Year 6 – 13/03/20 (Science Week)

This week has been British Science Week, so at Pope Paul everyone has been investigating the dunkability of different biscuits: Hobnobs Digestives, Ginger Nuts, Rich Tea and Nice.

Some groups looked investigated whether the thickness of the biscuit affected how quickly it disintegrated when dunked, whilst others investigated density and amount of sugar. We increased the reliability of our results by dunking each type of biscuit three times.

Our results showed that there was no correlation between density and absorption, nor could we conclude that thickness or sugar content had and impact. The Rich Tea biscuit stayed intact for the longest, so we would like to carry out further investigations to get to the bottom of why this is the case.

On Thursday, we were lucky enough to do fieldwork with Mr Friedlander from Dame Alice Owen’s School. Using quadrats and magnifying glasses, we looked at the number of plant organisms on the field. The children hypothesised that there would be fewer species the closer we got to the being under a tree, as there would be less light there, in addition to the tree taking most of the nutrients from the soil. The results were not as clear-cut as we’d hoped, but we still identified lots of different meadow plants growing within the grass.

This morning, we welcomed Marie from the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control into the classroom, and she taught us about the work they do there, specifically testing vaccines to treat viruses. We learnt about antigens and how vaccines allow the body to build up an army of antibodies which hopefully make us immune to the virus. The children acted out being antibodies that attach themselves to antigens to defeat the virus.

Also this morning, we had our Celebration Morning. Thank you to everybody who took part in the Build-a-Tree Competition – some are impressively stable and balanced, others less so!

Also this week, Year 6 participated in the Sports Hall Athletics Tournament at Dame Alice Owen’s School. Well done to everybody for taking part and for representing our school.