A day out in Chester

Science2U had a super day with Upton Heath CofE Primary school in Chester. 

The science co-ordinator Emma had very wisely decided to hold the school science week early - in other words outside the usual March dates for National Science and Engineering Week. She knows from experience that science presenters get booked up very quickly during those dates so her school were having their special science week in February.

All week scientists have been coming and going working with various classes doing hands on science.  Some of the classes have been out to experience science learning outside the classroom. 

Then on Thursday it was our turn to bring exciting science to the whole school.

The theme for national Science and Engineering Week this year is Invention & Discovery and we have written a super new show for the event.

Starting from the premise that scientists are always asking questions we look at some quirky links between objects such as instant snow and astronauts......pirates and the rhinovirus........and we investigate modern materials and find out their use in our everyday lives.

Did you now that those hydrogel balls that we love and flower arrangers use are similar to those used to clean water conserve water in developing countries?

The show has the same basic content for all ages but the delivery differs to suit the audience - a bit more science vocabulary for some and lots science magic for others.

So polishing up our pirate ARRGGGHHs and fluffing up our big rhinovirus we spent the morning exploring the wonders of the scientific mind.

First the juniors and after break the infants - a quick clear away before lunch and then two sessions in the classroom with year 2.

These lucky children got very up close and personal with the instant snow, raced liquids, made paper change colour just by the heat of their hands and then we all made bath bombs to take home. 

Soon the year 2 classrooms and corridor were smelling wonderfully of bubble gum...the fragrance we use in our bath bombs.

The verdict from the children....awesome! From the teachers.....well they can't wait for their turn! We are back at the school for a staff cluster training session just after half term when they will be able to get their hands on the goodies!!

Tripping the light fantastic

What a wonderful job we have!
On Thursday we travelled to Parochial Primary School Ashton-u-Lyne to deliver our show Inside the Rainbow which is all about light and colour.

We couldn't believe that it is almost a year since we were first there but some of the children remembered us - which was great!
In two sessions the whole school including the nursery were able to experience one of our favourite shows.
Picture the scene - you enter the school hall which is in darkness and at the front you can see so many twinkling, spinning and colour changing lights - it is like a mini Blackpool!

The youngest ones were so excited but incredibly well behaved and sat through the whole show riveted - some were very brave and came out to help us.

Starting in the dark we explored natural and man made lights, looking at shadows on the way and experiencing all the colours of the rainbow with the wonderful rainbow glasses.

We were dressed in black with EL lighting which is very flexible and can be twisted into lots of shapes so we we were wearing it around us.

For the older ones we found out about the vocabulary used in light, we explored chemical colours, bio and chemi-luminescence and Helen showed off her super light sabre

We heard all about Helen's dog Monty who was given a lovely new ball for Christmas but it was red and as dogs don't see red very well we all decided that for his birthday she should buy him a blue and yellow one which he will be able to see really well!
The show finished with Helen illuminating hidden messages on the walls with a UV torch.

A very sensory experience for everyone and a super day for us all.

Creative Learning

We have been out and about sharing great science this week.

Our first stop was a Creative Curriculum day with 3rd Year student teachers at Manchester Metropolitan University on the Didsbury campus.

We arrived with enough time to set up and then go into the keynote speech by Daniel Waind, Advanced skills Teacher at Woodhey High school, Bury. His lively talk highlighted how teachers should give opportunities for creative learning within their class even if they don't feel creative themselves! This philosophy fits right in with us at Science2U as we are always encouraging our teachers to add a little creativity to their science through simple practicals and investigations.

After a quick coffee we led our first session with about 26 students who are about to go on teaching placement. They hadn't been into their schools so had no idea of what age they would be with or what was expected of them but were all anxious to include some good science hands on in their planning.
We shared lots of demonstrations with them using volunteers and then they all had the chance to have a go. We had taken colour changing straws, heat sensitive paper, the ever popular rainbow glasses and one of the favourites - art on a plate. 

                               click here to go to Youtube clip of art on a plate

Everyone was able to have a go at this amazing experiment and we all chatted about how it could be incorporated into lessons - there were some very creative ideas - ranging from carnival to super novas!

A quick break and it was time for take two - a second session - slightly smaller with a similar format to the first and due to the smaller group size a little more time to spend with students chatting about their needs for classroom science. It is a joy to be able to share my love of teaching with the next generation - good luck in school guys!

One Year On

I can't believe that it is a whole year since Helen and I left Catalyst to start our company Science2U.
It was another huge leap off the cliff  but WOW we have had a great year.
The anniversary of the formation of the company is in a few weeks so this blog is not a celebration yet but I have just updated the website with a slideshow of images from our pre-Christmas tour plus highlights of our year.
Visit the website for a peep www.science2u.co.uk

I really enjoyed the RI Christmas lectures over the holidays and was thrilled to see them using some of our demonstrations including using handwarmers to demonstrate changing state. I just wish we could have a handwarmer for everyone in the audience like they did!! Mind you we had over 200 watching at Sandbach which could create a problem when you want to recharge the handwarmers which we do by boiling them!!

