St. Peter's Primary Bray Blog

Each year St Peters has a proud tradition in exploring all the rudiments of the wonderful world of STEM/Science and of entering the ESB Science Blast. This year was no different.

As an innovative 6th class we have a great interest in sports and fitness and so chose to look at how we could improve our general health .

Researching under the science stand of Living Things, this idea then evolved and became more specific as we looked into which type of training improves our 10 metre sprint times the most.

We began the hard work in October and worked diligently over 16 training sessions to our final sprint race.

We had some challenges to overcome due to the weather, injury, and issues with the batteries for the rechargeable sprint gates and timer.

We became aware of and learnt from mistakes like not crossing the beam and not pushing off the wall.

But overall, as we are sure you will enjoy reading below, we are all the luckier for taking part in the ESB Science Blast. We thoroughly enjoyed conducting and participating in our experiment and look forward wholeheartedly to continuing this yearly tradition.

Our minds are more curious, hearts so full and our brains are even more inspired.

Here is our entry, we hope you enjoy it and would be delighted to receive any feedback you can provide to further our future endeavours in the world of Science and STEM.

Warm regards,

6^th Class, St Peters PS, Bray.

Question?

Which type of training improves our ten metre sprinting time the most?

Hypothesis

We predict that all groups will improve their time and the plyometric group shall improve the most.

Resources : Timing gates, Hand held digital recording device, Mat, Measuring tape, 10m flat surface, Parachutes, Hurdles

Designing our fair test :

We started by revising what we already know about our bodies and the importance of healthy eating and exercise.

We identified some ways that all of us exercise in school, at home and in our communities eg. Walking, soccer, PE, Fit Fridays, Cross Country, Rugby, Boxing, Athletics

We noted each others experience of training, the different ways you can train and all the sports we’re involved in as a group.

As part of our research, we invited the U23 Munster 100 metre sprint champion Amy Cronin to come and speak with us.

Next we split into 5 groups; Walking, Repeat Sprinting, Plyometrics, Parachutes and Stretching.

We decided that our walking group would be our control group. The walking group would walk at a normal pace around the school yard.

The repeat sprinting group would sprint 10metres x 4 with 1 minute break between each run.

The plyometrics group would have 2 tasks to do; hop over a hurdle on each leg x 4 and a standing jump x 4.

The parachute group would complete : 4 x 20m runs with a parachute, 20 seconds break in between and 2 x 20m runs without a parachute

The stretching group would stretch their calves, quads and hamstrings.

To make sure that this test was fair we made sure that we always wore runners, that we always timed our runs on a flat 10m surface and that we always ate the same food on the day of our run.

Procedure

Next, in October we timed ourselves using timing gates placed 10m apart and recorded our runs on a digital handheld device. These times were very important as they gave us exact information about the times each group was achieving.

From October to February we trained in our groups weekly, fitting in 18 sessions. We always trained together as a whole class. Each group had a leader who directed us through our exercises.

Finally in February, we held our last training session and our last timed run came. We carefully measured 10metres. We carefully placed our timing gates 10m apart. We set up our recording devices. We put our heart into running our level best. We recorded each score on an excel document.

Afterwards we presented our data in a pie chart.

Conclusion

The stretching group improved by 6%, plyometrics by 5%, walking by 4% and the parachute and sprinting group improved by 3% each.

We learnt a lot about the importance of exercise in our everyday lives. Coaches are always trying to research new ways to get fit, we want to do training sessions that are both fun and health promoting. We discovered that the science of fitness is all about F.I.T.T. – Frequency, Intensity, Type and Time.

We are now committed to getting F.I.T.T. and always do our best to move to improve.

With thanks,

6^th Class

St Peters PS, Bray

Recently, we were very excited to receive a visit from Sophie from Microsoft Ireland. Sophie taught us all about the importance of coding in today’s world. We really enjoy learning with technology in St Peter’s and we love to try out new tools and ways of learning.

https://twitter.com/StPetersBray/status/1228324510249734145

https://twitter.com/StPetersBray/status/1228315485403525121

We really enjoyed our visit from Sophie – her Minecraft workshop was fascinating and made us think about it in a whole new light!

Since Sophie’s visit, we’ve been working really hard to develop our skills. We’ve really been enjoying our work on Hour of Code – you can join in here. Thank you to Sophie and to Microsoft for such an inspiring visit!

https://twitter.com/StPetersBray/status/1233022776052789249

https://twitter.com/MS_eduIRL/status/1233081646968197121

In first class, we became engineers, we made our very own catapults! Here’s how we did it:

Firstly, we had to investigate how catapults worked. We watched different videos which showed us loads of different catapults, how they were made and how they worked!
Each group then decided which catapult they wanted to make.

