Learning about Science with Professor Bunsen

Yesterday, a scientist visited our school to share his knowledge and understanding of chemistry, physics and earth science with the Middles. Along with biology, these are the four branches of science that we will be exploring this term. Professor Bunsen introduced us to a lot of new information to do with science.

On Friday all of the middles came to see Professor Bunsen. He did lots of amazing experiments – Lachlan

These are some of the things he did

.set his hand on fire (he didn’t die!) He did this by dipping his hand in water, then scooped up some soapy bubbles, then lit his hand with a stove lighter

.made loud noises. He popped a balloon using a lighter up close to it - Natalia

.made a new fuel that could be used in the future

.did lots of dangerous stuff with fire

.made movie blood and snow (the snow was made out of nappies!)

.if you rub atoms to your hair it sticks

-James

I learnt that you can mix chemicals in a cup and rub your hands together and hold them over the cup and it makes the chemicals rise. I also found out you can you can make ‘elephant toothpaste’ out of peroxide and a different acid. If you put your hand in it, it can burn it – Cooper

I looked on his website and I watched a video. It showed that if you fill a bowl up with water, put some special powder in it and mix it for a long time it will gradually turn into wet snow. You can also put food dye in it to change the colour – Grace

I learnt that you can mix more than just one or two chemicals. That there are 1000’s. – Natasha

I learnt that if you put water in a balloon, blow it up and put fire against the bit with water it won’t pop. If you move it away from the water it will pop – Jamie

I learnt that if you put water in a can, put holes in the can, then light it underneath and it will spin and make steam – Jenny

You can power electricity with one magnet and any tube. The magnet was moving back and forth, there was copper wires around the tube and the magnet moved – Adol

When Professor Bunsen came in everyone was exited. He tort us about earth and space and he did lots of experiments everyone had a great time – Jake

I heard that some of the experiments were made out of kitchen ingredients –Riley

I learnt a lot. I learnt that you can make false blood with turmeric – Molly 

If YOU met Professor Bunsen, what questions would you like to ask him? Maybe we could help....

In keeping with this new field of Inquiry for Middle S, our blog has a new look (what do you notice about the spine of those books?) and a new widget - the Periodic table of elements. 

Genius Hour in 2014

This term Middle S have been doing Genius Hour. For one hour each week, they investigated a rich question of their choosing, on any topic they like. Here are our reflections on Genius Hour this term...

Cooper - I thought genius hour was a great way to not just learn about the same as everyone else, because not many people could know what I wanted to learn about.

Angelo – I thought it was fun, because…

Natalia – It was fun learning about Polar Bears and where they live and what they eat

Sienna – I thought it was really interesting learning about elephants because they’re my favourite animal and it was fun learning about where they live and what sort of food they eat. Some of the food they eat is very healthy for them.

Jamie – I thought that genius hour was a great opportunity for everyone to learn about a subject they want to learn about. You can learn with a partner.

Jake – it was really fun because you learn more about the living things in the world and it also contributes to my wellbeing by teaching me new things.

Lachie – it was good because you can get more information from websites, then show it to your friends so they can get more information

Adol – I thought it was a great idea because you could learn and get more information about something. I also think the person who made ‘genius hour’ is a genius

Molly – I think it’s a great chance to learn what we want and have fun, even if I didn’t do it properly (because it didn’t turn out how I expected)

Ryan – I like Genius Hour because it takes you to a learning position and it makes you learn whatever you want to do.

James – I like Genius Hour because you can learn more about things you don’t know much about.

Natasha – I love Genius Hour because it educates you and if you don’t know something about someone or something you can learn about that person or thing.

Jenny – you can learn about the environment and what can help the animals and to make them better.

Riley – I think Genius Hour is entertaining because you can choose what you want to do and that makes it fun. If the whole class is doing the same thing it’s not as fun and it makes me feel special

Jacob – Genius Hour is fun because we can learn new educational things that you want to learn about.

Jack – I think GH is great because I did a science experiment which was making bread. It was great because I made it and the class thought I was famous because I made the bread. It was yummy!

Grace – it was really fun because you get to learn about different things and you learn new skills.

Market day!

On Sunday, it was Market Day. Market Day was all about having fun and raising money for our school. There were lots of fun rides, like the Scrambler. The rides were super-fun when they went spinning around. We had different stalls and some of our kids do some of their talents. We also had Sion and Whitefiriars perform their songs.
People from the local community came to Market Day and they all had lots of fun exploring the stalls and the rides. We raised a lot of money. The lolly stall was run by the SRC and it sold out VERY quickly. There was a chocolate coin toss. It went very quickly because there were heaps of people going there to get chocolates. There were also some other games like a hammer crush. There were chocolates called Jaffas and you had to smash them with a hammer when they came down the tube.
If you arrived early you got to help people unload their equipment. I got to unload a goat and walk it to the petting zoo - Jenny.
I made someone cry....by singing - Jamie
When I did the chocolate coin toss I got 2 big chocolates - Jack