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.
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.
The children loved completing their first experiment in Y5! We posed the questions “Are all materials soluble?” and tried mixing different materials in water to see which would dissolve and which are insoluble.
At first the class thought all the liquid materials would dissolve and make a new solution however soon discovered that oil would sit on the top.
Mrs Hanratty and Mrs Chrisp were very impressed with the presentation in books when recording our work!
Good job Y5 🙂
Last week, we started our science lessons by recapping knowledge previously taught about solids, liquids and gases. I was very impressed when they could explain how the particles behave in each state of matter and even gave me a demonstration.
Y6 had a fab time at Nissan today! We were able to design our own cars, practise working on an Assembly line, use power tools and enjoy cookies!
Year 1 enjoyed finding and comparing different types of leaves we found outside as part of our science topic. We could identify the three main parts of a leaf on our rubbings.
Reception and Year 3 had a fantastic morning gutting fish and investigating the features of them. We used knives to dissect the fish and find the skeletons inside – we were all brilliant fishmongers! We also made clay fish, drew fish and labeled each of the features including a sentence explaining their purpose. We all had a brilliant morning – Well done everyone!