Each group then decided on the materials they wanted to use. They could choose from straws, lollipop sticks, bottle caps, plastic spoons, pipe cleaners, elastic bands, sellotape and plastic. For their design, they needed to choose the materials that would keep their catapult strong and easy to fire!

Then, first class set off on their task, trying different methods to make the catapults! Once one group mastered the task they set off to offer advice to other groups!

Finally, it was test time! We fired snowballs from our catapults to see who could get the longest distance, we discussed why this catapult worked so well and it turned out that it had the tightest elastic bands on it! 

We spoke about being engineers, designing our catapults using various materials and demonstrated how our catapults worked at the school assembly.

Our school garden is a project we undertook as part of our Discover Primary Science and Maths project, and our sustainability project a number of years ago that has continued to be popular with pupils and classes. 

Our landscaping skills have been put to to the test in planning and maintaining the garden and have even had parents in to help with plants and ideas.

Being adjacent to our infants yard, both junior and senior infants are constantly on patrol for guests who have escaped from our bug motel, ensuring they are returned to their rooms uninhibited. It is often with delight children will carry worms and critters to teachers during break time to ask if they can be returned to the garden!

We cant wait for the next few months to see all the wonderful foliage that springs up in our garden.

To celebrate the 100th day of school this week we:

• Gave a prize to every child who had been present for all 100 days
• Had a soccer, basketball and throwing competition in the hall for all classes for 100 seconds
• Had a family fortunes quiz where each of the questions started with “we asked 100 children….”
• Had 100 seconds of exercise in the yard
• Took a 100 days of school photo to mark the occassion (see photo below)
• Celebrated with many other activities within the classroom.

Two of our new teachers even dressed up as Grannies to show what 100 days of school does to a young teacher!!

 

5^th class have really enjoyed using Lego WeDo this year to create lots of different constructions that we then program to move 😊

We really love Lego WeDo because it’s easy to use and allows us to use our coding skills. We love taking part in STEM challenges and recently built our own models. We worked in teams and had collaborate to build our chosen creation. We used our tablets to follow the instructions and to make sure that our Lego was built correctly – although it’s important to remember you can be as creative as possible and some of us added some ‘special additions’ to our models 😊

We know that STEM stands for ‘Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics’ and during our model challenge, we got to use all of these skills! We talked about how important the engineering aspect of this challenge was, our models needed to be able to move freely so it was important to consider where to put wheels and battery packs to allow for this. Technology allowed us to program our models to move which was the most exciting part!

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Most groups decided to follow the instructions carefully and build a ‘simple’ model first, but our confidence soon grew and before we knew it we had created models of cranes that could shake and simulate an earthquake!

Programming on the tablets proved to be quite exciting as we added further instructions to control the movements of the Lego models. We loved trying new coding combinations to see which worked best and we felt confident doing this after completing a Microsoft coding course earlier in the year 😊 Coding allows us to control how the model moved and we input codes or instructions like ‘turn left’, ‘spin’ and ‘travel backwards’.

We learned that it was important to listen to our teammates and enjoyed adding in our own extra challenges, for example, building ‘roads’ for our tank model to travel on. We used paper and cardboard to do this and were very pleased when we successfully coded the model to travel along the ‘road’!

Our Lego WeDo models were even featured on RTÉ’s Nationwide and we’re so proud we could explain how Lego WeDo works, so that lots of other children can get involved in STEM challenges!

Discover Primary Science

2^nd Class Lesson

Brief Summary of our STEM Experiment:

• Stimulus/Rationale:

Recently, 2^nd class wanted to investigate different methods of transport for Santa Claus. This was stimulated by a question I posed to the class, ‘If the reindeer went on strike on Christmas Eve how would Santa Claus travel to deliver presents to all the boys and girls?’ We brainstormed some alternatives coming up with rockets, flying cars, jet-pack’s, wings etc. however a quick and feasible alternative we agreed would be a parachute.

• Task:

Design and build a parachute for Santa Claus. The aim is to keep him and the sack of toys safe in their parachute when landing.

Breakdown of STEM in the lesson:

Step 1: Science

Strand: Materials

Strand Unit: Properties and characteristics of materials

Children were investigating the characteristics of materials and how they influence the force of movement of their designed parachute. They explored the durability, and transparency of the materials being used (tissue paper, cling film, tin-foil).

Investigating if;

1. The materials were strong enough to hold Santa Claus in the egg-stand.
2. They could withstand and catch air in them to slow down the force of movement when being dropped from a height to ensure Santa Claus landed safely.

