Hands on Science 2018
Plant and Animal Life - The Knockconan River Watch project (fish in the classroom)
Our Knockconan / Blackwater River Watch project is about establishing a “River Watch” group that will include anglers, the local Group Water Scheme and school children who together through this programme will learn more about the local stream that flows past their school and how the local community can work together to protect and improve the water quality in the river and increase bio-diversity of the riparian habitat. The River Blackwarer Catchment Trust and Group Water scheme members act as speakers and guides for local children and farmers to help them learn more about their local stream.
The project will started with a school visit to local streans and rivers to learn about river habitat and the native dollaghan trout that live in the Blackwater Catchment. River fly monitoring was carried out and we learned to recognise the range of invertebrate species that indicate the quality of water in the river. On the same day we visited Armagh Fish Hatchery to see native dollaghan trout and learn how to look after them.
We got a fish hatchery for the school and a small number of dollaghan fish eggs to look after. When the eggs were hatched and the fry were 4 -5 weeks old they were released into the local stream.
We used resources from www.somethingfishy.ie to understand the water cycle, pollution and the importance of clean water for local people and wildlife.
In the longer term, volunteers and RBCT committee will support the Knockconan River Watch group to take on various volunteering work projects and citizen science projects to improve the water quality in this stretch of the stream.
The project will establish a local “Knockconan River Watch” group that will look after the small stream beside the school. The “River watch” group will engage and involve all interested parties – Group Water Scheme, School, RBCT Volunteers, farmers and landowners to increase knowledge of water quality issues and bio-diversity. It is hoped that these links will build a strong foundation to improve and protect the local stream but also improve bio-diversity in the local riparian habitat.
We will have a community information and celebration event to showcase our river study project and identify issues and threats to water quality in the local stream.
he RBCT already have 3 “River watch” groups established in N. Ireland and activities and success of each will be shared on our web-site and facebook page. See below the fish tank arriving in Mr. Buckley's classroom.
Our Science Speakers were Gretta Mc Carron (LAWCO) and the people from the Blackwater Catchment Trust as well as the anglers who are all volunteers and who are so enthusiastic about the hatchery and what they do.
This is an ongoing project.
The project will started with a school visit to local streans and rivers to learn about river habitat and the native dollaghan trout that live in the Blackwater Catchment. River fly monitoring was carried out and we learned to recognise the range of invertebrate species that indicate the quality of water in the river. On the same day we visited Armagh Fish Hatchery to see native dollaghan trout and learn how to look after them.
We got a fish hatchery for the school and a small number of dollaghan fish eggs to look after. When the eggs were hatched and the fry were 4 -5 weeks old they were released into the local stream.
We used resources from www.somethingfishy.ie to understand the water cycle, pollution and the importance of clean water for local people and wildlife.
In the longer term, volunteers and RBCT committee will support the Knockconan River Watch group to take on various volunteering work projects and citizen science projects to improve the water quality in this stretch of the stream.
The project will establish a local “Knockconan River Watch” group that will look after the small stream beside the school. The “River watch” group will engage and involve all interested parties – Group Water Scheme, School, RBCT Volunteers, farmers and landowners to increase knowledge of water quality issues and bio-diversity. It is hoped that these links will build a strong foundation to improve and protect the local stream but also improve bio-diversity in the local riparian habitat.
We will have a community information and celebration event to showcase our river study project and identify issues and threats to water quality in the local stream.
he RBCT already have 3 “River watch” groups established in N. Ireland and activities and success of each will be shared on our web-site and facebook page. See below the fish tank arriving in Mr. Buckley's classroom.
Our Science Speakers were Gretta Mc Carron (LAWCO) and the people from the Blackwater Catchment Trust as well as the anglers who are all volunteers and who are so enthusiastic about the hatchery and what they do.
This is an ongoing project.
Check this link to see our work on river catchments: http://blackwatercatchmenttrust.com/knockconan-national-school-have-become-champions-for-their-local-river/
Learning First Aid
As all of the staff of the school are trained in First Aid we have installed a defibrillator in the school we decided that it would be a great thing if all the children learned about first aid too so Miss Douglas is teaching us how to save lives. Senior classes have already begun their training.
Learning about the senses
Smell
Our task was to test children’s sense of smell. We choose six different materials to test children’s sense of smell with. These were:
We selected 20 children to try out their sense of smell. We recorded each person’s score.
Conclusions
Vinegar proved to be the easiest to recognise.
Nobody recognised the smell of cheese.
We felt that the children surveyed overall did not have a great sense of smell for the things we chose.
We made a chart of the scores so that everyone could see the results.
Our task was to test children’s sense of smell. We choose six different materials to test children’s sense of smell with. These were:
- Vinegar
- Lemon juice
- Chewing gum
- Perfume
- Chip sticks
- Cheese
We selected 20 children to try out their sense of smell. We recorded each person’s score.
