Term 4

How the world works

Innovative thinking may lead to scientific and technological improvements.

This term, we will conduct an inquiry into:

  • What type of equipment scientists use

  • How medical advances have helped shape society

  • How technological advances have changed in the last century

We began this term by learning about some different types of scientific equipment. We wanted to explore the form of these, and the function that they serve. Year 6 chose five pieces of scientific equipment and investigated what they looked like and how they could be used.

Once Year 6 return to school, they will be able to some examples of scientific equipment borrowed from Longfield Academy. We are looking forward to using this to learn more about the equipment itself, as well as using it to conduct our own experiments.

This week, Year 6 learnt all about the new Mars Rover, Perseverance. It left Earth in July 2020 and only reached Mars in the middle of February. Landing on Mars was a very scary moment, because the rover was travelling at such a high speed; it would have been easy for it to simply crash land, but thankfully, it landed safely. Since Perseverance's arrival on Mars, it has been sending photographs and videos of the planet.

Year 6 used the NASA website to explore the form and function of the Mars Rover. It's an extremely complicated robot, created by scientists, computer programmers and engineers. However, Year 6 did a fantastic job of researching the different components of the rover. Once they had understood how Perseverance worked, they created their own rover to explore a different planet. Have a look at Carys, Ella, Seth and Emily's examples below.

Thursday 4th March - World Book Day!

In our final week of home learning, Year 6 spent so much time being creative with some book-themed tasks. They created miniature books, they designed their own book covers and created book characters using just a potato and some decorative materials. Have a look at their fantastic creations below! Can you guess who they all are?

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When we returned to school, we could continue our inquiry into the form and function of different types of scientific equipment. The equipment we explored included: clamps, clamp stands, tongs, candles and heat proof mats, as well as the important safety goggles!

We investigated reversible and irreversible changes using this equipment. One interesting thing that we found was that heating chocolate could be a reversible or irreversible change. It all depended how close we held the chocolate to the flame.

Over the last few weeks, we have been conducting a range of scientific experiments. After our investigation into melting and burning, we found out which materials dissolved, and we also learnt about acids, alkalis and pH scales.

During this inquiry, we have learnt about the form and function of lots of scientific equipment, such as: petri dishes, universal indicator paper, beakers, clamps and test tubes.

We have also discussed how our perceptions of science change over time. Many people used to think that scientists were crazy men who enjoyed creating explosions, but we have learnt that this is a stereotype! We know that anybody can be a scientist, regardless of gender, age or where you come from.