CATCH UP TIME!

Now that the school Easter holiday is here I have time to catch up on what we have been up to over the past few weeks.
We had an amazing day at Ellesmere Port Boat museum as part of  BOOST's STEM event.
Amazingly we didn't drop anything into the water as we made our way across the cobbles and over the lock bridges to the rooms we were using - thank goodness for the trolley but note to self - must buy bungees to stop things slipping!!

Throughout the day we worked with groups of about 30 primary aged pupils, looking at Supermarket Science - our take on "do try this at home" type of science - 5 sessions in all.
We used our latest gizmos to inspire ideas, showing lots of mini experiments to have a go at - and everything can be bought from the supermarket!

The highlight was making their own bath bomb mini muffin to take home although I quite liked my heart shaped versions!

Then it was a very busy day at DaresburySIC with MerseySTEM and secondary school pupils.

Again 5 sessions back to back as Helen and I explained what a Day in the Life of a Science presenter is really like!
Stars of this event were without doubt our amazing jelly marbles which swell to about 30 times their original size and seem to disappear in water.

Colour changing straws which are great but we had to keep in the fridge because the room was so warm!

Bath bombs featured here too and a mass slime making fest!

So now we have two weeks of school holiday to make sure we are ready for the summer term, having done a mini mail drop and following up on possible bookings we should have a good few weeks.
watch this space!

Get A Move On!

A big shout out for everyone at Parochial primary school Ashton under Lyne!!

Helen and I had a super day with pupils and staff starting off their celebrations for National Science and Engineering week. They have loads of great activities lined up with different classes exploring an experiment and then sharing it with the rest of the school in assembly.

Great conversations about the best way to do bicarbonate volcanoes, making lava lamps and much more!

It was a very early start for us and as ever the traffic on the M56/60 was heavy but we found the school very easily and were soon sorted, settled in and a coffee in hand!

First was a mini session with reception so we took our lovely wicker basket into one of the classrooms and explored moving toys. They gave our cuddly teddy a name - Lulu - she doesn't move but she is very soft and  after all "teddies don't need to do anything they are just there for hugging" - what a lovely quote!

After reception we did a turn in assembly and then it was onto the main shows.

Year 1 and 2 - huge fun with lots of giggles especially with the poppers and the space hopper - forces in action - good luck with your CD hovercrafts year 1!

After lunch it was the turn of year 3 and 4 who were amazed with Helen's air pressure demonstrations - I think there will be a few trying out the leaky bottle on friends and family!

Year 5 and 6 - the super scientists - and also extremely good at hoola hooping and the Tudor cup and ball game. I think their favourite was probably the air powered rocket which flew the whole length of the school hall. 

Year 6 were also impressed with the solar toys - I think there might be a project in the making there - perhaps an entry for the Global Adventure competition?

Finally we gave the staff a hands on session exploring Materials and hopefully some inspiration for future science lessons. Hope the lava lamp goes well!

Have a great science week guys and hopefully we will see you all again!

Toys are us!

Having a wondeful time creating a new show for National Science and Engineering Week in March.
The theme this year is MOTION which gives huge scope so to make a show that we can keep running after the event I have come up with something all about forces but using toys to explain.
It isn't a unique thought - there has been a section in most curriculum topics about toys and forces but I am hoping that my take on it will be just that bit different.
I have started where most other teachers would start with Bruegal's wonderful picture of children at play in 16th century.
click to see Bruegal's painting of children in16th century

I used this many years ago with a class of 11 year olds looking at how toys had changed over time. What was really interesting was that the toys had changed but the games hadn't - at least not for my class.
We observed our own school playground and saw a group of girls spinning on the spot, a rough and tumble (nice euphemism there!) some juggling, the modern equivalent of 5 stones ( jacks to me) and of course Chase.

My dad who is quite an accomplished wood worker made me some replica toys especially a cup and ball and a Lenten rattle ( can you imagine the racket that must have made - what fun)

So I am starting there - looking at Tudor toys, how they work - where is that off switch????
Then we will head off through Victorian toys, tin clockwork toys and the emergence of plastic through to today.
I have managed to acquire some wonderful resources on the way and as we look at how batteries changed the way we played with toys but also how alternative energy toys and gizmos are becoming more popular we will be thinking about the forces needed to make the toys work.
I will have to get a volunteer out for the  space hopper and probably the hoola hoop too!
Our first booking for this show is on 5th March - hopefully we will be able to get some images but none of me on a space hopper!!

Going LIVE!

WOW! how hard can it be?
This having your own company thing is not as easy as it looks!!
Actually I am having lots of fun but getting the nitty, gritty down tight is very time consuming. Things like a web site - I know a bit about this area from my previous life in Flintshire as an advisor for schools - we used to teach pupils how to create a simple web site. BUT creating a commercial one -with all the bits and bobs that you need for a business is a different ball game.
So after more time than I would have liked our website is actually LIVE with most of the pages up and running. There is more to do - sorting out T&Cs, giving enough info but not overloading, creating downloadable pages........
And of course the real job is creating the actual shows and workshops - I have 6 years of experience in doing that but starting from scratch is a mammoth task. At Catalyst I had a whole room of resources to inspire me!
So far I have four shows pretty much finished - at least they will be ready to go within a couple of weeks.
I have created 1 biology, 1 chemistry, 1 physics and 1 that is a mixture of all three!!
I didn't plan it that way - it just evolved: healthy humans, changing materials, forces and light/colour ( which is the mixed one - a bit of physics obviously, some biology in how our eyes work and I intend to do a bit of chemistry in flame testing and colour change reactions.) Plus some psychology too in thinking about how colours affect our mood - that is going some!!!!
For anyone interested - have a look at our website

www.science2u.co.uk

A super bit of news - when I worked at  Catalyst science centre I had a great team - Carrie-Anne Parkes an amazing historian turned scientist whose real passion was Egyptology but turned her hand to so much more and was the creator of wonderful resources. She has taken a post at Quarry Bank Mill with the National Trust in their education team. She is back in her beloved history - and is doing well! Good luck CAP!

