Primary teachers from Sheffield had a great time recently at a drop-in session organised by Sarah. They had chance to try out lots of fun practical activities that they could easily do back in class.
'Informative and useful to see a use of simple resources that can be used across the curriculum' Mark
‘Thank you for the activities, they will be really useful. I enjoyed your workshop, it was good doing something hands on rather than sitting and listening.’ Julie
Last week's ASE Annual Conference was great place to be. Our stand was constantly busy with delegates wanting to make jumping beans and rollers, dipping candles and puzzling out how the 'magic' bottle worked.
One teacher from the Netherlands later contacted us to say he is now making just such a bottle.
Don't worry - Sarah isn't shooting the delegate above but demonstrating a very interesting optical illusion which forms part of our Street Science show.
And our two talks about practical activities in the primary classroom were well-attended too.
Come along and have a go at some of our activities. This week we're at the ASE Annual Conference on stand C17 (easy to find - it's the colourful one!) and will have loads of things for you to try, and some things for you to make and take away with you.
We're also giving two talks on practical classroom science activities.
Hope to see you there!
Pupils at John Burns Primary School in London had an explosive morning of chemistry recently.
They worked out how to mix and separate solids without touching the components, and how solids and gasses can be mixed with liquids and separated again.
Then speed, dexterity and teamwork were essential for accurate and safe working. Thermometers, syringes and timers were used in quick succession, and many sections of Vitamin C tablets in 10ml of water released enough carbon dioxide to blow the lids off dozens of pill pots.
And all before lunch!
Families gasped, cheered, asked questions and gave answers during our science shows at Cork City Hall. Approximately 1000 people enjoyed our shows over four performances, being challenged to think how the tricks worked.
One parent said, "This show was not just for the kids, the adults really enjoyed it and learnt a lot as well."
Another parent said, "I’m going to try that at home."
Over the past week, 300 children in primary schools in Ellesmere Port and the surrounding area had an exciting and fun-filled workshop. Working in teams of two or three, the children had a series of problems to solve all concerned with separating mixtures or sorting things out.
The picture shows one team from St Mary of the Angels Catholic Primary School using an indicator to sort out unknown substances into acid, alkali or neutral. They had already made extensive observations to see how they differed visually.
Other challenges involved: separating a dry mixture of salt/lentils/pasta without using their fingers; chromatography; centrifuging. And all done in just 90 minutes!
Every year, many schools in the local area get this workshop provided free of charge thanks to sponsorship from Urenco plc.
And the response?
"Best science lesson ever!"
"Thank you for a really informative and practical afternoon which really engaged the children."
120 primary pupils each day are investigating solar cells in our workshop at this year's Milton Keynes "Chemistry at Work" event.
Everyone has the chance to make and investigate a solar-powered fan. The cold weather has deterred no one from being outside to find out how to make their own fans turn as fast as possible. They are amazed to see their fans work even under cloud cover!
The most popular activity is when they link up more than one cell to see just how much faster they can make their fans whizz round.
Find out more about this annual event at ChemistryinAction.com.
Sphere Science provided practical activities at the Nugen’s Bright Sparks energy event on 29 September in Cumbria.
About 120 Y11 students from local schools took part in our practical challenges.
We ran six quick challenges:
· design a wind turbine power
· build the tallest straw towers
· make the slowest marble run
· investigate solar energy
· make and investigate a balloon-powered car
· make and investigate elastic band rollers
The winning tower held the marble at a height of 1.86m, the slowest marble down the plastic board took 15.96 seconds and one group lifted 75 weights (nearly 400g) with their model wind turbine.
Balloon buggies and rollers were taken home by enthusiastic visitors to try again and modify later.
New from September 2016!!!
If you booked a full-price Workshop Day during the last academic year you are entitled to a discount of 10% on a Workshop Day this year.
If you booked a SPLATS project during the last academic year you are entitled to a discount of 10% on a SPLATS project this year.
