Senior Science Club looks for lizards and noxious weeds

The Senior Science Club took to the outdoors to set up a station for lizards.  We set it up under trees in undergrowth behind Room 27 where it was overgrown and quiet.  We will check it regularly and hopefully find slaters, skinks, lizards, spiders ..........

We are also on the look out for noxious weeds that are strangling native plants in some areas.  We found three areas of ivy in Cockle Bay grounds.

Junior Science Club investigates motion

The Junior Science Club used ramps and balls of different size, weight and density to investigate motion. We measured to see how far balls rolled down the ramp.  It was quite interesting to see that different groups had different results, even though the incline of the ramp was the same for all groups.

Science Teaching Leadership Programme

Mrs Gillian Taylor has been participating in the Science Teaching Leadership Programme for terms 1 and 2.  During this time, she has been seconded to the scientific company, Wildlands, which among other services, survey and monitor biodiversity and threatened species in New Zealand.  Mrs Taylor has been primarily involved in scientific work concerning skinks and geckos, but has also been on field trips to monitor our native bats and other creatures.

Mrs Taylor in the field

Science Professional Development at the Royal Society

Cockle Bay was invited to attend a Science planning meeting at the Royal Society in Wellington as part of the Science Teaching Leadership Programme.  Science will be given an even greater focus as phase two of the programme is implemented over the next 18 months.

Squidgy Circuits - Junior Science Club

Junior Science Club members were just as proficient as the Seniors at making simple closed electrical circuits
using conductive play dough, battery packs, LEDs and buzzers.  They could explain how electricity can only go
 one way (what scientists call directionality) and swapped LEDs and buzzers (resistors) around if they did not go.

Squidgy Circuits - Senior Science Club

Senior Science Club members were the first people in the whole school to use squidgy circuits to
 investigate electricity.  Through exploration, they found out how to make a simple open circuit,
and how to use buzzers and LEDs to make it into a a closed circuit

Science Club Presents at School Assembly

In Term 2, the Senior Science Club showed how insoluble solutions with different density made
 distinct layers, and the Junior Science Club wowed the crowd with their foaming monsters!

Demonstrating Density

Different liquids have different densities, and so the solutions
 with lighter density sit on top of those withe heavier density.

Foaming Monsters

The chemicals were wrapped in tissue, and so they reacted with the liquid at different times, as the tissue
got soggy and broke down.  You never knew which monster was going to foam up first and for how long!

Balloon Rockets Are Go!

Senior Science Club were so proficient at firing balloon rockets that they extended their range.  Their balloon
rockets went from one end of the classroom to the other AND then travel through the window outside!

Visiting Auckland Zoo

We all had time to explore the zoo with all its different animals.
Here are a couple of favourites. 

Every class went to an outdoor classroom to learn about different animals.

Slime

Slime certainly has some unusual properties!

Ocean in a Bottle

You couldn't make the oil and water mix, however hard you tried!

You could make big waves in your bottle.

Making Crystals

We made a saturated solution with Epsom Salts and water.  Then spooned it onto card.
After a week, when we looked again, we saw long clear crystals attached to our circles of card.

Lava Lamps - Junior Science Club

We used salt, oil and coloured water to make our lava lamps.
We used a torch so we could watch what was happening closely!