During our Enviro sessions this week, we experienced what it is like to be a scientist and it was FUN!  We used our observation skills, touch, and investigative skills to experience a variety of activities.

We began by being blindfolded and touching an object inside a box – trying to figure out what it was.  There was a huge toy weta, a prickly glove, a pot scrubber and even a moth pod!

We then played with some scientific “toys” which illustrated the three main physics principles at work: conservation of energy, conservation of momentum and friction.  The “toys” were Newton’s cradle, the splink, the rattleback and Jacob’s ladder.

Another activity we did was to use our observation skills to sort and categorise through a collection of random debris.  We used magnifying glasses and tweezers to put the debris into groups and then recorded our findings on a graph.  New Zealand has the highest amount of plastic eaten by birds in the world – not something to be proud of!  Two good things have happened recently which are helping to fix this problem – no longer can you get plastic straws and also milk bottles no longer have the plastic rims around them when opened.  The next step is to stop having stickers on fruit as these often end up in the environment  .