Conclusions
Vinegar proved to be the easiest to recognise.
Nobody recognised the smell of cheese.
We felt that the children surveyed overall did not have a great sense of smell for the things we chose.
We made a chart of the scores so that everyone could see the results.
| smell_.docx |
TOUCH
Touch is one of the five senses. We learn about the world around us using our five senses.
People touch with their skin. We usually touch things with our hands but we can feel with the skin on any part of our bodies. It is the nerves in our skin that allow us to feel. The nerves in the skin send a signal to our brain and our brains help us decide what we are touching.
We surveyed the class and asked them what words came into their minds when they think of the word Touch. All the children in the class made suggestions. Our group picked out a selection of the words and wrote them on the poster.
We decided to test the children’s ability to recognise different textures and how they feel. We choose the following words:
Also we asked children to try out the match the texture touch board game to see how many textures they could match correctly.
People touch with their skin. We usually touch things with our hands but we can feel with the skin on any part of our bodies. It is the nerves in our skin that allow us to feel. The nerves in the skin send a signal to our brain and our brains help us decide what we are touching.
We surveyed the class and asked them what words came into their minds when they think of the word Touch. All the children in the class made suggestions. Our group picked out a selection of the words and wrote them on the poster.
We decided to test the children’s ability to recognise different textures and how they feel. We choose the following words:
- Smooth
- Rough
- Soft
- Furry
- Hard
- Cold
Also we asked children to try out the match the texture touch board game to see how many textures they could match correctly.
Materials
Introduction
Cian, Faela and I (Matthew) were preparing to cook scones in the kitchen as a treat for our friends who were coming to tea later. I got out all the ingredients we needed, flour, salt, sugar, butter, raisins eggs and milk.
Cian loves cooking and he had already cooked a chicken curry and pasta bake for later on. Cian had not tidied away his ingredient when I started to prepare for making the scones.
Cian came back into the kitchen quickly and accidently mixed the raisins with the flour. Then to make matters worse Faela came out of her room holding a big bowl of paperclips yelling, “I did it! I made a house of paperclips, she slipped on some flour and the bowl of paperclips went flying into the flour mixture too. (Faela prefers experimenting than cooking)
Cian and I got a shock and dropped what we holding and suddenly all the ingredients on the worktop seemed to have changed places and ended up where they didn’t belong. The three of us were standing staring at the mess before us. What were we to do? We needed the different ingredients in separate bowls so we could put in the right amount into the scone mixture.
We found:
Cian, Faela and I (Matthew) were preparing to cook scones in the kitchen as a treat for our friends who were coming to tea later. I got out all the ingredients we needed, flour, salt, sugar, butter, raisins eggs and milk.
Cian loves cooking and he had already cooked a chicken curry and pasta bake for later on. Cian had not tidied away his ingredient when I started to prepare for making the scones.
Cian came back into the kitchen quickly and accidently mixed the raisins with the flour. Then to make matters worse Faela came out of her room holding a big bowl of paperclips yelling, “I did it! I made a house of paperclips, she slipped on some flour and the bowl of paperclips went flying into the flour mixture too. (Faela prefers experimenting than cooking)
Cian and I got a shock and dropped what we holding and suddenly all the ingredients on the worktop seemed to have changed places and ended up where they didn’t belong. The three of us were standing staring at the mess before us. What were we to do? We needed the different ingredients in separate bowls so we could put in the right amount into the scone mixture.
We found:
- pasta, salt and rice in one dish.
- Flour, raisins, paper clips in another.
- water and cornflour in another container.
- The butter slipped into a bowl of boiling water.
- The salt fell into more water in a silver bowl.
- The sugar I had weighed out was slowly pouring itself off the counter into a large container of fresh water.
- To read more check the document below
| science_project_materials.docx |
Hearing
Hearing / Sound
Hearing is one of the five senses. People hear with their ears. We surveyed the class and came up with these words that describe hearing.
It is wonderful to have the ability to hear, we can listen to each other, hear our parents voices, listen to music etc. Unfortunately, some people cannot hear or have impaired hearing and may use devices such as hearing aids to help them. Deaf people often learn to lip read to help them.
Our Listening Experiment
We selected six common sounds that are heard in the classroom every day.
These are:
The Experiment
We tried out our experiment in a quiet room. One person at a time came in and sat behind a partition board. We took it in turns to make the sounds of each item. They had to listen carefully and guess what they had heard. We recorded our findings and made a Bar chart of the scores so that everyone could see the results.
The sound of the zip folder opening and closing proved to be the easiest sound to recognise.
The white board marker was the hardest sound to recognise- only two people recognised this sound.
