Science Weeks Learning in Action!

SCIENCE WEEK 2022

The theme of National Science Week 2022 was GROWTH.  All children across the school from Nursery to Year 6 took part in a full week of activities and daily assemblies.  The first two days of the week were spent on learning about plants - learning about what seeds and bulbs need to grow; making observations and measurements of germination; considering if cut plants can be re-grown; researching the importance of plants and trees - and also taste testing different parts of plants!

We spent the rest of the week learning about growing animals - including humans.  We identified animal young and considered what adults they grow into.  We looked at the life cycles of various animals, particularly those which undergo metamorphosis.  We all enjoyed looking at photos of when we were younger to consider how humans change as we grow as well as considering how to keep ourselves healthy and so able to grow up fit and strong.

SCIENCE WEEK 2021

For our Science Week we had a theme of PATTERN SEEKING INVESTIGATIONS across the school.  Due to Covid restrictions, all classes had to stay in their bubbles but the whole school got together every morning via a Zoom assembly and we shared our results.  Children from each class presented to the rest of the school how their class had conducted the daily investigation and what their results were.

We started the week by investigating ARE THE OLDEST CHILDREN ALWAYS THE TALLEST?

Across the school we discovered that there was a general trend that the oldest children in each class were taller but in no classes was the oldest also the tallest.  However, Year 6 calculated the average height for each class and they did find out that across the school, the average height increased as the year-group also increased.

We then investigated DO TALLER CHILDREN HAVE BIGGER FEET?  This involved some careful measuring of our feet sizes and, using the height data from the day before, we looked for any patterns.  Each year-group found different ways to present their findings, from drawn footprints to bar charts and scatter graphs.  Again, we discovered that taller children tended to have larger feet but the tallest children in each class did not necessarily have the biggest feet.

The third investigation was different in each class as we all created a different investigation to carry out in order to seek a pattern.  Across the school, we investigated:

DO PEOPLE WITH LONGER LEGS RUN FASTER?

CAN PEOPLE WITH LONGER LEGS JUMP FURTHER?

DO PEOPLE WITH LONGER ARMS HAVE BIGGER HANDS?

DO PEOPLE WITH LONGER LEGS ALSO HAVE LONGER ARMS?

DO TALLER PEOPLE HAVE BIGGER HEADS?

Despite this variety of investigations, we still did not find any patterns in our data - although we did find some general trends in the numbers.

Lastly, we conducted an investigation using apples!  Every class was given a selection of apples of different sizes.  EYFS and KS1 were set the task of seeing if there was a pattern in the number of seeds - DO BIGGER APPLES HAVE MORE SEEDS?  Whilst KS2 researched DO BIGGER APPLES HAVE BIGGER SEEDS? The outcome of these investigations was that seed size is very similar in all apples but smaller apples do seem to have more seeds.  This was the opposite of what most of us predicted.

Nursey comparing their heights                           Nursery comparing their hand sizes

EYFS comparing their feet sizes

EYFS comparing their feet sizes

EYFS getting themselves into height order

Year 1 in height order

Year 1 in age order

Year 3 measuring their feet                                  Year 5 measuring their feet

Year 5 measuring their feet

Year 6 making careful measurements

TERRIFIC SCIENTIFIC

In June 2018, Fox Hill received the following message from the Executive Producer of the BBC's Terrific Scientific initiative:

I am delighted to inform you that as a result of the hard work and dedication of your pupils, we are awarding Fox Hill Primary School ‘School of Excellence’ status. This award is supported by the Primary Science Quality Mark and the BBC.

We are presenting you with our Terrific Scientific ‘School of Excellence’ digital emblem, attached to this email, which you can use on your website, letterheads, social media or anywhere else you want to show it off! We hope you will display the certificate with pride.

Obviously, this is fantastic news and recognises all of the fantastic Science work going on throughout the school!