Crackley Takes On The British Science Week Challenge
12 Mar
Crackley Hall School has thoroughly enjoyed celebrating British Science Week and exploring this year’s theme Innovating For The Future. Junior 5 Teacher and Science Lead, Julia Roberts explains, “It’s been so interesting for the children to learn about famous inventions from the past. Across the school pupils have been fascinated by the variety, range and ingenuity of the scientists and their inventions and have really enjoyed the challenge of thinking up their own.”
Junior 1 learnt about Chester Greenwood, the 15-year-old who invented ear-muffs. They went on to investigate which materials were good at keeping things warm, testing different materials wrapped around containers of hot water. Their temperature measurements showed a towel did the best at keeping the heat in and Junior 1 agreed that if used for ear muffs it would be soft and warm on your ears!
In Junior 2 the children studied John Boyd Dunlop who developed the first practical inflatable tyre and John McAdam, the man behind the Tarmacadam Empire. They also enjoyed watching Wallace and Gromit as inspiration for Heath Robinson style invention ideas and then had great fun creating their own. Charlotte invented a ‘Fur Protector’ which stops you from being allergic to animal fur, and is hoping that she will now be able to have a cat! While Malachi made a fantastic invention that helps look after your dog. Not only does it wash and dry your dog, it will play with it and clean up after it. They had so many creative ideas.
Junior 3 read the story of Rosie Revere Engineer as inspiration for their innovations and found out that after many set-backs, Rosie eventually invents a machine to help her great aunt fly. The children loved it and were inspired to create their own marvellous creations. They also studied fossils and pioneering palaeontologist Mary Anning and many children chose to invent tools and machines that would help fossil hunters, including Sara’s particularly innovative fossil hat.
During the week Junior 4 considered two very famous scientists, Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier, who were responsible for discovering oxygen. They went on to complete experiments observing how the amount of oxygen affects the length of time a flame will burn. Year 4 made sensible predictions before testing out their thoughts. The children are creating their very own inventions this weekend and we can’t wait to see them all next week.
Junior 5 discussed, planned, drew and then pitched (Dragon’s Den style) their inventions to the class. The audience pretended to be the ‘Dragons’ and lent their (pretend) money, as an investment, there were so many young scientific entrepreneurs.
In their lessons, Junior 6 considered how different inventions have affected our lives and set out to create their own ingenious ideas to change the world for the better. They also studied Stephen Hawking and his theories on Black Holes, developing an understanding of the Event Horizon and what happens if they should cross that! They had great fun discussing what might be on the other side and then went on to create their very own versions of Black Holes.
Mrs Roberts, continued, “The British Science Week topic Innovating For The Future has really inspired us all and I think we may just have some future scientists and inventors within our creative Crackley community!”