Big Bangs or Little Bubbles?

Using microscopes to look at the smallest objects always makes for a fun classroom activity. The children carefully put small amounts of fresh water onto microscope slides and using the lenses to fine tune the focus, they were able to identify mini invertebrates which they couldn’t see with the naked eye.

This experiment shows children that there is a hidden world out there – beneath their feet, in rivers and streams, and in the vegetation and trees. Biodiversity isn’t always immediately visible and it’s important not to forget that it exists even when we can’t see it. Classifying creatures teaches children that labels matter – whether it’s a common object like a book, or the name of a living creature like a worm or a snail or an insect.

As if that hard work wasn’t enough, our children also learned how materials can change from one state to another – liquids, gases and solids. Using heat and dry ice they watched as water froze, melted and then evaporated. Observing changes at first hand enables children to make predictions about what will happen next.

Come next winter this week’s science will be at the forefront of our primary children’s minds when they observe how water turns to ice, how water vapour falling from the sky becomes snow, and why their warm breath is visible as it evaporates in the cold air.

Many thanks to our Senior School science department and especially to super teacher Paul Minton for creating such fun and exciting lessons for our primary children.