Discover Primary Science and Maths

NEWSFLASH: We are delighted to announce that our school has achieved the Discover Primary Science Award for Science and Maths Excellence. Well done to all of the children and teachers for their hard work in conducting experiments, organising activities and putting together the entry folder :-)

For the first time this year our school is taking part in the Discover Primary Science and Maths project. This project aims to stimulate childrens curiosity about the world around them and enable them to develop a range of scientific and mathematical skills from questioning and designing to interpreting and experimenting. You can find out more about the project at www.primaryscience.ie. On this page you can view samples of some of the activities that we undertook as part of the project.

Step 3-Invite a Science Speaker to the School

In June Ms. O'Sullivans 5th and 6th class will be getting a visit from Michael O'Sullivan, a palaeontologist and PhD student from the University of Portsmouth in England. Michael specialises in pterosaurs will be speaking to the class about fossils and dinosaurs and will be showing the class some of his collection of fossils!! More information about Michael can be found at:

http://port.academia.edu/MichaelOSullivan

Step 4-Attend or Hold a Science Event

In this section we had to option of attending or holding a science event. We decided to do both!! During Science Week in November Ms. Doyles class and Ms. O'Sullivans class went to the University of Limerick to attend some fantastic science shows. Ms. Doyles class went to a show entitled "Move It". this fast-moving show explored the forces that are some important in allowing us to move. Ms. O'Sullivans class went to see an amazing 'Science Magic' show. They saw money set on fire, investigated the powerful force of sound waves and even set suds on fire.

Step 1-Greenwave and Maths

The greenwave project aims to chart the signs of spring as they spread across the country each year. It involves looking out for and logging sightings of 6 key species, namely ash, hawthorn, frogs, swallows, horsechestnut and primroses, and also recording information about wind speed, rainfall and temperature over a period of months.

These primroses were sighted on St. Patricks Day in Pallaskenry

Step 2- Prescribed activites

In this section different classes carried out hands-on activities relating to the 'Energy and Forces' and 'Materials' strands of the curriculum.

Ms. O'Sullivans class investigated to effectiveness of different substances as food preservatives

Ms. O'Sullivans class also held a science fair to present inventions that they had designed and built themselves in pairs. Here are some examples of what they came up with!

The Bike Alarm

The Vibrating Wrist Watch

Ms. Hayes class looked at the process of mixing oil and water.

Step 5-Technology in the Classroom

In step 5 we have to demonstrate that we use technology in the classroom. Well I guess this webpage is definitely evidence of that! Other examples of the use of technology in the classroom include:

Weekly use of ipads across the curriculum by all classes
Use of computer programmes in the classroom during the Discover Primary Science and Maths project to create graphs to for the maths element of the project.
Use of Microsoft PowerPoint during the inventions project for the creation of presentations relating to the 'I Dunno' app and the 'Flatpack Garden'.
Interactive whiteboards and/or projectors used in all classrooms
Online school census using Survey Monkey website and ipads

Ms. Collins class had great fun doing the Dancing Raisins experiment!

Ms. Doyles class carried out an experiment to see which materials were waterproof and how a non-waterproof material could be made waterproof with the use of vaseline.

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