Salt water and Fresh water

The year 5 and 6 students have been learning about the difference between salt and fresh water. Mason from G3 has written about what they did.

On Thursday 22 of July G3 went to Miss Harrison's super high tech lab to experiment about salt and fresh water.

For our first experiment we tested what happens when we put salt water into fresh water. The result was that the density of the salt water is greater than fresh water so the salt water dropped to the bottom and the fresh water floated on the top.

The second experiment was a colour code with different densities for different coloured water. We first test the different colours to see if they mixed or stacked on top of each other. Then we had to look at our results and were able to stack every colour without mixing them.

And that was what we learned at Miss Harrison's lab on Thursday. It was a lot of fun but very challenging.

This photo shows what happened when we put the green salt water into clear fresh water. The green salt water went to the bottom.

This photo clearly shows what happened when we added blue fresh water to clear salt water. The blue fresh water floated on the top of the salt water because it is less dense.

Juniors explore pitch

When you listen to sounds you will notice that some are high and some are low. This is called PITCH.

These photos show some of the fun students had exploring pitch.

The more air in the tube the lower the pitch of the sound.

If the jar has only a little bit of water the sound will be high pitched when you tap it.

The shorter the straw the higher the pitch.

Here is a story that Jing Qiao (Year 1) wrote about what she learnt about pitch.

On last Friday we went to A7 to learn about pitch. I used straws and paper. I blew over the straws. They made different sounds. One was high and one was low. One is medium. We cut the straws tall and low.

School Gen Group

Today the School Gen group met. They are a group of year 5 and 6 students who are keen to promote School Gen. School Gen means that our school has a solar panel to make some electricity for the school.

The aim of our group is to teach other students about our solar panels and why they are important.

We are working in small groups to prepare presentations for each syndicate assembly.

This photo shows the solar panels on top of B Block's roof.

This photo shows the hottie box. This is where the solar energy from the sun is turned into electricity that can be used in the school.

Banana DNA - Science Club

Today at Science club we learnt about DNA. DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid. DNA is found in every cell in your body so it is in blood, saliva, hair, skin, bones and other body fluids.

We did an experiment to extract DNA from a banana. This is what we did

What to do

1. Blend one banana together with 1 cup of water until smooth.
2. Fill a tube with around 15mls of the smooth banana and water solution.
3. Add around 10 drops of detergent to the banana mixture in the tubes.
4. Put a lid on the tubes and gently shake them (this will break open the cells and release the DNA).
5. Carefully pour around 20 to 30mls of methylated spirits (also known as denatured alcohol) into the banana mixture.
6. Use a straightened paperclip or similar object to fish out the gooey strands of banana DNA.
7. Collect the strands in a small dish.

When we poured the DNA into a dish it looked like a gooey mixture - we could pull out the long strands of DNA.


Sometimes it didn't work so we tried again.

Miss Harrison's didn't work because she didn't follow the instructions and forgot to put dishwashing liquid in. !!!!!!!

We also found out that when you put meths onto black paper the ink comes out and makes a mess.

Meths is a dangerous substance so we had to work carefully with it.

If you want to try this at home you will need an adult to supervise you.

Being a Forensic Scientist

Last week the Year 5 and 6 Science Club were Crime Scene Investigators when they had to identify suspicious white powders.

They found out that Forensic Scientists look at evidence from a crime scene and test it.

The students were given a mystery powder and had to work out what it was. They tested it with iodine to see if it changed colour. Then they added vinegar to it to see if it bubbled or not. Finally they tested it with indicator paper to see what colour the paper changed.

They then used a chart and their evidence to work out what the powder was. Mostly they got it right.

This picture shows iodine being added to the powder. If the powder was made of starch it would turn the iodine black.

Cleaning up an oil spill

Oil spills have been in the news a lot lately. This week the Year 5 and 6 students have been investigating the best method to clean up an oil spill. They found out that when oil meets with water it floats on top of the water.

Check out Oil and Water Don't Mix which is a slide show about oil pollution.

The students used a dropper to act like a vacuum cleaner that would suck up the oil They also used a paper towel, cotton wool ball and filter paper to act like sponges.

Most groups found it really hard to clean up the oil - especially when it broke down into smaller bubbles or oil.

This picture shows a group using a cotton wool ball to soak up the oil from their model ocean.

Sound is made from vibrations

The Junior school is learning about sound. Last week some year 1 classes did sound investigations. This is a story written by one of the young scientists.

On Friday C Block visited Miss Harrison's room. We learnt what makes sound. My favourite experiment was when you band a tuning stick on a table and put it in water. It makes vibrations. Do you know how vibrations go from the sound to your ear? I know. The sound has sound waves. Sound waves go in the air to your ear.

By Ashley - Year 1

This picture shows how sound waves make the air vibrate. When the students spoke through the megaphones the salt on the plastic wrap moved.