At Marsden Primary School it is our intention to engage pupils in an exciting and investigative Science Curriculum which develops in all children a lifelong curiosity and interest in the sciences. When planning for our Science Curriculum, we intend for children to have the opportunity, wherever possible, to learn through varied systematic investigations, leading to them being equipped for life to ask and answer scientific questions about the world around them. As children progress through the year groups, they build on their skills in working scientifically, as well as on their scientific knowledge, as they develop greater independence in planning and carrying out fair and comparative tests to answer a range of scientific questions. Our Science scheme of work ensures that children have a varied, progressive and well-mapped-out science curriculum that provides the opportunity for progression across the full breadth of the Science Curriculum from the Early Years Foundation Requirements through to National Curriculum Requirements for KS1 and KS2.
Year 5 put their knowledge of the parts of a flower today by dissecting a tulip and separating out the different parts. It was fascinating to see in the inner workings of the plant!
As part of science week, EYFS have been weeding the garden in preparation for planting new flowers, herbs and plants next week. We planted sunflower seeds and discussed how we need to care for our flowers as they grow. We also discussed seasonal change and examined how the world around us changes when it changes from winter to Spring.
To celebrate Science Week, Year 1 made wind socks to begin their new topic about the weather this term. We will be using them over the next few weeks to find out the answer to the question ‘Does the wind always blow the same direction?’ We predicted it doesn’t always blow the same way so we will see if our results show this!
As part of Science Week Year 2 have been finding out about a key scientist Charles Darwin. This has made us look closer at the world around us. We have been using magnifying glasses to explore different plants and materials to have a closer look at their surface.
As part of Science Week Year 3 visited the Great North Museum and worked with Professor Cess from Newcastle University. Together they investigated rocks and fossils using microscopes, hand lenses and ancient artefacts. They also used software to discover that our community is built upon a bedrock of sandstone. Y3 enjoyed their visit and completed some super learning. So proud of you Y3!
Y3 Science Week
This week, Y6 tried their hand at being heart surgeons! To learn more about the organ for their science topic, the class dissected some sheep hearts and looked at how they worked.
This half term, Y5 have been learning about forces and carried out investigations to test air resistance.
Our first investigation involved letting a crumpled piece of paper fall and flat piece of paper fall to see if one was quicker than the other. We discovered that the flat piece glided down as it had more air resistance.
Our second investigation saw us making paper helicopters: one large one and one small one. We timed how long they took to reach the floor.
Year 5 were set a challenge to explore what happens when you add water to corn flour. We discovered that it made an unusual fluid called oobleck which is a Non-Newtonian Fluid. This means that when pressure is added (e.g. you punch it) it acts like a solid and is hard. When you pick it up it acts like a liquid and is runny.
As you can imagine, the classroom was a little bit messy!
Today the children put their sorting materials knowledge to the test by trying different methods of separating. We are using evaporation to separate salt and water, filtering to separate sand and water, sieving to separate flour and sweets and finally magnetic attraction to separate paper clips and rice.
We were very impressed with their scientific enquiry skills.
Today, Y5 carried out an experiment to explore the process of filtration to try and separate an insoluble material (tea leaves) from a solvent (water). The children had a variety of different materials to use as filters and we discovered that some were more successful than others. Material with very small holes such as woven fabric acted as a good filter and resulted in very few leaves getting through the material. We called what was left in the material the residue.
