Members of the King’ School Macclesfield Science Department
visited the school on 7th November to deliver a series of science
workshops to the Year 4 and 5 boys. Investigations included
making gel key rings and firing rockets!
Charlie H explained “When we put the gel in hot water, it allowed
us to mould it into different shapes. Each of us moulded the gel
into our selected shape. We then waited for it to cool and
solidify.”
Adham said “I enjoyed shooting rockets when the Kings
Macclesfield teachers came to school. I thought it was very
fascinating for air to be used in such an exciting way!”
Charlie W said “The bottle experiment was fun. We had to throw
a series of ropes over the top of a bottle. We had to use just the
right amount of force and teamwork to work together to pick the
bottle up. We were told if we dropped it, it might blow up!”
Mad Science visited the school on 28
th
November to deliver
workshops on light and sound for Year 5 and 6 boys. All the
juniors were also able to take part in a very practical science
themed assembly.
During the assembly, volunteers from Years 3-6 we asked to take
part in experiments ranging from using smoke rings to blow out
candles, to catching toilet paper fired across the hall using
different devices blowing air!
Radioactive Ruth, one of the Mad Scientists came into the Year 5
classes to present her Sound workshop. She started by
demonstrating how sound waves travel by attaching one end of a
piece of string to the door handle and the other end to a drill.
She switched the drill on and waves passed along the string. She
demonstrated how sound waves from a tuning fork pass sound
vibrations through the molecules in water.
All the boys carried out sound investigations using hanger
bangers (coat hangers and string), slinkys and rulers. They cer-
tainly created a great deal of noise in the classroom!!! She ended
with a bang, filling her didgeridoo with ethanol, the boys shook
the tube, turning the liquid into gas and she lit the end with a
match.
The boys were enthralled by the whole workshop and learnt
some amazing facts about sound.
The Year 6 workshops were on the topic of light. Boys discussed
different sorts of light sources and how white light can be
“refracted” to show different colours of the rainbow. Joe from 6R
explained:
“When Mad Science visited our class we used a Van de Graaff
generator and made static electricity jump onto a metal ball like a
strike of lightening. We also put our hands on and our hair stood
on end! We also used refraction glasses, which when you put
them on, you look at a light source and all around the object you
can see the spectrum of the different colours of light.”
Here are a just a few highlights of the day in the boys own
words:
“I really enjoyed it when the Mad Science lady came to school. I
thought the paper cups would crush when 10 children were
standing on a board above them, and it was amazing when she
made a boy fly using a hover board!”(Elliot)
“My favourite part was when Radioactive Ruth fired mist hoops
through the air and she blew the candles out from about 3m
away!”(Matthew)
“I found out that sound travels faster through liquids than gas-
ses!” (Joshua)
SCIENCE
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