Human Skeleton

Today some of the children had another action packed afternoon learning about biology. Todays lesson focused on the human skeleton. Children got create their own skeletons and will be learning about all the different bones. We were very lucky that one of our parents brought in REAL HUMAN BONES! Here are the children checking them out.

Eyeball Dissection

We have all been very busy preparing for the upcoming science fair. Both hubs have been exploring different scientific concepts and will soon have to make the difficult decision of what they will focus their science projects on for the fair. One of the sciences being studied is biology and this week on Wednesday a group of children got down and dirty and dissected their first eyeball.

Santiago

"First we cut off the sclera, the fatty tissue, from around the eyeball. We did this so that it was easier to make the first incision. Then Caitlyn made the first incision for us using a scalpel. When she did this some of the aqueous humour was released. We then used scissors to cut around the eye. As we were cutting heaps more aqueous humour spilled out. 

When we had finally finished cutting the eyeball in half a mysterious marble-shaped object spilled out. It was called the lens. When you look through the lens the object on the other side is seen upside down. This is because our brains correct the image so that we see it the correct way up. This information is delivered to the rain through the optical nerve. The optical is located at the back of the eye and looks like a small tube. It was very disgusting but amazing!"

Halswell Quarry Trip

Team Pohutukawa were fortunate enough to go on a day trip to the Halswell Quarry this week. This trip ties into our geological studies about Beckenham 'looking back' at the people who came here and the land many years ago. Each class within a hub got to spend half a day with a ranger learning about the quarry and how millions of years ago it was an active volcano! For the other half of the day we walked up and around the quarry before playing an awesome game of animal survival. Thank you so much to all the parents who came and supported our children's learning. It was a great day!