Special Needs Science

Testing for Oxygen and Carbon dioxide gas

rob — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 22:00:56 +0000

Year 7 groups learnt how to test for oxygen and carbon dioxide gas in preparation for testing some ice core samples next week. This video shows the tests for oxygen and carbon dioxide, and some of the properties of carbon dioxide.

Measuring the freezing point of water

pupils — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:10:52 +0000

We did an experiment to find out about freezing. We mixed ice with salt and put a test tube of water inside. We took the temperature every minute to find out what temperature water freezes at. We decided as a class that water freezes around zero degrees Celsius.

Making mucus!

rob — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:30:15 +0000

Making mucus. For the live and kicking module, year 8 students learnt the important of using artificial or ‘model’ mucus rather than real mucus. They planned and carried out an experiment to make mucus of the right consistency, planning a fair test and a suitable range of variables. Unfortunately our mucus (PVA & borax) wasn’t as gloopy as we would have liked, but a useful APP activity all the same.

Making pancakes (Wikid Science, Cook)

rob — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 15:32:00 +0000

We carried out fair test cookery – missing out the one of the ingredients for pancakes for each test. When we had analysed our results the students then predicted what would happen if they added bicarbonate of soda to their pancake mix.

This is our pancake with no egg in the mixture

This pancake had no flour in it.

The pancake below had no milk, just flour and eggs

These were American style pancakes. Can you see the bubbles?

Wikid Science – The Lungs

rob — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:22:00 +0000

We made model lungs from Adorable Wearables. This was the best example from the group. Students could name the parts of the lungs, point out where they would be located in the body and explain how they work. Well done class 2!

New Science lab for Beech Hill School

rob — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 12:54:00 +0000

It’s finally all finished. Our brand new Science lab is fully operational.

Low energy and filament light bulbs

rob — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:21:00 +0000

Year 10 pupils compared a filament light bulb and an equivalent low energy bulb (BTEC Science). After measuring the brightness and heat given off we compared the power consumption of each bulb. You can see a clear difference in the energy meter readings of the two bulbs.

Whoosh bottle in slow motion

rob — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 20:34:00 +0000

Y7 Wikid Science – Forensic Science.
We were carrying out a circus of experiments to investigate particle theory and the diffusion of gases. One of our favourites is the Whoosh bottle, and we saw clearly how the acetone vapour diffused throughout the bottle after we ignited it.
For your entertainment, this is the Whoosh bottle at 1/16th speed.

Whoosh bottle from Rob Butler on Vimeo.

Flesheaters

rob — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:32:00 +0000

Year 7 pupils had been solving a mystery death where a man had been found dead in a tunnel. A series of investigations ruled out varying causes of death, leaving us with cave slime and cave water being the main suspected causes of death.

The photograph shows a flesh sample that had 2 identical holes made in it. The left hole was filled with cave water, the right hole with cave slime. It is clear to see that the cave water has ‘eaten’ or digested the flesh. This means the cave water is the most likely cause of death. We passed a report back to the authorities who would need to investigate further.

Expanding our use of Google Apps in Science lessons next year

rob — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 23:01:00 +0000

After trying out Google apps we are hoping to expand its use across more of the science curriculum. We have now added the Postini message filtering system (meaning we can now send/receive internal emails and the occasional external email) and Google video.

We also hope to increase the collaborative work we do (for example collecting class data from multiple experiments) and expand this to include working with our partner mainstream school.

For information how to set up Postini email services see my personal blog post here.

You may also have noticed our new blog theme – a new fresh theme for a fresh academic year! I’m looking forward to expanding our use of ICT in science lessons over the coming year.