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Year 5 Science Week

Year 5 have had a busy week for British Science Week! The theme this year is ‘Time’, so we discussed what time meant to us and researched the history of time.

We were surprised to find out that it was not until the 1300’s the first mechanical clocks were invented showing seconds, minutes, and hours being used as a measurement of time! We also found that the Ancient Egyptians used water clocks to measure the concept that is time. Year 5 got to work planning their own investigations and used trial and error to create water timers. Our goal was to find the perfect measurement of water, which would create a one-minute timer. We then furthered this and used our knowledge to also create sand timers. It was lots of fun trying to find the perfect amount of each and very tense watching the stopwatches as they approached one minute!

Year 5 also got the chance to learn about reaction times, then predict and measure their own reaction times using a drop-and-catch technique. We were investigating whether our reaction times improved with practise or not. Megan said, “I think my reaction time improved with practise as my brain started to focus more on catching the ruler quickly, so I think I would get even quicker with even more practise.” Overall, it has been a great week and Year 5 have loved being super scientists!