Highclare Senior School welcomed Yr5 pupils from Highclare Preparatory School to the science department to delve into senior school life and further ignite the pupils already enthusiastic interest in science!
In small groups pupils moved between science labs to take part in exciting investigations whilst learning essential skills used in Biology, Chemistry and Physics. At the end of the day students were ‘locked’ in the chemistry lab where they needed to use their newly acquired science skills to solve the clues and escape from the Abbey.
Pupils had a fantastic time using microscopes to classify slides in biology, identifying substances on the pH scale and how to neutralise a substance in chemistry and calculating the density of 3 irregular shaped objects to establish what material they are made from in physics. During the practical’s pupils listened carefully, enthusiastically took part, encouraged each other through the more advanced work and celebrated correct answers, a fantastic experience!
Following lunch in the senior school refectory all pupils returned to the chemistry lab for the final challenge!
A pre-recorded video announced to the pupils that they were now locked in the chemistry lab and all of the equipment needed to crack the code could be found on each table! Eager to crack the first part of the riddle using their biology skills pupils quickly got into their teams and found the initial biology task.
After identifying a correct slide using microscopes, retrieving a brass key by identifying lemon juice and neutralising it with alkali and finally working out the density of that key pupils could crack the final code breaker challenge (the number of letters in the name of the material the key was made of followed by its density) and escape the abbey!
‘It was an absolute delight to work with the pupils from Highclare Preparatory School. Their enthusiasm and determination led them to succeed in every challenge we set, which is an amazing achievement for such young pupils tackling senior school science.’ Mrs S Dudley, Head of Senior School Science.
Thank you so much to the senior school science department for organising such a wonderful active learning day, the pupils happily took on new skills under your careful supervision and returned to school full of enthusiasm for both science and senior school!