If you recommend us to another school which goes on to confirm a booking you will be entitled to a discounted workshop day during the year.
Over the past fortnight, we have been part of a residential experience for Swedish primary children from Linkoping. Over six days, at Cobham Hall in Kent, twelve different classes all designed and investigated balloon-powered buggies, experimented with colour-mixing to make multi-coloured candles, created fair tests to discover which fruits contained the most Vitamin C, and explored the science of photovoltaic cells.
They all had a great time and proved to be very good at ever hands-on activity. All the children were able to improve their English skills while developing their abilities in thinking and working scientifically.
The legacy of Arrhenius, Linnaeus and Nobel is in good hands!
Sarah attended the Buckinghamshire Big Bang event this week. At her stand, visitors had chance to make jumping beans or hoopsters. Pupils were constantly at the stand having fun finding out about these items. Some of their comments:
‘That surface makes my jumping bean slide not jump'
'It feels like it’s alive….’
‘The hoopster with misaligned hoops spun as it flew.’
Sarah visited a London school this week to deliver our popular 'Street Science' show as a year assembly. A variety of 'tricks' enabled her to engage the children in discussing how the tricks worked and the science behind them.
One teacher said, "The children have really been enthused by the workshops! Several children in my class came in with rotating straws and with very in depth explanations of how some of the tricks worked."
We were delighted to be involved with a residential experience for Swedish primary children at Cobham Hall in Kent. Over three days, six different classes all designed and investigated balloon-powered buggies, experimented with colour-mixing to make multi-coloured candles, created fair tests to discover which fruits contained the most Vitamin C, and explored the science of photovoltaic cells.
They all had a great time and proved to be very good at all the activities.
The legacy of Angstrom, Celsius and Linnaeus is in safe hands!
Last week, Sarah ran a series of our ever-popular "Buggies" workshops at the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port. About 750 children all had chance to design, build, investigate and keep their own balloon-powered buggy.
They all had a great time!
"I liked it that I could make something that worked."
"It was amazingly brilliant!"
On Saturday, despite the traditional British weather of sleet, we had a great time at this science festival. Children and parents designed their own investigations at our stand - for example, finding out about jumping beans. We were busy non-stop!
Last Friday we had a great day in Brighton providing a series of hands-on activities for families who visited us at the Synergy Centre. And nearly 300 did so.
Everyone had chance to make and investigate: a jumping bean, a hoopster, a chatterbox (see photo), a rain stick and a multi-coloured candle. There was so much to see and do. One family was amazed to learn that not all scientists wear white coats and goggles!
Alongside that there was the Family Challenge: how tall a structure can you make out of thirty straws that will hold a marble? The winners managed 2.07m.
And if all that hadn't been enough, Sarah was providing sessions of our "Street Science" show throughout the day.
We will be there! Come along to the Synergy Centre (78, West Street) next Friday to find out more about our "Science for Winter Afternoons" - and you can even dip a candle!
We're open 10:30 to 4:30 but the earlier you get there, the more time you'll have to do things. There are loads of hands-on activities for all the family.
Tickets (on the door) are just £4 per person or £15 for a group of four.
See you there!
We had a great time at this event in Ormskirk last week. Our stand featured a lot of our favourite activities including jumping beans, rollers and hipsters. There were very many visitors keen to have a go and to make something to ask away with them. So many, in fact, that we needed the support of a team of very keen student teachers to be able to cope!
Yes, we're all having fun this week at the ASE's Annual Conference in Birmingham. Already we've seen far more people than usual at both our stand (C40) and our talks, helping to inspire more teachers with fun ways to teach practical science - as you can see here.
Martin spent last week touring schools in the Lowestoft area providing a workshop on the theme of stars and space.
In each of five different schools, Y5 and Y6 classes had chance to find out about phases of the moon, constellations, the solar system and even how current research is discovering more about supernovas.
The "Space" workshop is one of the many primary workshops on offer - see the primary workshop page for more details.