Term 1 Most Interesting Laboratory Session
For Term 1, our class had quite a few laboratory sessions. Overall, I find that the lab session on learning how to operate the Bunsen burner is the most interesting. In this session, we were taught on the precautions we should take note of while operating the Bunsen burner. I feel that this is very helpful as anyone will get injured in the process of using the Bunsen burner and thus, we must learn what precautions to take note of. Later on, we get to use the Bunsen burner. All of us were excited and we learnt about luminous and non-luminous flame. Overall, we learnt a lot in this lab session.
March Holiday's Field-trip to NEWater Visitor's Centre
During this March holiday, our family made a visit to the NEWater Visitor's Centre. At there, I had a great learning opportunity. There are many interactive activities there which allowed me to have a better understanding about NEWater. There are also some multimedia presentations which I enjoyed very much. Among all the interactive games I played, I enjoyed Waterwise Arcade the most. After this field-trip, I feel that technologies used in NEWater are very advanced and useful. NEWater helps us save precious water by recycling them, thus, NEWater is very important to us.
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Term 2's most enjoyable Laboratory sessionPersonally, I find that the most interesting lab session is the investigation of mixtures and compounds. In this lab session, we studied on sulfur powder and iron fillings. Filter paper and a piece of paper magnet are used in this experiment. The first step for this experiment is to observe the colour of sulfur powder and iron filings. The colour of sulfur powder is yellow while the colour of iron filings is black. Next, we observe whether both elements can be attracted to a magnet. As I have expected, the iron filing is attracted to the magnet but not the sulfur powder.
Next, the sulfur powder was poured into an evaporating dish of iron filings. It was stirred with a glass rod and we observed that it formed a mixture dark grey powder and only iron filings are attracted when a magnet is used. Thus, this shows that when these two elements are mixed without using any form of heating or other chemical methods, they form a mixture. However, when we heat the mixture of iron filings and sulfur powder, the colour remains the same but this time a solid is formed and it can be attracted to a magnet.Thus, it suggests that it is a compound.
After this lab session, I have a better understanding of differentiating a mixture and compound.
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Visit to Chek Jawa
This June holiday, my primary school class had a class gathering at East Coast on 16 June and after the class gathering, some of my ex-classmates decided to visit Chek Jawa the day after and I decided to join them. Thus, on 17 June, my friends and I took a cab and we reached the Ubin Jetty at 12pm. I brought my DSLR Camera along so that I can take some nice pictures. After reaching the Jetty, we rented a total of 6 bikes and we started cycling to Chek Jawa after having some snacks. It took us roughly 20 min to reach Chek Jawa.
At Chek Jawa, we were amazed by the huge diversity of plants and animals there. My friend told me that the beauty of Chek Jawa is that several different ecosystems can be seen in one small area and that these ecosystems, the plants and animals found there are no longer common in Singapore. They are also fast disappearing elsewhere in the world.
Throughout the whole journey of trekking through Chek Jawa, I saw many diversity of plants and animals. For example, I saw a tube worm. Not only that, I also saw a catfish and many other animals and plants.
After trekking for about 4 hours, my friends and I went home happily and we were glad to see such a huge variety plants and animals. I feel that I had a great experience and hope to come back here again.
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Bouncy Raw Egg Experiment
I had many fun lab sessions during term 3 but the most memorable one, from my point of view, is the Bouncy Raw Egg experiment because I find it fun and enriching. During this science session, Ms Chia first gave us instructions for the whole experiment. We were also warned by Ms Chia that we will be using the dilute hydrochloric acid and it is acidic and corrosive and thus, we should not touch it with our bare hand.
After the detailed instructions given by Ms Chia, we started on our experiment excitedly. We first collected a beaker, glass rod, raw quail's egg and dilute hydrochloric acid. After collecting the materials, I place the egg in the beaker and filled it with dilute hydrochloric acid.
It was observed that bubbles of gas and white froth are formed.
Ms Chia told us that the egg shell is chemically reacting with the acid. After soaking for about 15 min, the acid is poured away and the egg is rinsed. Me and my partner touched the egg and it felt very soft. After that we placed the egg back into the beaker and filled it with water before returning back to Ms Chia.
In conclusion, I have learnt that the egg membrane is semi-permeable and that osmosis is important for living things.
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Term 3 Sabbatical Wildlife buddies
Term 3's Wildlife Buddies Sabbatical was definitely an enjoyable one. Ms Chia announced in class about three weeks before the Sabbatical Week to see who is interested in the wildlife buddies sabbatical. As I am interested about animals and thought that this sabbatical taught only about animals in the Singapore Zoo, I decided to sign up for this sabbatical.
Thus on 22nd August, me and my classmates who signed up for Wildlife Buddies Sabbaticals made our way excitedly to class 4A2 for Ms Chia and Mr Neo to give us instructions. I listened attentively and much to my suprise, Ms Chia told us that we have to bring K1 and K2 students to the zoo. I guess I was quite slow because all my classmates already knew that we have to bring some kids to the zoo before the start of the sabbatical. After Ms Chia's detailed instructions, we had a quick break before setting off to the Singapore Zoo. We reached the zoo in around 35 minutes. After we reached the zoo, we headed to the auditorium in the zoo. We were given a lecture first. We were taught on the conservation of animals before we were assigned to set goals for the whole week of sabbatical. Below shows our trainer giving us a lecture.
After that, two wildlife ambassadors brought us to the Australian Outback and White Tiger exhibit. We were thoroughly briefed about the interesting facts of each animal we saw. The animal that amazed me the most is the white tiger. It is indeed a sad thing that there is only about 3000 to 4000 tigers left in the wild because of poaching by irresponsible hunters. Below shows a picture of the white tiger.
On day 2, we started with a lecture on communication skills. The trainer wanted us to communicate well with the kids on Thursday when we bring them to do the zoo. After the lecture, we were given a test on what we learnt yesterday from the wildlife ambassadors. After the test, we were given a worksheet to be completed when we move around the zoo. My group did not manage to complete the worksheet.
On Day 3, we made a visit to a childcare centre in Hougang. At the childcare centre, we were expected to find ourselves a buddy each. I found my buddy, whose name is Yao Yang. We interacted with our buddies and played games like catching at the playground beside the childcare. Below shows a picture of a group picture with my friends and our buddies.
On Day 4, we reached the zoo at 9.45am and had a quick break. About 10 am, our buddies reached the zoo. We took a group picture before we set off. However, it was sad that it started to rain. Luckily I brought my umbrella along. My buddy was amazed by the animals he saw, especially the kangaroo and the white tiger. I gave him detailed introduction of all the animals we saw. At 12pm, the rain stopped. We proceeded to watch the Elephant show. The elephant show is indeed very interesting. We were informed by our seniors before the show started that where we are sitting is the splash zone. I prepared my umbrella to make sure me and my buddy will not be wet. After the show, we went for a toilet break before it is time to say goodbye to our buddies.
On day 5, we had a presentation of our learning experience throughout the sabbatical. Below is the powerpoint we used for our presentation.
Wildlife Buddies 2
