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I love this Olga. Great links between art and science with the work on minibeasts and 3 weeks of art sorted too! Thanks for sharing!
I am based in Dublin so we could examine the life and work of famous scientist- Francis Rynd
Dublin-born Francis Rynd was a doctor at the Meath Hospital whose greatest contribution to medical science came with the development of the first-ever hypodermic syringe, with which he administered the world’s first ever pain-relieving injection in 1844.
Rynd’s precursor to today’s modern syringes was a two-piece device, with a cannula carrying the drugs, and a trocar used to pierce the skin. In Rynd’s creation, gravity was the sole force of injection, with plungers added to these devices at a later stage.
Florence Nightingale’s attitude toward’s Rynd’s creation sums up its revolutionary engineering aptly: “Nothing did me any good, but a curious little new-fangled operation of putting opium under the skin, which relieved [the pain] for 24 hours,” she said
We could read about him and discuss his achievements.
We could link this to our First Steps Report Writing and use the first steps writing framework.
We could paint or sketch a portrait of him.
We could mention what we learned about him at assemblyThis sounds great Nicola.
It covers so much maths and science for sixth class in a very hands on and interesting way.
There’s shape and space, weight, money, length! Well done. I’ll definitely draw on this idea in the future.
My school is located in Dublin so we would look at some of the many bridges from the Ha’Penny to the ones closest to the school on the canal
We would discuss what makes a bridge the strongest?
Then I would try this activity – you build simple bridges with paper and test to see how much weight they can hold.
Materials
• Two thick books or small boxes
• Paper
• Tape
• Coins or other small, heavy objects to use as weights (small rocks, nuts and bolts, etc.
Instructions
1. Place your books about 10 inches apart.
2. Lay a single piece of paper across the books.
3. Place a penny in the middle of the paper. What happens? If the “bridge” does not collapse, try adding more pennies.
4. Fold the piece of paper in half lengthwise, and try again. Does the bridge hold more pennies this time?
5. Now fold the paper into a “channel” shape. Fold the paper in half lengthwise twice. Then, fold up the edges to form walls. Use tape to hold the edges in place, to prevent the bridge from unfolding.
6. Place a penny in the middle of the bridge. One at a time, keep adding pennies along the length of the bridge. This simulates how real cars and people are spread out along the length of a bridge. Do not stack them all on top of each other in the middle.
7. If you fill up the whole bridge, start a second layer of pennies. Keep adding pennies until the bridge collapses
8. Experiment with different shapes for your bridge. For example, try changing the number of times you fold the paper in half, the width of the base, or the height of the walls.
What shape makes the strongest bridge?
9. There are many other simple experiments you can do. See the Further Exploration section for some ideas.
Discuss what happened.
The we would record findings in science copy.That heritage in schools video is great Deirdre. Thanks for sharing it!
Very impressed with the podcasts. That definitely gives me inspiration for the year ahead!
I also loved the Biodiversity in Birr Castle data shared.
There are many of the resources that were outlined in the course (Module 3) that could be used to conduct a seasonal biodiversity project to run throughout the school year in my school.
We are lucky in our school that we have a lovely school garden and some parents that are very involved in keeping this garden going and lovely!
We also have a local biodiversity project called the Kingfisher Project that classes are welcome to visit and we usually do so during science week.
The seasonal biodiversity project I would do would be observations in Autumn and making bird feeders. Then in Winter we would monitor what birds came to the feeder. In Spring we’d plant seeds and watch them grow in pots and then transfer them to the garden. In Summer we would record what had grown.
We would watch some of the trail cam footage. We would look at the Wild Connections Flora Trail (QR given- Birr Castle). We could consult http://www.wildflowersofireland.net for Summer in the garden. We could also consult The Tree Council of Ireland and draft Leaf ID sheets for observations. The National Biodiversity Data Centre would also be useful.Great ideas here for mapping with first class. Drawing a map of the school is indeed a great starting point.
Mapping their route to school is also a lovely idea.
I’m sure that many kids would have seen a map over the summer on the various days out. The children always love to refer to the map at Dublin Zoo or Emerald Park etc.
