Year 5 went to UCC for a science project, which gave us the opportunity to visit the Science labs to see what learning at UCC is really like. First we met Mr Ford (the Head of Science) who had organised the activities for us. 

The first activity was to develop a parachute to land us safely onto another planet. To do this we designed parachutes and tested our prototypes using eggs. We were only allowed limited materials; the net of a box, string, a plastic bag, bubble wrap and sellotape. We were marked on many different criteria. We had to work as a team, develop our plan, be careful not to use too many materials and make sure our egg did not break when we dropped it from a balcony! We all really enjoyed this challenge, the most exciting part was dropping the parachutes and then seeing if our eggs had smashed or cracked. Most of our groups were successful and we all had a lot of fun.

For the second activity we were set a challenge to extract DNA from a strawberry. We had to act like real scientists wearing plastic goggles and handling chemicals. First we mashed up the strawberries, then put then into a water bath to break them up further. Then we added a solution, stirring them to create a stringy substance that was the DNA. We needed to use our accurate measuring skills and we needed to follow instructions carefully to be able to make the DNA. We had a lot of fun, some parts were easy, some were hard and some disgusting! 

At the end we all got a sticker saying ‘Thank you for visiting UCC Science lab’. It was really fun and entertaining – thank you to Mr For and all the staff at UCC and well done to Year 5 who were great ambassadors for North Lakes on the day.                                                                        

By Mrs Clark, Jessica & Amy T