Messy Ooblek!

Great fun at science club tonight with dancing raisins and the non-newtonian fluid called Ooblek  
The boys made an incredible mess and the cleaners were less than impressed! Boys. ..you need to grovel  the next time you see Paul,  nicky  and Sue. 
If you want to make Ooblek  at home, all you need is cornflour  and water. Lots of recipes online.

Science club at Noadswood with Miss Lovelock

 

Many thanks to Miss Lovelock for leading our Science Club today. We had great fun making green slime. Some children were messier than others! Take a look at Jasper's hands, not to mention his attempt at clearing up his table!

 

Our second task was to write notes using a chemical. Some of us drew pictures and watched the images magically appear when the chemical made contact with the white paper. 

 

At the end of the session, we watched Miss Lovelock make fireflies in ammonia gas! We turned the lights off and watched them appear when she added a very hot chemical to the ammonia gas.

 

This was a great session and we are grateful to Miss Lovelock for giving up her time to teach us. Last week of club next week...looking forward to seeing you for some fun with more hands on experiments.  

Extracting DNA with Prof.Holloway, Dr Holloway and Dr Hollis

 Today we had an absolutely fantastic time at Science Club with three scientists from Southampton University- Professor John Holloway, Dr Jude Holloway and Dr Veronica Hollis. All three talked about what had fascinated them at Primary school and why they ended up as scientists. Most pupils had never met a Professor before and were surprised that Prof. John looked quite normal!

 

Jude clearly explained to us how our DNA is like an instruction book, making us the way were are with a range of different features and characteristics. We then actually saw DNA for the first time by extracting it from mushed up strawberries! After adding a soapy mixture and ethanol, the strawberry DNA solidified and rose the the surface. Awesome!But there was more to come...

 

We then were all instructed to chew on our cheeks for 30 seconds and spit into a tube of water. We then added soapy liquid and ethanol and waited for strands of DNA to appear. By adding a few drops of red or green dye, the DNA from the nuclei of our cheek cells was very clear to see. We then carefully placed some of our DNA into a keepsake necklace. Absolutely amazing!

 

We all went away with necklaces, a sheet explaining what we had been doing and a DNA tattoo. Massive thanks to John, Jude, Veronica and John Holloway junior for leading such an amazing session! Mr Parker and Mr Hastings also came to join in the fun. Look out for their DNA necklaces, worn with pride! Let's just hope they don't clone themselves, eh?! 

Watch out in the Echo .

Applemore so enjoyed our visit that they're hoping to write a piece in the Echo and Herald. Here are the photos they are going to include.

Jelly Baby Investigation.

Well done to Lex for getting his jelly baby investigation results back to me. His baby in water; called Wilfred, grew by 0 6 cm to a whopping height of 3.6cm. Can anyone beat Lex?

Trip to Applemore College

We had a fantastic time visiting Applemore College after school for a chemistry lesson. We made sparklers, tested for hydrogen with burning splints, watched the whoosh bottle experiment and played with methane bubbles. The pictures show how much we were able to fit in during our 45 minute club session. We are really grateful to Mr Marsh and Miss Parvin and her colleagues for all of the work they put into making the session so interactive. 

We are now looking forward to having a lesson in Genetics next week from Prof. And Dr Holloway from Southampton University.