Profiles
How we earned our Discover Primary Science Award of Excellence by St John of God Special School, Islandbridge, Dublin
The Discover Primary Science team visited the school to hear about how they achieved their award and were treated to an excellent demonstration of a variety of Discover Primary Science activities by the boys and girls of St John of God's. The school won the Award of Science Excellence in 2005 and are working away on their log book to retain it this year.
STEP ONE: Activities from the Discover Primary Science classroom pack
We worked together to do a lot of science activities: Diving Drops, we poured water syrup into a beaker, then water and then oil. The oil stays on top of the water because it is lighter. Then we dropped food colouring into the oil. It did not mix, but when it sank down into the water it turned the water green.
We took our fingerprints and looked at them under a magnifying glass. We discovered that they are all different patterns. We made helicopters from paper.
We made a rocket with a film canister, water and a vitamin C tablet. The water made the tablet fizz up inside the canister and the lid popped, making the canister fly up into the air.
STEP THREE: Displaying our work at a science event
We had a day in our school where we invited our families in and showed them the science that we did.
STEP FOUR: Explorative activities
We melted chocolate by heating it and it went from being hard to being soft, so we made rice crispy buns! We visited two Discover Centres, Dublin Zoo and the Ark. Our school also has a Green Flag.
What we thought...
We love science!
What our teacher thought...
We found the pack great to use in class. The activities are easy to organise and very hands-on, the children really enjoyed it and they look forward to science now.
Link to Top of Page