Entry for DPSM Award - the steps we took

This is Mount Anville Primary School’s first entry for a Plaque of Excellence in the Discover Primary Science & Maths Award so we hope that you are happy with all of our efforts.

Step 1:  11 teachers attended three science workshops which encouraged the teachers to keep a record of work that they were doing in science, technology, engineering and maths.  They also got some great ideas for activities with us, the children and they said that they had great fun! 13 classes, out of a total of 17 classes, got involved in our application. 

In order to take part in the DPSM awards, we had to carry out different experiments under different categories.

Step 2:

Science:  There are four different areas covered and we tried to work on different areas so there would be variety in our application.

Living Things: 

o   Junior Infants  looked at how roots absorb water and how important each part of the tree is.

o   Senior Infants went on a nature walk, armed with clipboards, looking for signs of Spring.

Energy & Forces:

o   Magnets – First class were delighted to learn about what materials are magnetic and how poles repel and attract each other.

o   Third class made little cars which they got to move using magnets – great fun. 

o   Electricity – Fifth class learned about making circuits and were so delighted when the bulbs lit up!  They also experimented with conduction and insulation.

Materials:  

·         Acid vs Alkali – using red cabbage to dye fabric – we learned about having a “control” situation. 

·         Water absorption – the Junior Infants tested lots of different types of materials to see which are the most absorbent. 

Environmental Awareness & Care:

o   4^th class went on a field trip to Airfield and saw the effects of pollution on sea birds as well as investigating how much paper is wasted on receipts in shops.

o   The other 4^th class didn’t have to go far for their mini-beast hunt – they simply went to our school wildlife garden and while half of the class planted tomato seedlings the other half searched for bugs.

  

Scientist’s  visit: 

Junior Einsteins run an after-school class in our school so Kenny came in and treated us to a science demonstration.

Step 3:  Technology

As the Board of Management have recently made a huge investment in technology in Mt Anville we were delighted to get to use our new laptops to learn coding with Aoife Martin from Microsoft. 

We also used our laptops to make Powerpoint presentations in various classes e.g. 6^th class made Powerpoint presentations about different European countries and our principal used Powerpoint to make a Maths quiz for all of the children in 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th for Maths Week and the girls in 4^th class made a presentation about Electricity using Powerpoint. 

Step 4:  Engineering

Our 3^rd classes were treated to a visit by one of our parents, engineer Margie Mc Carthy.  She showed us that engineering and maths are “magic”!

Our 6^th classes used a Design & Make class to make periscopes and explained how they could use these periscopes to other classes. 

Step 5:  Maths

We had a fantastic Maths Week in October with visits from parents telling us how they use maths in their daily lives.  For example one of our mammies, who is a nurse, told us about how she uses maths when measuring out medicines for her patients.  A mum, who is an engineer told us how important maths is in her job and a dad, a maths teacher, convinced all the girls that maths can be great fun.

We also used maths week to play lots of maths based games e.g. dominoes, memory snap etc.

Step 6:  STEM showcase

Each class was given the opportunity to demonstrate one of their projects to other classes in the school.