Here are two great links to demonstrate the relative size of objects, from an atom up to the universe!
Scale of the Universe lets you scroll from the entire universe, down to the Solar System, a human, and then even smaller, down to sub atomic particles. It’s a great way to visualise aspects of scale. You can see it here.
Similarly the Cell Size and Scale interactive from the Genetic Science Learning Centre, University of Utah, takes you from a coffee bean down to a carbon atom.
The Young Science Investigators (YSI): Project Kit is a free interactive Science resource for 7-11 year olds from the BP Educational Service. It invites pupils to become Young Science Investigators, using the cartoon characters Beepy, Dev and Kate with a focus on science at work in the real world and scientific enquiry skills.
The kit is based around three curriculum topics : Electricity, Forces and Materials.
You need to register with the BP site to access it, but it’s free to do so.Find out more at : www.bp.com/bpes/ysiprojectkit
One of the benefits of using videos on an IWB in Science lessons is for those moments when you want to demonstrate something that is just too dangerous to do in the classroom.
This is particularly true when demostrating the reaction of Alkali Metals with water. You can demonstrate small pieces, but it’s a little dull. And when the kids ask “go on Sir, throw in a bigger bit” you still can’t use too big a bit for obvious safety reasons.
Which is why it’s good to then turn to a good video to demonstrate the reaction.
An old favourite of mine was from the TV show “Brainiac”:
But sadly this is actually a fake experiment. If you look carefully you can even see a wire going into one of the bathtubs which sets off the regular explosive.
So in steps the Mythbusters with their special way of carrying out proper scientific method.
They set out to debunk the the scenario in the Brainiac video and prove that it didn’t happen the way it was show. It’s a nice way of demonstrating how to actually test something you see on screen to see if it is actually real.
Their take on Alkali metals in water is in two parts. Here’s part one:
and here’s part 2:
Awesome stuff. I think I now have a new favourite Alkali Metal explosion video to show.
The ChemCollective is a digital library of online activities for chemistry teachers which aims to engage students in more authentic problem-solving activities than those found in most textbooks.
Their virtual lab will look slightly familiar to anyone who has ever used Crocodile Chemistry. The pane on the left provides a range of different chemical reagents, such as acids and bases of differing strengths.
The main work space provides an area where the students can perform different experiments. As they do so, the right-hand panel provides different representations of the contents of the selected solution, including information such as it’s temperature and pH, plus a list of chemical species with amounts shown as moles, grams, or molar concentrations.
You can choose how much of a chemical to add at a time – so for example you could add an acid to a base 5ml at a time, and see what happens to it’s pH after each step.
For the Virtual Chemistry Lab to work you will need to be able to use Java, so this may be an issue in some schools with very locked down systems. You can also download a version to run offline.
The ChemCollective website provides some comprehensive guides to the Chemistry Lab, and a whole load more resources for teaching chemistry.
As always, virtual simulations should not replace actually doing the experiments for real. But sometimes, for revision purposes, or for times when a lab is not available, being able to access these kind of online simulations can be very useful.
Here are some useful sites to supplement the work we did on Electricity yesterday.
Firstly – the Flash file with questions about circuits came from the Essex e-gfl site. You can see it here.
A battery with one bulb connected is your standard to compare things to. Electricity flows from one end of the battery to the other, flowing through the bulb as it goes, making the bulb light up.
Adding a second bulb in series will increase the total resistance in the circuit. The bulbs will be dimmer than the single bulb.
Adding a second bulb in parallel is a different situation. You have added a second pathway for the electricity to flow, The resistance is greater than a single bulb, but is is not as high as the two bulbs in parallel. The two bulbs will be brighter.
A “cars on the highway” analogy may help explain the distinction: think of a wide highway narrowing to a one-lane bridge to cross a river. Now imagine that in order to get rid of traffic jams, the highway department builds another one-lane bridge over the river. The “resistance” (in this case analogous to the width), of both bridges stays the same, but the amount of “current” or traffic that can cross the river has increased, so the overall “resistance” of the entire system has decreased. Taken from here.
In a series circuit, each bulb you add will make the brightness of the bulbs dimmer and dimmer
In a parallel circuit, the brightness of the bulbs does not change with the addition of more bulbs (but if you added many parallel circuits, eventually all of the bulbs would dim down as you approached the capacity of the battery)
Here are some more links that hopefully will help with teaching circuits
The free circuit builder Crocodile Elementary is now called Yenka Basic Circuits, and you can get it here. This will let you build circuits to your heart’s content!
For a quick 10 minute preview, that explains some aspects of circuits. Go to Furry Elephant, and choose series or parallel circuits. It literally only allows you 10 minutes though.
A good source of lesson ideas for all subjects (including materials) can be found at the Ictopus website. You need to register to download lessons, but it’s free to join.
