Super Science at St Mary's

We went to St Mary's Birchall Catholic Primary school Wigan to help get their science week off with a bang!
Mrs Duffy had asked for something with the WOW effect so we took I Wasn't Expecting That one of our most popular shows.

We started the day with KS2 and made them all jump with the whoosh bottle followed by a lovely short session just for reception - lying on the floor chasing rainbows and playing pass the flashing duck!

Then we shared our show with KS1 who lifted the roof off trying to wake up the blue bottle experiment. Lots of excitement as Helen crated a flame cloud with powdered milk and then so much fun with the dry ice.

After lunch we went into year 1 to make bathbombs and then to year 4 to get up close to some dry ice.

A really great day and thank you to Ms Duffy for organising it all.

ASE Primary Science Teachmeet at Ness Gardens

I went to an ASE primary science teachmeet at Ness Gardens a couple of weeks ago organised by Anne Buckley and Kim Harvey where we were given a tour of the gardens including some behind the scenes places and the education rooms.

We were able to see the way Ness can be used to teach Living Things and their Habitats, Evolution and Inheritance and more.

Rose Froud ( rfroud@liverpool.ac.uk) runs the education team in her enthusiastic and inspiring style. She talked about what Ness has to offer schools—from the youngest right through secondary and not just pond dipping!    We were able to see where  classes are held and the potting shed where meals can be eaten if the weather is poor.

I was fascinated to see how they are using the gardens to create a prehistoric trail using ancient plants and trees to guide you through the evolution of plants and grasses. They even plan to have dino footprints to mark the trail.

There is an emphasis on sustainability especially in the vegetable garden where a variety of goodies were growing well.

No two days are the same at Ness with sessions often being tailor made or tweaked to suit what the school is studying.   The pond was definitely were all the action was with so many Minibeasts clearly to be seen and it was good to hear how well thought through safety is.

After a morning with one of the education team teachers have the afternoon to do whatever they choose—perhaps one of the seasonal trails or something designed at school that you have brought to do.

At £95 per class it is a great day out and will help you to tick  those 

curriculum boxes in a totally creative and enriching way.

https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/ness-gardens/learn-at-ness/school,visits/

If you are not a member of the ASE you might not know about their super Primary Science magazine which is free to members. Your school can join or you can be an individual member.

There are national events—the conference every January is quite sensational as far as CPD goes but there are also local events like the teachmeet and also regional conferences—we have been at the Manchester one a few time as speakers. You can find out more here https://www.ase.org.uk/

HAYDOCK HIGH SCHOOL COMMUNITY FAMILY EVENT

Last week we went to a super event at Haydock High School for year 7&8 pupils and their families.
It was held in the drama studio after the school day and we were thrilled when over 100 people came.

all set up and ready to go

The whole school science team supported us as did other members of staff.

We shared our show I Wasn't Expecting That! which is an extravaganza of colour changes, fire balls, bangs, pops and dry ice.

The audience was really enthusiastic so we had plenty of volunteers to help us.

rainbow test tubes - pH using household materials

a giant version of the freaky hand

 After a few chemistry surprises we shared some of our smart materials which everyone was interested in getting their hands on.

hydrochromic shower curatin

hydrochromic colour change umbrella

Soon it was time to turn out the lights and rope in a couple of teachers as human light switches - I think they liked it!

human light switches - teachers and a plasma ball

Then we heated everything up by creating a milk powder fire ball and our whoosh bottle.

The finale was dry ice all the way.
Spooky smoke, screaming spoons and crystal balls were followed by blowing up a member of the audience.

Then we trapped the dry ice in large canisters and popped off the lids with some very satisfying if unexpected bangs.
Great fun was had by all.
Thank you to the Science team for organising such a super evening.
There is a great write up on the school website at the moment - so we have reporduced it here

On the evening of Monday 29th April the hall was filled with students, parents and carers of Year 7 and 8 students. We were extremely pleased to welcome Sue and Helen from Science 2 U, a company that specialises in science shows that enthuse and excite both students and adults alike. The show, called ‘I wasn’t expecting that’, was based around many topics that are taught in Key Stage 3 Science. We were amazed to see colour changing solutions, smart material experiments, fireballs and many other amazing activities. Ms Dannan got a great shock when a tin of custard exploded, letting out a loud shriek. The show certain lived up to its name, even with staff! Finally we witnessed a range of demonstrations using dry ice which were cool, literally (-790C)!It was wonderful to see so many people enjoying the exciting science experiments, thankfully the school hall is still intact!!A big thank you to Science 2 U for putting on a great show.

Thank you to staff at the school for these great images

BRITISH SCIENCE WEEK PHOTO GALLERY

 March has been an amazing month for us.
We have been sharing our brand new show created for British Science Week around the North West.
An Amazing Journey has lots of dressing up and joining in as we explore the microscopic things that make us healthy.
Here are just a few images from some of the schools we have visited - thanks to everyone for making us so welcome and allowing us to share your pictures.
Thanks also to those schools where we have had such a good time but we can't share pictures.