Step 2: Technology

• Children used an iPhone to video record the group of 4 children who were dropping their 4 parachutes at one time. This video was then put into slow-motion to observe what group/parachute had reached the ground slowly and safely to ensure Santa Claus had safely landed without any difficulty.

This was essential in the investigation process as children were enabled to see the way different designs and different materials impacted the parachute. They were enabled to observe and differentiate between the parachutes that were strong and safe and those that were not.

• They also used the stopwatch app on an iPhone to measure the time taken for the parachute to reach the ground from the height at which it was dropped.

Step 3: Engineering

Children engaged in engineering through designing a plan to make a parachute and the actual construction of their parachutes.

Using materials provided the children were asked to ensure they were creating fair designs – that their parachute material was the same size for each material used (cutting the tin foil, tissue paper and cling film to the same size).

Children had to make sure that the length of each string being used was the same so that the egg-stand where Santa Claus was would not topple over. That they had created a sturdy structure for him to sit comfortably throughout the time he would be in the parachute.

Step 4: Maths

Children were using their maths knowledge to implement skills needed to measure length and time.

• Children had to measure the length of strings used to connect the parachute to the egg stand. They needed to ensure the length of all 4 strings was the same length. They also used their skills in measurement to measure the length and width of the square/rectangular piece of material used as the parachute (tin-foil, tissue paper and cling film) to ensure they were all the same size and that the investigation was a fair test.
• Children used the stopwatch app on an iPhone to measure the length of time taken for the parachute to hit the ground from the height at which it was dropped. They needed to observe and identify what parachute was the safest by looking at the different times it took each parachute to fall.

Step 5: Reporting:

POE Investigation Sheet

Children were required to fill out a POE – Predict, Observe, Explain sheet throughout the experiment noting their predictions, observations and explanations of how each material performed as a parachute.

Children had to discuss within their groups what parachute/material was the most appropriate material Santa could use to build his parachute. Their result was then presented to the class by the spokesperson in their group.

Our questions were –Which liquid will cause our candy cane to disappear the fastest?

To conduct our experiment, we needed: 3 plastic cups, 3 candy canes, vinegar, warm water and cold water.

We labelled our 3 clear cups and then filled the cups with warm water, cold water and vinegar.

Then, we made predictions. We thought the vinegar would make the candy cane disappear because it was smelly!

We voted to put the “hook” side of the candy cane down so that more of the candy was in the liquid.

We put one candy cane in each cup and watched to see what would happen.

Within 2 minutes all three candy canes were starting to turn the water pink or red. It was definitely magic!

We observed the three cups and compared the reactions. Within 25 minutes, we had our results and we could determine if our predictions were correct or correct.

The cup with the warm water was the first liquid to make the candy cane completely disappear and dissolve.

The vinegar cup was the first liquid to remove all the red from the candy cane.

The cold water removed the colour and disappeared but more slowly than other two liquids.

Next, we recorded our observations and results. We learned lots of new vocabulary words such as dissolve, prediction, result.

After our experiment……we found the quickest way to make a candy cane disappear is to eat it!!!

In celebration of Science Week 2019 we decided to carry out another STEM activity! We love designing and making and wasted no time in deciding what STEM activity to try this time. We have been learning about World War 2 this month and last week we watched some footage of the D – Day parachute landings in Normandy in 1944. We wanted to learn some more about how the parachutes that the soldiers used worked and what they were made from.

We looked at various video clips and found out that the parachutes were often made from silk and nylon. We were surprised as we thought silk was a soft material that wouldn’t have the strength to be used in a parachute.

We then listed materials that we knew were strong, things like rubber, rope and leather.  This led us to ask ‘how does a parachute work?’ Parachutes need to be able to catch air inside them to make them work so some of these options seemed a little too heavy. We learned about air resistance and how it slows things down that are moving fast through the air. Parachutes need to make sure that enough air resistance will be created to work successfully.

We completed our STEM booklet and then carried out our design and make activity. We needed to test the effectiveness of different materials acting as parachutes – we tested felt, tissue, rubber and plastic.

Each group received the same amount of materials and time to complete the activity in. We only had one variable – the material – to ensure we completed a fair test.

We received:

• one piece of material
• 1 metre of Sellotape
• 2 metres of string
• 4 pairs of scissors
• a weight (a Lego toy soldier)

We had 20 minutes to make our parachutes!

Our results were interesting. We concluded that the parachute made from rubber took the longest to reach the ground. This was followed closely by the parachute made from felt. Both of these designs were dome – shaped and so could catch more air. We think that the shape and amount of material used really affected the success of the parachutes. We also think the weight of the material used is extremely important.

Another successful STEM activity completed and lots of design and make and Maths skills practised!