Science Zone
Welcome to the Science Zone!
At The Discovery School, we love exploring, experimenting and enquiring. The Science Zone is the place where we share our love of science.
We thought your families would like to join in the fun too, so on this page, you will find experiments for you to try at home (with the support of an adult). Remember to take photos of your super science and email them to one of the science team so that we can share your brilliant work with the world!
*If you or one of your family members does not want their picture on the website, please share your work with us in another way, perhaps print a photo off at home and bring it into school.*
Miss Charlton: acharlton@discovery.kent.sch.uk
Miss Dey: kdey@discovery.kent.sch.uk
Term 2 - Our Super Scientists this term are...Year 3!
Having teachers on the Science Team means that in Year 3, we carry out lots of exciting, scientific investigations! This term we have been learning about rocks, soils and fossils. In order to find out more about the different types of rocks and their uses, we carried out an investigation to find out which types of rock are hard, which are soft, and which are permeable and impermeable. We were given pipettes, water, blue paper towel and a selection of igneous rocks, metamorphic rocks and sedimentary rocks to carry out our investigation. We used our scientific skill of observation to look closely at our findings. We found that:
- Sedimentary rocks are the softest, chalk is a good example of this.
- Metamorphic and Igneous rocks are hard, marble and granite are good examples of these.
- Lots of the sedimentary rocks we had were permeable, meaning that they have tiny holes which the water could travel through.
- The metamorphic and igneous rocks that we had were impermeable, meaning that they didn't have tiny holes and the water dripped off of them on to the paper towel.
Scientist of Term 1 and 2 2023-24 - Mary Anning
“We need to ask ourselves what are we here for and what have we worked so hard to be here for.”
Mary Anning was born in the seaside town of Lyme Regis, Dorset, UK, in 1799. Although her parents had ten children, only Mary and her brother Joseph lived to adulthood. It’s said Mary had a lucky escape when she was a baby. The lady holding her was struck by lightning. Miraculously, little Mary survived. Phew!
Mary made many lots of exciting discoveries in her life, such as a flying reptile, later named the Pterodactyl, and coprolites – fossilised poo – which helped her work out what dinosaurs ate! Having taught herself geology, anatomy and scientific illustration, Mary was so highly skilled that she took important scientists fossil hunting and discussed ideas and theories with them.
Mary died in 1847. Although she was well-known for her discoveries, Mary wasn’t taken seriously as a scientist in her lifetime because of her gender and poor background. Some of the male scientists she worked with claimed her findings as their own! But today, Mary is recognised as a pioneer in the field of palaeontology (the study of fossils) and is celebrated as the greatest fossil hunter of all time!
adapted from:https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/history/general-history/mary-anning-facts/
Celebrating Science: What's happening in Term 2?
Have a look to see the special science days that you can celebrate at home!
Science at home
Can you carry out this creepy crawly investigation. If you do it, let us know how you get on!