In science, the children have been taught to:
Identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood (Heart rate experiment – ask your children about it!).
Recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function.
Describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans (Skittles and Jelly Snake experiment – see below).
How to keep their bodies healthy and how their bodies might be damaged – including how some drugs and other substances can be harmful to the human body.
Explore the work of scientists and scientific research about the relationship between diet, exercise, drugs, lifestyle and health.
The children have completed multiple science investigations during this science block. Take a look below to see some of what they’ve been doing.
Jelly Snake Experiment:
The children compared the difference in appearance between the Jelly Snakes that had been soaked overnight and the Jelly Snakes which hadn’t been in water.
The children used their observational skills to describe the changes in the appearance and used their scientific knowledge and vocabulary to explain how this experiment could be linked to nutrients absorption.
Skittles Experiment:
For the skittles experiment, the children added water to a plate of skilled and observed the colouring dissolving and moving to the centre of the plate.
Again, the children used their observational skills to describe the changes in the appearance and used their scientific knowledge and vocabulary to explain how this experiment could be linked scientifically.
They were able to link the colour being dissolved to nutrients being dissolved in our body and we discussed as a class what might happen to the colour of the snakes as a part of diffusion.
These experiments demonstrated the process of nutrients diffusing. Once broken down (like the colouring in the Skittles experiment), the nutrients are absorbed through the walls of our intestines into the blood in a process called diffusion (like with the Jelly Snakes). Water doesn't need breaking down and moves between membranes (cell walls) in the body to arrive in the correct place, again via our blood.
So, the colour (nutrients) is broken down and moves into the water. The snakes have also enlarged as the water has gone through their walls and into them.
Ask your children about the other experiments they have done so far!