Ash - We talked about a fair test, and Mrs Holmes modelled using fire engines in one handful and sports cars in another and how this might be considered not fair.We needed an object that was exactly the same size, and someone suggested counters. We then talked about measuring our hands and we compared hand sizes. We asked the big question and invited predictions. We predicted that the largest hand would have the biggest grab of counters. The adults measured each hand from top of the palm to the top of the middle finger. The children then grabbed a handful of counters then counted them. 

Conclusion: We looked at the information that we recorded. The four children with the largest hands were not the same as the four children with the biggest grab. We also noted that it was a developmental skill to be able to grab a good number ( two of our youngest members only grabbed 4 and 6 whereas one Y1 child grabbed 24)

Beech - We found today's investigation interesting as we found out that even if you had the biggest hands, you didn't always hold the most cubes! We decided to all pick up the same object (cubes) as that would make it a fair test. After looking at the results of our investigation, we pondered whether it made a difference as to how you grabbed the cubes or how well your hands could pick up the cubes, rather than the size of the hand. Did this have an effect on how many you could pick up?

Hawthorn – The class initially decided that yes the biggest hands could hold the most.  They then had a go at picking up lots of things from glass pebbles to cubes to dice.  We then talked about whether the shape of the object influenced how much could be held.  This split opinion slightly until we showed that the smallest hands could hold the same amount of multi-link cubes as the biggest hands if they were joined together.

Hawthorn then agreed that sometimes the biggest hands could hold most but that it depended entirely on the size, weight and shape of the items being held.

Juniper The class decided that more than likely this was the case, but decided there could be some variables which could affect the result e.g shape of object, type of object and the material it is made from.

We chose to use small cubes to test our prediction.

To discover the size of our hands, we measured our hand spans and used squared paper to work out the surface area of our hands. We completed charts in groups and then looked at our final results.

Results

The largest hand had a surface area of 146cm squares and was able to hold 95 cubes and the smallest hand was 90cm squares and was able to hold 85 cubes.

Conclusion

Our hypothesis was proved right, but not conclusive. Had there been more time, the class would have liked to have tested other objects.

Ash Class - Mrs Holmes asked the big question and the children were all convinced that flowers had a different number of petals. We talked about how we might answer this question and it was decided that everyone would choose one flower and count the petals. We stuck the flower on a sheet of paper and recorded the number of petals and a name. For flowers with a large number of petals, I suggested we estimated (note to self - estimation skills need looking at in Maths!). We looked at the results and worked out that there were several flowers that had 5 or 6 petals but, other than this, we could not form a firm conclusion.

Beech - Before starting the investigation, we predicted that the flowers wouldn't have the same number of petals. We set off on a mission to find out if we were correct. Some of us decided to pick each petal off individually, whereas others decided that they could count them by sight. We recorded our results in a tally chart and found that some flowers had over 100 petals! We thought it was interesting that different types of roses had different numbers of petals. 

Hawthorn – We had a huge array of flowers in Hawthorn so started by talking about the differences between some of the flowers, the size, the scent and the shape.  We then discussed how we were going to count the petals and decided we would pull the petals off to count.  We were quite sad that we had to pull them off!  We counted the petals on different flowers with each group taking different flowers and created a tally chart to count the flowers.  We then added all of the tallies together to find out how many petals each flower had.  We were amazed that roses had over 100 petals but that the pansy had 6. We were also surprised that some larger flowers had less petals than some of the smaller flowers. We also talked about how many different colours of petal we had in the classroom and how the same flowers can have different coloured petals.

Juniper - We were surprised at the number of petals a small flower like daisy or ragwort had, in comparison to a larger flower like an iris. We counted the petals on different flowers and created tally charts in groups and then made the choice of recording the data in either a bar chart or a pictogram.

This investigation led us to look at the Italian mathematician, Fibonacci and his discovery of the Fibonacci sequence, or ‘Nature’s Code’ as it is sometimes referred to. Within the sequence 0,1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55,89 ……………we were able to recognise some petal numbers.

     Lily    3

     Buttercup, hypericum and gladioli      5

     Daisy      34 and 55 and even 89 sometimes

These Fibonacci numbers enable each flower to maximise the number of seeds it can grow so that the plant can reproduce and continue indefinitely. Juniper Class wondered whether the fact that flowers like daisies grow everywhere is down to the many petals and seeds they produce.

Willow - The children enjoyed taking the flowers apart and counting the petals. We discussed what constituted a flower/petal, looking at compound flowers and simple flowers. We then explored the relationship between some flowers and Fibonacci’s number.