The children in Miss M. Daly’s class enjoyed some really interesting and informative webinars for Science Week. A particular favourite with the children was the use of science to help with the care of giraffes at Dublin Zoo.

The children in the Junior Room had a great time conducting Science experiments during Science Week. These included the science of seed germination and colour mixing.

Miss M. Daly challenged the children to create a bridge using paper, lolly-pop sticks, corks and tape that would support the weight of three toy teddy bears. Construction challenges provide a fabulous opportunity for the development of a range of important skills: inventiveness, problem solving, creative thinking, perseverance, motivation and the ability to overcome disappointment, evaluation, editing and revision, analytical thinking and the use of a range of real life tools. It was wonderful to watch the children work collaboratively to find solutions to the challenge.

The children in Miss Daly’s class really enjoyed Science Week. This science activity involved floatation and buoyancy

The Science behind The Dancing Raisins: When the raisins are dropped into the soda they sink to the bottom of the glass because they are more dense than the soda. But the carbonated soda releases carbon dioxide bubbles and these bubbles love to attach to the rough surface of the raisins. They act like tiny floatation devices that lift the raisin to the surface of the water. This is due to an increase in buoyancy.

Once the carbon dioxide bubbles reach the surface of the soda they pop and the gas is released into the air. This makes the raisin lose buoyancy and fall back down to the bottom of the glass.

This continues until all of the carbon dioxide has escaped and the soda is flat.

We had a wonderful morning with 3rd to 6th class creating their own spectroscope. Light experiments are always fun, especially when they involve rainbows!  In this science activity children made their own spectroscope- an instrument used to split light into different wavelengths, which we see as different colors of the rainbow. This was kindly facilitated by Caitriona and Conal from the Tyndall Institute.

Science Week is a week-long event in Ireland each November, celebrating science in our everyday lives.

We have a wonderful Science Week planned including a wide variety of events. As an award winning school we really look forward to this week!