The Mataura Team's Book of Science Experiments

We just love doing Science in Room 2.  Every week this term we will do a different science experiment.  Then we will write about it.

Riley had a brilliant idea.  "We should make a book about it," he said.

And so The Mataura Team's Book of Science Experiments was born.

Harry had a brilliant idea too.  "We should put it on our blog," he suggested.

And so we have done just that.

HOW  TO  MAKE  OOBLECK

You  need  to  get:

    ½ cup  of  cornflour     1  bowl

    ¼ cup  of  water         1  spoon

What  to  do:

1. Put  the  cornflour  in  the  bowl.

2. Add  the  water.

3. Stir  the  mixture.  

It  will  become  a  sticky  liquid  for  you  to  play  with.  

By Sam, Riley, Hunter & Harry.

(You can add more water to make it runny or more cornflour to make it dryer)

Oobleck  is  milky  white  but  you  do  not  want  to  drink  it.

Oobleck  is  sticky  and  weird.

Oobleck  feels  like  a  marshmallow  on  your  fingers.

By Eli, Amelia, Charlotte, Jamie, Daniel and Lylla.

Oobleck  feels  different. 

It’s  like  a   ballerina  dancing  on  your  hand, and  the  dry  cornflour

feels  like  a  ballerina’s  tutu. 

       

       

Maths like a pirate.

WOW!  WOW!  WOW!

What incredible work took place today in Maths like a Pirate.

The Challenge:

• Build a bridge between two chairs.
• Only use newspaper and sticky tape.
• Measure how long your bridge is.
• Measure how strong your bridge is.
• Drive a toy car across your bridge.

This was the 4th time we have done a Maths like a pirate challenge, and the 2nd attempt at building bridges.  (The first 2 challenges involved making pirate hats.)

The improvement in team work, understanding of the task and problem solving this time was nothing short of incredible.

I  WAS  SO  PROUD  OF  THESE  CHILDREN.

 After the challenge there are questions to discuss and comments to make.

Where is the maths in this challenge?
"Measuring how long" "finding out how strong it was" " checking the size" "finding out how big to make something"  "making things thicker" 

Who, or what, inspired your ideas?
"I thought of them myself."  "I practised at home."  "I thought about real bridges."  "We got ideas from The Impossible Bridge book."  "I liked Harry's ideas last time and we used some of them in our bridge this time." "Ben"
"Ethan's team."

What was difficult?
"Time - 20 minutes went too quickly.  Mrs Mac had to give us longer." 
"Making the bridge." (Managing) "the tape). "Stopping it from getting saggy."
"Nothing."

What would you do differently next time?
"I would put a roof on."  "Make it not so long."  "Measure the strength with the scissors box."  

How well did your group cooperate?
"Awesome!"         "Not very well" (this group split into two at the beginning after a disagreement about whether or not to put a roof on the bridge. The split was amicable and they thought it was better than fighting.)

Some groups showed particular engineering skills and cooperation.  Check out these details:

 Tanner, Ebony and Alex worked very hard to make robust supports for their bridge.  It was so strong it could hold a chair.

Ethan, Annabel and Duncan couldn't pile anything more on to show how strong their thick beam bridge was.

 Harry, Sam, Victor and Daniel rolled up newspaper to put sides on their bridge.

Ben, Amelia and Riley put strong supports under their bridge.

 Mya put a roof over her bridge.

Term Four

It seems like Term 3 just whizzed by and now here we are in Term 4.

This term the whole school is focusing on Innovation and Self Management.

Our class has many different areas set up where we can play and create.

Sometimes problems will occur and then we will have to work together to solve them.

Here is one problem: we love the salt tray - it's great for practising letters, shapes, words and pictures - but the salt just won't stay in the tray.

How can we solve this problem?  We'll keep you posted!