We believe that the children surveyed had a good sense of sound recognition. Three out of the six sounds were more easily recognised this shows on the bar chart.
We really enjoyed taking part in this experiment and we had a few giggles during it too.
Here's the chart we used :
Hearing is one of the five senses. People hear with their ears. We surveyed the class and came up with these words that describe hearing.
- Music/Singing
- Talking
- Loud thumps/bangs
- Scraping
- Tap running
- Splashing water
- Noise of vehicles
- Animal noises
- Glass breaking
It is wonderful to have the ability to hear, we can listen to each other, hear our parents voices, listen to music etc. Unfortunately, some people cannot hear or have impaired hearing and may use devices such as hearing aids to help them. Deaf people often learn to lip read to help them.
Our Listening Experiment
We selected six common sounds that are heard in the classroom every day.
These are:
- Sharpening a pencil
- Opening and closing a Zip Folder
- Opening and closing a Whiteboard marker
- Flicking the pages of a book
- Typing on a keyboard
- Sorting through a pencil case
The Experiment
We tried out our experiment in a quiet room. One person at a time came in and sat behind a partition board. We took it in turns to make the sounds of each item. They had to listen carefully and guess what they had heard. We recorded our findings and made a Bar chart of the scores so that everyone could see the results.
The sound of the zip folder opening and closing proved to be the easiest sound to recognise.
The white board marker was the hardest sound to recognise- only two people recognised this sound.
We believe that the children surveyed had a good sense of sound recognition. Three out of the six sounds were more easily recognised this shows on the bar chart.
We really enjoyed taking part in this experiment and we had a few giggles during it too.
Here's the chart we used :
| hearing_chart.docx |
HEAT
Introduction
We are three archaeologists from Knockconan NS. We were heading off on a dig to the bog. We realised that we needed some hot water to wash our hands before we ate our meal after three hours of work. We felt it would be nice to wash our hands in warm water as it would be more comfortable than very cold water.
We had limited resources where we were staying and found it hard to find suitable containers to hold hot water. Below is a list of the containers we found and thought suitable.
These would all hold water but would they be suitable for our needs. That left us with a problem to solve.
We are three archaeologists from Knockconan NS. We were heading off on a dig to the bog. We realised that we needed some hot water to wash our hands before we ate our meal after three hours of work. We felt it would be nice to wash our hands in warm water as it would be more comfortable than very cold water.
We had limited resources where we were staying and found it hard to find suitable containers to hold hot water. Below is a list of the containers we found and thought suitable.
- An old hot water bottle with a screw cap.
- An old children’s flask with cap
- A pyrex glass cup
- A paper coffee cup with lid
- A clay pot
- A plastic liquid container with a lid
These would all hold water but would they be suitable for our needs. That left us with a problem to solve.
Read the full project here:
| heat__project.docx |
Investigating Taste with Junior and Senior Infants
Junior and senior infants did some experiments with taste
Living Things - Plants
There's nothing more hands on than growing your own food in your own garden - heres a photo of our harvest last autumn! A big thank you to Danny who helped us with the garden.
Here are junior infants planting new seeds for 2018
Mrs Donnelly's room did work on birds in winter
Mrs Donnelly's room investigated minibeasts
Environmental Awareness and Care
We are working on the Green Schools Travel Theme - we are promoting car pooling and park and stride. Our day of action is on 23th April. We continue to work on litter and waste, energy and water too.
Here's some Rang 3 with our battery recycling boxes.
Every class attended events in the Cavan Monaghan Science Festival
The county councils of Monaghan and Cavan organise a science festival every year with great events for everybody, young and old. The Cavan Monaghan Science Festival aims to promote and explore the wonders of science, technology, engineering, arts and maths (STEAM)
Our school attended two shows.
First to sixth classes went to Dr Ken and the Science of the Circus. This show explored the science behind the thrills and spills of the circus. Dr Ken showed us how performers make use of scientific principles in their tricks and stunts, why jugglers love gravity and why uni-cyclists need to keep moving to stay still.
The Junior and Senior infants went to Dinosaurs Down Under with Dale Threadwell from RTE who took us on a journey to Australia with a cast of Down Under Dinosaurs!
http://www.cavanmonaghansciencefestival.ie/
Our school attended two shows.
First to sixth classes went to Dr Ken and the Science of the Circus. This show explored the science behind the thrills and spills of the circus. Dr Ken showed us how performers make use of scientific principles in their tricks and stunts, why jugglers love gravity and why uni-cyclists need to keep moving to stay still.
The Junior and Senior infants went to Dinosaurs Down Under with Dale Threadwell from RTE who took us on a journey to Australia with a cast of Down Under Dinosaurs!
http://www.cavanmonaghansciencefestival.ie/
