Bristle Bots
It might have been the day before the holidays but today 4th Class A built their own Bristle Bots using toothbrushes, batteries, small motors and a lot of imagination.
Bristle Bots from Cormac Cahill on Vimeo.
Katie's Augmented Reality Poster
Katie created this wonderful poster on Dogs at home and brought it in to us. She then used the iPad to create an Augmented Reality Poster. Using an app called Aurasma Katie was able to add photos that are invisible and can only be seen using the iPads camera. What a wonderful project Katie. I think we may have to look into this idea more.
Discover Primary Science and Maths Award
Our Volcano Project
Our Volcano model is complete and to say it looks amazing is an understatement. Now we are working on creating a story to go with our Volcano which has been named Sliabh Rua (Red Mountain) and the lovely village of Volcarrig which sits at the foot of it. This was another one of the projects we showcased on the day the PDST came to visit us. We are planning on having a little fun with the model over the next week so stay tuned for a very exciting project. In the meantime here is an updated video of our Volcano.
4th Class A Volcano Model from Cormac Cahill on Vimeo.
This is our Volcano model so far. It looks amazing and the children are putting in a huge effort and coming up with some great ideas for it.
Volcano-So far from Cormac Cahill on Vimeo.
More Inventor and Inventions Projects
Shigeru Miyamoto from Cormac Cahill on Vimeo.
Tim Berners Lee from Cormac Cahill on Vimeo.
Thomas Edison from Cormac Cahill on Vimeo.
Alan Turing from Cormac Cahill on Vimeo.
Henry Ford from Cormac Cahill on Vimeo.
Egg Drop
This week we had a lot of fun with 4th Class B. We set the children a task of dropping an egg from a height but making sure it would not break. The children were split into groups with the groups given different materials they could use to protect their egg. Some had straws, some had wool, some had styrofoam, some had cotton wool and some even had balloons and marshmallows. There was a lot of fantastic discussion beforehand with the children discussing (arguing) over what they should do to ensure their egg did not break (a crack in the egg would be ok). The process of designing and creating was the main goal of the experiment. This was where the real science happened. There were changes galore with some groups scratching their heads to begin with. Then came the all important Egg Drop. we took them to the back of the school and launched them. We have a video showcasing the planning and building and also a video of the Egg Drop itself. Naturally we had to use a lot of slow motion for this one (as well as some appropriate epic music). Enjoy. To get the most from the videos make sure you watch them in HD.
Egg Drop Experiment Fun from Cormac Cahill on Vimeo.
Egg Drop from Cormac Cahill on Vimeo.
A Visit from Ciara Judge
Today was a real treat for the children of 4th Class A and B. We had a visit from Ciara Judge who spoke to the children about her amazing career as a young scientist. Despite her young years Ciara, from Kinsale in Co. Cork is both a scientist and an inspiring public speaker. She was the winner of the 42nd BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in 2013 at the age of fifteen with two others: Emer Hickey and Sophie Healy-Thow. She also won a First place Award in the European Union Contest for Young Scientists 2013. In 2014, she jointly with her 2 friends won the grand prize in Google World Science Fair. Ciara was also listed as one of the 25 most influential teens in Time for the year 2014 as a result of her innovation (from Wikipedia).
The children were enthralled for over an hour as Ciara shared her amazing story. Who knows, she may have inspired some of the children to become the Scientists of the future. |
Sophie Healy-Thow, Ciara Judge and Emer Hickey with their first prize at the Google Science Fair in 2014.
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Justin's Wildlife Documentary
What a lovely surprise for a teacher to get. Justin made this wonderful wildlife documentary telling us about his pets and some of the birds he saw at The Lough in Cork. It looks like Justin did some serious research before he made this and naturally he got a huge round of applause from everyone. He even showed it to some of the other classes in the school. Well done Justin. :)
A visit to a Pond
Today we visited a local pond to look at the wildlife living there. We had a cold but beautiful sunny day. We saw lots of gulls, crows Mallard Ducks. We also saw a beautiful Black Cormorant sitting on a rock in the middle of the estuary. Then we got to see it take flight. We also managed to sneak in a visit to the playground. You can see our playground video on the Random Stuff Page.
4th Class A Pond Visit from Cormac Cahill on Vimeo.
Rockets
This week to celebrate International Space Week we have been learning about rockets. Today we designed and built our own rockets and tomorrow we will make them fly. 😀