Lots of these are on aps now so could be displayed on the IWB.
I would discuss the use of the various graphs and bar charts with the children. We could look at some current news clips or view the ‘News Today’ for kids on RTE player. We could discuss the use of data in elections like in the upcoming presidential election in November. Look at opinion polls and have a whole class discussion.. who’s the favourite? Most Popular? Least Popular? Etc Look at percentages…
We could obtain data sets to link Maths and Science and therefore Maths to the real world on http://www.geohive.ie. We could look at common rock types in a chosen area, various soils. There is also a link to the census which would be great for 6th class.
I think I’d focus on the Irish Marine Section or the EPA link. We could consult Ireland’s Marine Atlas through http://www.geohive.ie We could examine the fish species distribution in our local area. How many blue whiting, haddock, hake, herring, horse maceral? Draw a bar chart in copy. Decide on scale, X and Y axis. Then we could also draw graphs with this data using an ap on ipads.I completely agree Luke. I had 5th class two years ago and the real life connections to STEM is key. Seeing relevance beyond the classroom. We had a young engineer come in also for few STEM sessions with them and they adored it!
Assignment 1
I am going to do some of the class activities around the theme of ‘Looking out at the night Sky’……Stars, constellations, and aliens. I am a total visual learner and I love teaching art so these activities are right up my street!
I would begin the science integrated with art lesson by looking at drawings of constellations on the Interactive Whiteboard and having a whole class discussion around these. Asking the children what they see, what they recognise.
Then we will make a Star Lantern. I would model how to do it, talking them through the steps and showing them through what they need: a needle, some coloured paper, a brush, glue, a stick, a flashlight, crepe paper, luminous card, string, A4 white paper and a stapler.
The children would display their lanterns in the school lobby before bringing them home.
We would integrate this work with English First Steps Writing when doing procedures and write the process we followed.I would explore the science behind Fizzing with the class!
This topic is familiar to the children and they will all be interested in chatting about fizzy drinks! This familiarity can be used to explore some scientific concepts. The fizz or bubbles in drink are caused by carbon dioxide. I would pose the questions: Can you taste it? Can you see it? Can you feel it?
We would also try the Dancing Raisins experiment. The Science Part at the end would again be very important to discuss and I would have to ensure that they all glean some scientific facts form the fun!
The Balloon Blow up Demonstration is another one that caught my attention! This would show children how carbon dioxide can be created and then used to blow up a balloon. The Science Part using Vinegar would yet again be really important to discuss. I think that is why I can still use these ideas with the third class have incoming and some of these activities are totally usable at the middle and senior end of school.Hi Shulagh,
That’s a great poem- ‘I’m Building a Rocket!’ by Kenn Nesbit. I’ve just looked it up.
GRMA
I would definitely try the Activity Set on Weather. Animals in the Cold, What clothes to wear?, Hot and Cold. I visited Lapland last December so I would use some of the photos I took.
We would use lots of teacher lead discussion using pictures and books as stimulus. I would share the facts about polar bears and penguins and discuss their colours and why they are these colours.
We would discuss how these animals stay warm and how we as humans keep warm. We would give the little experiment using Vaseline a go and deduce what we learned.
We could discuss what clothes to wear to keep hot and integrate this with Gaeilge.
We could also integrate with Geography and learn a bit mote about North and South Poles.
I would conclude the theme of work by doing an English First Steps Writing Report on the Polar Bear or Penguin.I would definitely try the Activity Set on Weather. Animals in the Cold, What clothes to wear?, Hot and Cold. I visited Lapland last December so I would use some of the photos I took.
We would use lots of teacher lead discussion using pictures and books as stimulus. I would share the facts about polar bears and penguins and discuss their colours and why they are these colours.
We would discuss how these animals stay warm and how we as humans keep warm. We would give the little experiment using Vaseline a go and deduce what we learned.
We could discuss what clothes to wear to keep hot and integrate this with Gaeilge.
We could also integrate with Geography and learn a bit mote about North and South Poles.
I would conclude the them of work by doing an English First Steps Writing Report on the Polar Bear or Penguin.