Oxton Saint Saviours

Broadsquare

St Joseph's

St Winefride's

Cuddington

Birkenhead High School Academy

We have had such a great time sharing this show that we have decided to add it to our regular programme

A Magical Day of POTIONS

This week we were with our old friends from Summerhill Primary School Maghull for a day of shows and workshops themed around POTIONS.
The show is full of magical colour changes and dry ice fog.
Dressed in our magical science costumes we set the scene with rhyming instructions from the potions book:

a sleeping potion is in this flask

how shall we wake it I hear you ask!

a quick shake of the bottle turns the clear liquid bright pink!

These test tubes are filled with a liquid that's clear

add the green magic and watch colours appear

a rainbow of giant testubes coloured with universal indicator

And so the show continued with disappearing magic wand and black cat ( made from polystyrene and dunked into acetone) and an umbrella that changes colour when wet.
Then Helen created a huge fireball with milk powder and we set off the whoosh bottle.
The finale was all dry ice - cauldrons of fog, crystal ball bubbles and lids popping all over the place.

It went well.

We squeezed in a short hands on session with reception before we did it all again for KS1

In the afternoon we worked with year 3 and then year 4 letting them get up close with some of the colour change kit - heat sensitive paper and colour change straws and finally decked in gloves and safety glasses everyone got very close with the dry ice making banana smelling fog and blowing up some of the gloves with carbon dioxide gas.

a quick update: just look at the awe and wonder in the faces of these two young ladies

this is why we do our job

Valentine Science Ideas

There is just time left to organise some Valentine themed science for your classroom.
A quick browse of Pinterest brings up HUGE quantities of glitter slime, red hearts and love heart sweetie science so it is well worth having a look yourself.
Just a point in the US they call them conversation hearts and I think the recipe must be different to our love hearts which are made here in the UK by Swizzels
Here are just a couple of ideas I have found that are a little bit different.

The creative people who are Little Bins  have a great set of web pages with ideas for love themed science especially this very simple but effective oil and water experiment.

Using the fact that oil and water don't mix, beautiful art can be created with just a couple of ingredients

You will need to use baby oil to get that lovely clear effect and a couple of love themed colours .

The images tell the story - well done to Little Bins  for a great idea.

You can find more of their ideas here: https://littlebinsforlittlehands.com

                                          

Inspiration Laboratories have a brilliant site with lots of ideas that are just a little bit different but you will also be able to find your favourites there too.

For Valentine's day they have collected lots of ideas which you can find here:

https://inspirationlaboratories.com/valentines-day-science-experiments-activities/

I like their  idea of using heat sensitive paper to make bookmarks. There are a couple of suppliers in the UK that sell it. Obviously the pink one works well but our pack also had blue which turns white when warm, green which goes yellow and purple which goes pink. So something for everyone

And finally from The Best Ideas for Kids a brilliantly simple love themed take on our own Art on a Plate.    Using full fat milk, a heart shaped cake tin, red food colouring, a little washing up liquid and a cotton bud. 

Pour a small amount of milk into the cake tin and add a few drops of colour. Then touch the surface with the cotton bud dipped in the washing up liquid and watch the results. Amazing and well worth getting the video camera out.

 here is the link to the Best Ideas website for more ideas

https://www.thebestideasforkids.com/valentine-science-experiments/

Have fun and enjoy Valentines Day!

BRITISH SCIENCE WEEK ACTIVITY PACK REVIEW - SECONDARY

Whether or not you are joining in with British Science Week next March you can still download and use their 2019 activity packs to add extra hands on in your classroom.

The theme for 2019 is Journeys and as the Channel Tunnel is celebrating 25 years of being operational there are science and engineering ideas using that theme in every pack.
The Primary and Secondary packs have ideas for assemblies and all packs have a range of activities covering all aspects of science and abilities. 

In the secondary pack I quite iked the wind up car which is a starting point for a range of D&T activities.  This activity is taken from Robert Winston’s new book, Science Lab, and during it pupils learn how to use energy to move a vehicle by building a wind-up car. The aim is to discover that energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be transferred.

this is a very simple car design but can lead to a whole range of much more complex designs or can be used for other experiments that need a simple vehicle

Of all the pack I think my favourite has to be the Journey to the Afterlife—an exploration of   mummification.

The mummification process involved removing all the internal organs, packing the body with natron (a type of salt) to soak up all the moisture, and coating the remains in resin to prevent decomposition. Finally, the body was completely wrapped in linen bandages. After some research on the process your students will be ready to mummify their own body.

For a handy body students use an orange, scoop out the insides through a very small slit and stuff with kitchen paper. The paper is replaced as it gets soggy so that eventually the inside of the orange is dry. They then have to make their own spices mix and a version of natron using salt and bicarbonate of soda.  The orange is then wrapped up mummy style and left somewhere warm and dry.

You can find the packs here: https://www.britishscienceweek.org/plan-your-activities/activity-packs/