.
Step 10: Finally, repeat Steps 2-8 after two and a half weeks.
What We Have Learned:
We also carried out our own research about the respiratory system. This included information about; Smoking and the Lungs, How the Respiratory Works with Other Systems in the Body and Asthma.
Experiment 1: Count the Taps!
What were we investigating?
Do sound waves travel better through a gas or a solid?
What did we do?
We learned that the air that we talk through is a gas and it can be interfered with by things like the wind.
We tested to see if we could count a tapping noise more clearly if we listened with our ear on the desk.
What did we learn?
In a solid you can hear the sound waves clearly. We weren’t sure however, if they were clearer.
Experiment 2: Making Rice Jump
What were we investigating?
Can we see sound waves at work?
What did we do?
We placed some cling film over a bowl and then placed some rice on top of the cling film. We then banged a drum close to the rice to see if the sound waves could make the rice jump.
What did we learn?
Even from a distance away the sound waves travelled from the drum hit the cling film and made the rice jump. Even though they are invisible we can see the force moving the rice.
Experiment 3: String Phones
What were we investigating?
Can we make a “phone” to send a message from our class across the front of the school to Mr Scott’s room (Room 5)?
What did we do?
Step 1: We designed and made our own string phone’s and tested them to see if they worked.
One group tried putting two strings in their phone.(It didn’t seem to work any better)
Step 2: We measured to see how far apart our phones stretched and we tested to see if the sound got weaker on the longest phones.
Step 3: We then made another test string phone 4 metres long and we tested to see if it still worked.
Step 4: We measured the distance from our classroom to Mr Scott’s using a trundle wheel. It was 21 metres and 61 centimetres window to window.
Step 5: We made our new extra-long string phone. We sent a group down to Room 5 to listen for the message and left two children in our class to call it out. Nobody but the callers knew the message (It was: “ Ireland are going to win!”).
Step 6: We decided to do a final test to see if we could “listen in” on the line between the two classrooms.
What did we learn?
We learned lots but the most important bits are:
We have loved doing lots of experiments this week for science week! We have been busy exploring different materials that float and sink. We predicted, tested and recorded our results. We especially loved doing the “Dancing Raisins” experiment and designing our own boats! We tested our boats by counting how many “passengers” it could hold before sinking.
In fourth class we have been busy testing our heart rates. Before exercise we tested children’s heart rates using the heart rate monitor. After the exercise we tested them again to see if there was any change in their heart rates. The heart rate monitor told us how many times their heart beat per minute (bpm). Here are some of the results we collected.
Results
Kalya Before exercise 96bpm
After exercise 120bpm
Oliver Before exercise 90bpm
After exercise 130bpm
Declan Before exercise 78bpm
After exercise 135bpm
Oscar Before exercise 150bpm
After exercise 200bpm
Conclusion
We found out that your heart rate changes after exercise. It beats faster. Oscar had a high heart rate before exercise and we know this was because he was nervous and excited about using the heart rate monitor. He was also doing a lot of talking at the beginning!!
For the next few weeks we are hoping to use the heart rate monitor before and after P.E every week.
Yesterday we had our first Science exhibition of the year. We had great fun showing all of our visitors our project on ‘Electricity’. Our question was ‘How do we get the light at the top of a lighthouse to shine?’. We figured we needed to make a closed circuit. We loved explaining about the various circuits we made, such as series and parallel. We already can’t wait for the next Exhibition! Take a look at some of the pictures below.
By: Jack and Bailey
3rd Class Room 10
Parents, relatives, Friends and Intel Judges came and viewed our experiments. All classes were represented. They commented on how articulate and knowledgeable the children were.
