Science Week in the Junior Room
Science Week in the Senior Room
In the senior room, we went with a theme of food for our experiments. We tried to use as many natural ingredients as possible throughout the week to conduct our investigations.
On Monday, we made oobleck. First, we read the story Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss. Then we watched a video demonstrating how to make it. We combined cornflower, water and paint to make our coloured oobleck. Oobleck is a non-Newtonian substance. It is a liquid until pressure is placed on it. This makes it turn solid.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, we worked on making elephant’s toothpaste. We mixed hydrogen peroxide, yeast, washing-up liquid, warm water and food colouring. The yeast is activated by the warm water. It then reacts with the hydrogen peroxide to foam upwards. It picks up the food colouring as it foams and comes out of the bottle we used looking like Colgate.
On Thursday, we investigated acids and bases. We used litmus paper to determine whether vinegar and baking soda are acids or bases. We then used red cabbage juice to test liquids like lemon juice, soap, water and mouthwash. We arranged them from strongest acid to strongest base using the pH scale.
Friday was a very busy day of science. We started by attending Let’s Talk Bats! on Zoom. We learned about the nine native species of bat in Ireland, heard their calls, learned about their diets and more. After that, we attended Kids’ Corner: Facts about Cows, Milk and Grass! over Zoom. We were given a tour around a farm and milk lab, listened to some scientists answer our questions and learned about the different breeds of cattle. For our experiments, we mixed acid (vinegar) and base (baking soda), along with red cabbage juice, to make a volcano in a cup. We used water, Alka Seltzer and old film cartridges to make rockets. We finished the day, and the week, with a short science quiz, bringing an end to a very busy and enjoyable Science Week 2021!
