Pre-Prep have been very busy since the beginning of the term. In Science, Year One and Two children covered ‘Materials’ as a part of the chemistry units. Both year groups had the opportunity to get hands on and carry out experiments in class. Teachers have been encouraging the boys to ‘Think and Work as Scientists.’ This has meant lots of observations, predictions and of course drawing conclusions on their investigations.   

In Year One boys had plenty of fun with Barnaby Bear. Each class used a variety of materials to test which was most suitable as a hat for the bear. The boys used paper, plastic, aluminium, card and cloth. Their aim was to find which of the materials were waterproof and were encouraged to offer reasons why waterproof materials would be more suitable than an absorbent one. 

Year One also investigated which materials float and which sink. Before the boys carried out their investigation, they made predictions. They then tested each material, in a jug of water, and recorded their findings.  

There was plenty of discussion across the Year Two classes about the characteristics of materials, states of matter, as well as the processes that occur when something changes from a solid to a liquid (melting) and from a liquid to solid (freezing). Boys were very enthusiastic about how some changes were reversible, and some were irreversible.  

To consolidate their understanding of materials changing states, a few investigations took place in the form of the ‘Chocolate Experiment’ and ‘Balloon Experiment’. 

During the Chocolate Experiment we discovered that it did not take a very long time for the heat of our hands to melt the chocolate. The chocolate melted at a quicker rate for some boys. A hypothesis the group came up with was that there must have been more heat (some boys had cupped their hands quite tightly, this could’ve been a reason)! 

Miss Barr, Pre-Prep Science Coordinator