Science Event
This week in school we are having a STEM focus. Our pupils have been involved in lots of exciting STEM related activities and challenges. STEM focuses on developing science, technology, engineering and maths skills.
We wanted to make parents aware that on Friday 31st January we are holding a largescience event in school. We will have demonstrators from W5 in Belfast, University of Ulster, Dominican College science students, local STEM business people and real life scientists in school to work with our pupils!
Pupils from Nursery to Primary 7 will be taking part in the demonstrations and science experiments throughout the day. The local press will be there to capture some pictures of our event as well. Pupils will have an opportunity to access some of the experiments on offer and then will share what they have learnt with others when they come back into class. The experiments we have planned are:
Cornflour suspension
This experiment uses a cornflour suspension to demonstrate the unusual characteristics of this substance. Is it a solid or is it a liquid? We will examine this question with a hands on experiment. This could get messy and fun!
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
The children will join the hungry caterpillar on a journey exploring food. They will discuss various foods, assign them to their food group and discuss the chemical properties of each food group and why these are important in the body.
Shocking Sugar
The children will explore the topic of sugar. They will examine various foods and guess how much sugar they contain. They will discuss hidden sugar and the effects of too much sugar on the body.
Water Quality
This experiment will demonstrate water quality testing from our local rivers and oceans. It will introduce children to water quality and blue flag beaches with emphasis on detecting bacteria originating from contamination. Children will see how samples are taken and processed in the laboratory, before helping to explain the results of some recent samples to decide if the water is safe for swimming.
Strawberry DNA
The children will perform an experiment using simple household chemicals to extract the DNA from strawberries. They will go through an experiment which will extract the DNA from the cells within the strawberries and they will then purify the sample and precipitate the DNA. The children can then view the long DNA string.
Exploring pH’s
The children will examine acids and alkalis and determine the pH of common substances using litmus paper. They will get to witness a reaction between an acid and an alkali and the carbon dioxide generated will be used to blow up a balloon.
Chromatography
The children will get to separate different coloured inks into their constituent colours using chromatography.
Exploring Forces
The children will get to look at forces at work and the effect of friction on movement of materials. They will also examine magnetic forces.
Water Purification
This experiments will show pupils the water treatment techniques used in most water treatment plants. Pupils will attempt to use wood shavings to purify a dye.
Beach buckets (P1-P4 only)
Pupils will learn about the plant and animal life we can find along our coasts, how the ocean supports these environments and how currents can carry materials huge distances, making the human impact on our oceans harmful at a global scale.
Ocean - water masses and salt content (P5-7 only)
Pupils will learn about water stratification. They will explore how the density of water changes with salinity and temperature. They will attempt to recreate this stratification using saltwater, tap water and food colouring.
We wish to thank the organising committee, staff, W5 (Belfast), University of Ulster representatives, Dominican College students and local STEM business representatives for helping us put on the event. We hope that this event will enthuse our pupils and promote science discovery.