Science2U
Exciting science in the North West and North Wales
The Science Spot April 2017
HELLO everyone and welcome to our April newsletter. I
know some of you are actually on spring break now and
some are still working and will be on holiday over the more
SUE HALLIDAY
traditional Easter break. So whatever you are up to we hope
your break will be restful and set you up for the busy summer term
HELEN ROSS
Have a Go!
When I worked in the States I not only discovered Steve Spangler but also
PEEPS which are marshmallow chicks and rabbits especially popular at Easter.
These cute critters can be wonderfully abused with a
few simple pieces of equipment!
Steve uses a vacuum packer—which I don’t have although in
some secondary schools I am sure you will have a way to create a
vacuum. However I do have a wine saver pump which does just
as well!
Here is the link to how to be cruel to your peeps. You have been
warned!
https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/growing-marshmallows/
If you enjoy Steve’s antics he has a page with plenty of Easter related science fun ideas to try here:
https://www.stevespanglerscience.com/lab/experiments/easter-science/
Website of the Month
We have bumped into these guys a few times recently
usually in a school where the rich smell of something good
being cooked is wafting down the corridor! Michaela has a
great grounding in education and her ideas take food technology into a whole
new realm. Anglo Saxon feasts, wartime menus, festival cookery and after
school clubs. Their sessions can be themed around so many areas of the
curriculum and the stress of running a food technology session is all taken care
of! Have a look at the website especially the gallery to see what they can offer.
Sadly you can’t smell the creations!
http://www.appleofmyeyeeducation.co.uk
All the website links were viable at the time of writing
A bit of fun
Sometimes you just want to have a go at something for fun so here are a couple of ideas
Are all liquids the same? Of course not so how about trying to
freeze a variety of liquids to see which freezes first. You could
replace the Ranch dressing with any dressing with a high fat
content—mayo will work and the chocolate syrup with anything with
a high sugar content. If you want to be a bit more adventurous you
could try a range of seemingly similar liquids to see how they freeze:
all the same colour, fizzy drinks, different juices, salty, sweet , fizzy
and plain water. Full fat against low fat liquids. Sugar Vs sweetener.
How our body digests food. We were in a school a couple of weeks ago where they had done this
experiment. They were so full of the experience bursting with information about what they did and how it
mimicked their body and why they had used the different materials. Gross, messy and fun—what more do
you need! You’ll never look at a banana the same way!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7av19YhNkhE
Decorating Eggs—here is another way to decorate eggs producing
vibrant results with minimal mess.
Dot paper towels with food colouring and lightly spray with a mix of
water and vinegar.
Wrap the eggs up in the towels and place into a plastic bag and tie
up tightly
Leave for a few hours or overnight—the longer you leave them the
brighter the colours.
Lemon Volcano—part of the BBC’s Terrific Scientific webpages. A
new twist on vinegar and bicarbonate experiments this time using a
lemon. We loved watching the “famous families” try the experiment
and how competitive some dads can be!. There is also a how to
video plus activity sheet and all the serious stuff
you’d expect from the BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/
guides/zgc4msg
This is also where you will find other famous folk
from the TV making bottle rockets. Always worth a
laugh……..!
What have we been up to?
We had an amazing time for British Science Week. Our discount offer was really popular and we were booked solid. We
delivered 10 shows and 14 workshops and made over 400 bath bombs which is quite a record for us.
Every school had a great time—one school even booked us for two days running so that every pupil in KS2 could take
part in a workshop. We had to run them in the school sports hall in larger than normal groups to get everyone in but by
the end about 220 pupils had been able to get up close and personal with some of our gadgets and gizmos and to
make a bath bomb.
A more normal day at a primary school is two shows and two workshops!
We do have some photos that we can share although not from every school for CP reasons. We also have some video
clips of one of the shows.
We have posted a blog all about our adventures with the video embedded so if you want to see us go here:
https://sueskimo.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/out-other-side-review-of-science-week.html
In the meantime here are just a few images from our BSW17
FLORENCE MELLY
COMMUNITY
PRIMARY SCHOOL
VICTORIA RD
RUNCORN
After Easter we will be launching our Meet the
SUMMERHILL
Team twilight event where schools host a
PRIMARY
session for teachers in their cluster so we can
MAGHULL
make ourselves known. We already have two
schools signed up. See our website for more
information about how to get involved.
Finally for now, we are going to be working with
Reaching Wider Partnerships in schools in North
East Wales in an extended project where we go
into school for 5 weeks working with a particular
class or year group. This is very exciting and if
all goes well may be the start of something
bigger!
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and read our blog http://sueskimo.blogspot.co.uk/