Year 4’s visit to The Thinktank took place on Monday 19th May. The Thinktank is a Science Museum in Birmingham, which also houses many different exhibits that involve aspects of history and technology.
Year 4’s NICER challenge for this term is to create something that solves a problem. Getting the chance to look at all the great technology and inventions meant that the children were able to take pictures of inventions and begin to get an idea of something that they wanted to create. There was also a link to Year 4’s forthcoming Science topic as they underwent a workshop in the Science Labs to do with Solids, Liquids and Gases.
On arrival at the Thinktank the children were immediately whisked off to the Science Labs. They were given Laboratory coats to wear and they learnt about the properties of Solids, Liquids and Gases and how reversible and irreversible changes can be made to each. Each class was incredibly lucky to take part in some science experiments; including making miniature volcanoes and making their own slime! The workshop leader also taught the children how synthetic snow is made on film sets in warmer countries; making it look like winter – something they may try to replicate in class!
Next, everyone headed across to the Lego Control room. The friendly workshop leader showed Year 4 how they could program a robot! At first everyone thought programming a robot to move, sounded a very difficult task. However, it became apparent that it was actually quite simple. Some children even managed to make the robot do a dance!
At this point it was lunch time; after a quick bite to eat, the children made their way to the gift shop to have a quick browse at all of the toys and many other interesting items that were on sale. On the way there Year 4 stopped to have a quick look at the technology section of the Thinktank to get some ideas!
Lastly everyone made their way to the Science Garden (some children’s favourite part of the visit). The Science garden is an outdoor discovery area which has lots of interesting and fun activities to have a go on – including a giant hamster wheel (which Mr. Batham mastered). In addition to this was a machine known as ‘The Terminus’ which used lots of different levers and pulleys to operate it and to help it to work properly.
The Year 4 teachers and children all found the Thinktank to be a fun and exciting day out – a lot of children even said they’d like to go with their families at the weekend! Year 4 now have lots of ideas for their NICER challenge and are looking forward to creating their own inventions!
