This week, BBC One launches Bang Goes The Theory, a brand new series with a hands-on approach to science.
Presenters Jem Stansfield, Liz Bonnin, Dallas Campbell and Dr Yan Wong will pool their knowledge and curiosity to challenge the scientific principles that shape our world. It will include a series of experiments, one of which will see one of the show’s presenters, Dr Yan, being dramatically transported across a 2.5m void via magnetism: a method selected by the general public.
The series, co-produced with The Open University (OU), will be supported by free events and an interactive website. You too can do real science online and at home. It aims to bring all ages together with accessible science that encourages everyone to get their hands dirty. The Bang Goes The Theory blog, which is updated daily, will slowly establish the show — with a series of videos and exclusive pictures that follow the progress of the conception, testing, building and trialling of the contraption. A number of explanatory videos are already online.
Sounds like it could be a fun programme – a slight shame it’s going out right at the start of the school holidays so teachers can’t follow up on it immediately in the classroom.
Keep an eye on the show, and hopefully there will be clips you will be able to use after the Summer break which could be used to spark off exciting science investigations.
These resources are designed to make primary science teaching fun for everyone, including the teacher! They are easy to download and free to copy for use in the classroom. No special equipment or skills are required for any of the lesson plans or demonstrations. New stuff is added regularly.
Some great ideas here for whole lessons and teacher demonstrations.
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.
Another term starts and so I’d like to say a big Hello to a new group of Scitt students. I’m looking forward to helping you find out more about science teaching over the next 10 months or so.
Here are a few links that were mentioned during the session today:
The Diet Coke and Mentos experts are Eepy Bird and they can be found at: http://www.eepybird.com, and if you want to see the Mythbusters explore what is going on with the coke and the mentos (which we didn’t discuss today, but will do in day 3) then you can see the video here: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=kMXPOqovSBs
These chemists are saying that the primary cause is physical, not chemical. Their explanation: nucleation sites. If you have a liquid that is supersaturated with gas (like soda, which is pumped full of carbon dioxide), a nucleation site is a place where the gas is able to form bubbles. Nucleation sites can be scratches on a surface or specks of dust – anywhere that you have a high surface area in a very small volume. That’s where bubbles can form.
Mentos seem to be loaded with nucleation sites. In other words, there are so many microscopic nooks and crannies on the surface of a Mento that an incredible number of bubbles will form when you drop it in a bottle of soda. Since the Mentos are also heavy enough to sink, they react with the soda all the way to the bottom. The escaping bubbles quickly turn into a raging foam, and the pressure builds dramatically. Before you know it, you’ve got a big geyser happening!
If you want to do your own Diet Coke and Mentos experiment, then you will need some kind of mechanism to allow you to release the mentos into the Coke from a safe distance.
You could probably cobble something together yourself, but one thing that you can buy is the Geyser Tube, which is available from gadget stores such as Firebox for about a fiver.
Put the mentos in the tube, then pull the string and stand back. The pin will pull out and release the mints into the Coke.
Try this as part of a Sc1 investigation – test different brands of cola, types of fizzy drink etc.