The state of the month is also the time for publication of the newsletter. So again if you want a copy visit the website and either download from there or if you want to be on the mailing list leave an electronic contact address and we will make sure you always get a copy.

This month the theme is winter science which includes snow, ice and salt obviously but also catching a cold id de dose.....so to speak. I do hope you said that in character!!

We are off to Manchester Met. next week for a day of creative science with some super primary student teachers. They are about to go on teaching placement so we will be giving them lots of ideas to take with them. Hopefully we will have pictures to share too.

Christmas Science Extravaganza

The final leg of our Christmas science tour

So there we were on Friday of a super week of science. So far we had been in secondary schools but today we were off to St Thomas primary in Maghull.
For the Autumn term they had been studying electricity and light so as a final flourish to their term they had booked us for one of our  favourite shows Inside the Rainbow. The show explores light, how we power lights, colour and how we see so of course being so close to Christmas we took all our lights, lamps and even wore our fairy hairbands.

The school were in the middle of nativity performances so the hall was all set up for an audience and blacked out. We set up just in front of the stable and baby Jesus with angels in the background - not often you get to do that!
The first group to come to the hall was year 5 & 6 - so some serious science words in this show! We even discovered that dogs only see in blue and yellow so no use buying Monty that red ball, Helen!

During a short break we gathered the very youngest from reception to come for a special short session just for them - this was incredibly exciting and almost magical. One little girl was convinced we were fairies!

Then we had year 3 & 4 whose science knowledge was really great and their vocabulary brilliant

After lunch we had year 1 & 2 who thought the whole thing wonderful - one young man really wanted to get hold of some of the gadgets we had - and wondered if we had bought them from Blackpool!

We had about an hour left so spent a session doing hands on with year 5 who really loved being able to get up close to lots of our props and had a taster of next terms subject - materials.

The Cheshire Tour

WOW! We have had an amazing couple of weeks touring Cheshire and Merseyside delivering Christmas Science shows.

A frosty Tuesday morning bright and early we headed over to Sefton for a Chemistry at Work evet sponsored by the Royal Society of Chemistry and organised by MerseySTEM.

Numerous companies - STEM ambassadors - shared their work, science and for us gadgets and gizmos with groups of 14 and 15 year olds. We explained the role of science presenters and how we design our shows and share science concepts. But probably the favourite bit of our session - no freebies here - you make your own BATHBOMBS to take home!

The next day - a very foggy and extremely cold morning - at about 6.00 - we were off to Macclesfield  As the sun rose over the countryside we had an incredible view of frost covered trees and fields. When we arrived at the school it was so cold the gate locks were frozen! The hall hadn't really warmed up and the poor students were so cold from their journey to school that the volunteers couldn't change the colour of the thermochromic plastic straws! Still, we soon warmed them up and even the reluctant year 10 students soon joined in and began to volunteer. I think it was the dry ice bubbles and Helen's persuasiveness that did it.

Next stop - Crewe - Ruskin school with it's amazing Victorian school hall decorated for Christmas and looking like something from a Dickens tale. Unfortunately we were in the sport hall - we needed the fire alarms off - but we had a great audience all ready to join in, including the teachers!

Next day - is it Thursday? Up early again - we are off to Sandbach girls school - and what a welcome we received there. This time we were in the main hall up on the stage with over 200 girls all eager to enjoy themselves so certainly no reluctance to volunteer this time. The girls were great - they knew their science and we wowed them with our demonstrations especially the WHOOSH bottle which really did whoosh in the warm hall - almost destroying the Christmas decorations!! OOOPS!

After a quick coffee and mince pie - thank you very much - we were off again this time to Warrington Lysander school and a drama theatre with silver glitter backdrop and spotlights - we've always been a bit dramatic! The audience was younger this time - year 7 - so lots of the science was new to them and for some almost like magic.

All too quickly we were at the end of the day and making our way home.
Tomorrow would be totally different - a full day in a primary school... watch this space.........

Christmas Rush

Well what a surprise! There we were gearing down for the holidays so to speak - with 2 more bookings to do - when suddenly out of the blue we have 5 schools in the next week!

We are off on a grand tour of Cheshire next week - Macclesfield,  Crewe, Warrington and Sandbach. Topped and tailed by a day in Sefton and one in Maghull.

So I have just put the finishing touches to a seasonal secondary show based around chemical reactions. This is funded by the RSC so I have used our usual secondary show - I Wasn't Expecting That - dropped most of the biology and physics and boosted the chemistry plus added a few seasonal demonstrations and changed around colours to add a more Christmas feel - plus lots of instant snow!

The day in Maghull is at a primary school and will be more hands on in the classrooms so we will need to create some practicals for the really young ones - the older ones can make slime and bath bombs but I need to have a good think about what we do with reception - all good work towards our new session at the NW ASE conference next March!

We will also be going to MMU at Didsbury just after the Christmas holidays to work with student teachers on being creative with the science curriculum.

It's all go!!

So hopefully there will be pictures galore and a write up of our adventures -  watch this space.....