Discovery Zone - University of Leeds - Moortown Primary School, Leeds

Year 6 went to the University of Leeds on Tuesday to take part in the Discover Zone, part of Leeds Festival of Science. We travelled there on the 7A from Moortown Corner which was all part of the excitement and then walked through town to the university. Thanks for getting your child to school early so that we were able to do this.

It was a fantastic morning and we got to experience so much incredible Science – all of the children loved it. The favourites seemed to be making mini rockets using vinegar and bicarbonate of soda (which produce carbon dioxide when mixed) and investigating the effects of obesity and smoking on our ability to exercise.

We examined and learnt about crayfish.

We examined how clean our hands are after we’ve washed them.

We took a closer look at what our hearts look like.

We even took a look inside one and learnt about how other animals’ heart valves can replace our own if we’re ill.

We created more efficient algorithms.

We discovered how CO2 exists in our atmopshere.

And got to feel how cold it is on our hands.

We learnt all about genetic modification of our food.

We even made nylon – which was really cool!

That’s him pulling the nylon out of the beaker.

We learnt about how the size and shape of a bird’s beak affects what they can eat (or was it the other way around?).

We tested whether water was acidic, neutral or alkali – using cabbage water?

We learnt all about our spine and how metal is used to fixed parts that have broken.

Did you know that there are bumblebees and honeybees. Bumblebees don’t produce honey and they don’t die if they sting you.

We looked at how exercise affects our heart rate by scanning the body and seeing the blood flowing faster in and out of the heart values.

We used microscopes to solve the crime.

We investigated how being obese and smoking can affect your ability to exercise.

We extracted DNA from strawberries.

Discovery Zone – University of Leeds