The other member of the team was Helen - my right hand and the one who always had my back. She as over 4 years of experience in science presenting and many more in museums and galleries.

Helen Ross

I am thrilled to announce to my readers that Helen has decided to join me in this venture as the other half of Science2U.
This is great news because it is always more fun on the road if you are not on your own but also she is Ms Organised which anyone who actually knows me will tell you I really need.
With Helen on board we may actually get out there on time, with resources and at the right school!!
So welcome Helen  - now Science2U is really on the road.

Sharing the good news with student teachers

Went out yesterday to Manchester Met Uni. delivering two sessions to third year student teachers at the Science learning centre in Didsbury.

The day was a special event about being creative in the primary science curriculum and I had been asked to talk about hands on lesson ideas particularly the sort of thing I have done on the RSC North West Trust Primary Science DVD.

Helen Ross came with me and so armed to the teeth with all sorts of household containers, jugs, saucers and kitchen ingredients we set off to enthuse about science.

It was a good opportunity to show how simple kitchen ingredients can be used to open a lesson or set an interesting homework or even start off a project.

We showed them a couple of clips from the DVD but then Helen WOWed them with her ping pong ball on a milk bottle - her volunteer really didn't know what would happen so her amazement was truly genuine!

I demonstrated making a lava lamp with water,oil and a fizzy tablet and then showed how you can set a great project by finding liquids with different densities and layering up a cocktail.

The freaky hand - inflating a rubber glove with carbon dioxide produced by vinegar and bicarbonate of soda - went down really well.

Then we all had a go at "art on plate" - drops of food colouring into a saucer of milk and then touching the milk with a cotton bud dipped in washing up liquid and seeing what happens.

The exit poll reviews the students were asked to do were extremely complimentary.
You can find clips of the DVD on You Tube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrqhVHanagU
this one is art on a plate and I think there are about 20 or so clips.

I was reminded of a tutor I had at training college - a wonderful lady called Freda Davenport. She was an older woman who felt like our grandma - she was so friendly and nothing was too much trouble - it was only after a couple of years I found out she had more degrees than you could shake a stick at.

She was a mine of amazing ideas for student teachers about to go out into school who had been given some grotty subject to try to teach ( with no resources of course!). She also taught the science specialists practical science and Design Technology. I still have her notes - they were so good - and I used her ideas all through my teaching career and on into being at Catalyst.

A friend has commented that I have turned into her - what a compliment - because she was wonderful and I only wish that all student teachers could have someone like Freda - not just for the ideas but for the way she instilled us with confidence in our own ability without being a soft touch.

 I wonder where she is now??

Off we go.......

So here we go.. Science2U is officially up and running with a web site - OK so most of it is a building site - but at least it is there.Plus after much messing about I finally managed to sort out decent e-mail with re-routing, multiple e-mail boxes and so on. Sue@science2U.co.uk is where you can get me
You just take all this for granted when you work for a company where someone else organises it all.
The business cards have arrived and I have my first proper booking next Wednesday!
I have already been out but really that was a bit of a fraud because I was talking about Catalyst!
Amazingly I have had someone contact me from that conference - he probably wants me to buy something but at least I feel I exist.
So now I am being very creative and putting together a few shows - something about being healthy - a popular primary topic; probably something about motion because that is the theme of this year's national science week; hopefully something about changing materials because that is a favourite of mine plus  a secondary flash bang type show because that is what they want!

All I need are catchy names and lots of contacts....hmmmmm...better get the brain going then and stop procrastinating by doing my blog!

Went to the annual Association of Science Educators (ASE) conference last week. This is an opportunity for anyone involved in science education to get together. This year it was held in Liverpool University which was great for me because it is just a hop on a train away.
Lots going on including a marquee of exhibitors, seminars and workshops plus a really good programme of evening entertainment.
I had been asked to speak at a session by the Wellcome Trust so off I trotted yesterday, presentation in hand (having of course sent it in earlier but you never know and I always have a plan B!!)
It was a bit weird really because I was asked to talk about Catalyst and obviously I am not there anymore but as the expert on the subject it was logical for me to speak.
The session title was "Proving the unique value of informal learning"  a sharing of research findings so far into what the project is calling "informal learning". They mean anything that is not actually a taught classroom session - so it could be the sort of thing that science centres and museums do but equally it could be a TV programme, a science club, a STEM event..... 
The company organising  the actual research, GHK, explained what they were doing and then Iain Morley from MOSI and I gave case studies of how we approach informal learning.
Fascinating difference between us - Iain said that about 85% of their group visits do not engage with the education team - they come for free and do a self guided tour, picking up gallery guide explanations on the way.
Catalyst in contrast has about 98% of groups doing something with the education team and it is a rare thing for a school to not book anything.
In the audience were lots of other informal learning providers - National History Museum, Science Museum London, BP, numerous STEM contract holders from around the country and everyone said how hard it was to attract secondary schools - but of course Catalyst gets about 50% of school visits from secondary schools. So I was quizzed about how!
One obvious thing is that Catalyst offers chemistry linked activities and has built up a reputation of excellent teaching at secondary level - it is much easier for a non-specialist to teach a primary session. Plus the wonderful Discovery lab setting is very inspirational.
So a fascinating session which was very well received and hopefully the start of a link between the Wellcome Trust for both Catalyst and for me.