Get involved with Terrific Scientific!   

Terrific Scientific is a fantastic learning resource from the BBC which aims to involve pupils in a series of Science investigations that feed into real academic studies being carried out at universities across the UK. Aimed at 9-11 year olds, these investigations are fun, practical easily resourced and curriculum linked. They present a great opportunity for pupils to develop scientific skills and confidence in a purposeful context. The BBC uses some of the characters and presenters from well-known children’s television programme to help introduce each investigation. This really helps to motivate and engage the children from the start. The website is also packed with lots of extra resources to allow teachers to plan for additional activities and follow up work if they wish.

You can sign up to take part at any time and don’t have to take part in every investigation, just pick and choose the ones that will suit your children. Although the investigations are only ‘live’ for a limited time period you can still access all the materials and resources for previous investigations but pupils won’t be able to submit any data.

The current investigation is all about Power and pupils are challenged to find ways to save energy across the school.

Interested in taking part? Click on the link below to find out more.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/terrificscientific

Sample medium term planning based around using this resource – terrific scientific investigations planner

CfE Links:

SCN 0-07a – 2-07a

SCN 2-08b

Lesson ideas for teaching air resistance using eggs and bin bag parachutes:

Gravity and Air Resistance lesson plan

Click on the links for a variety of different experiment/ investigation ideas to teach floating and sinking, and forces (particularly air resistance/ friction/ thrust)

Make-a-Balloon-Rocket

Rocket-Mice-Template

Rocket-Mice – 

Make-a-Paperclip-Float – experiment plan for floating and sinking

Sample medium term planning for this unit (early and first level but can be easily adapted for second level) – SciencePlannerForcesP1-4Aug2017

CfE links:

• Through exploring properties and sources of materials, I can choose appropriate materials to solve practical challenges. SCN 1-15a
• By contributing to investigations into familiar changes in substances to produce other substances, I can describe how their characteristics have changed. SCN 2-15a
• I have collaborated in activities which safely demonstrate simple chemical reactions using everyday chemicals. I can show an appreciation of a chemical reaction as being a change in which different materials are made. SCN 2-19a

SSERC Primary 60_1 – SSERC bulletin with loads of information/ health and safety advice for carrying out experiments in this topic

CO2_instructions – experiment ideas for reactions (making bath fizzers and lava lamps)

Dissolving (investigation plan for teaching pupils how to design fair tests) – Dissolving-Investigation-Plan, Dissolving-Investigation-conclusion

Recognising the differences between physical and chemical changes – Physical-or-Chemical-changes-

Inheritance is a topic that was highlighted in our survey of teachers as an area where some additional teaching ideas may be helpful. There is a concern, when discussing inheritance, that it may highlight issues in class (adoption etc) if human inheritance is discussed, particularly at primary level. In order to minimise this concern, having your class make ‘ree-bops’   (play-doh ‘animals’ who have inherited genes from their ‘parents’) is an engaging way to teach the topic. Attached are links for introducing the topic of inheritance, assessing knowledge, games and ree-bop instructions.

Reebops-Primary_46 – SSERC bulletein describing reebops in more detail (with pictures) for background information

Inheritance Lesson Ideas – some lesson ideas with CfE links

Inheritance_primary Reebop pedigree cards – cards for pupils to name their ree-bop and add genotype and phenotype data

Vocabulary_inheritance[2] – important vocabulary for children to learn in the topic

genetics_dominoes_2 – game of dominoes to reinforce concepts learned

parents and offspring – picture cards of parent animals and their offspring

Similarities and differences – worksheet to be used with parent and offspring pictures

True_F_NS_Primary – true and false statements about inheritance to assess understanding as well as prior knowledge

Class_data – worksheet to fill in for class continuous variation

Individual_data – worksheet to fill in for individual measurements (continuous variation)

Variation_discon – discrete traits tick list

The Bee Education Trust have produced a brilliant resource for teaching food chains and webs, with ideas, printables, games and curriculum links, as well as significant eco-schools links – bees_education_booklet

The children’s program ‘Deadly 60’ have produced an brilliant resource pack to teach for chains with loads of outdoor learning ideas and opportunities – livendeadly_teachers_pack-2

The use of owl pellets also provides excellent hands-on opportunities to investigate food chains, using keys, and with potential to then use numeracy skills to graph results (either as pictograms or bar graphs) of the animals the owl had eaten. Owl pellets must be responsibly sourced (through the Barn Owl Trust) and care taken with hygiene and possible animal hair allergies in your class.

owl_pellets_bulletin – SSERC bulletin with lots of useful information and risk assessments

Facts_feathers

Facts_ears

Facts_eyes

Bank Voles – template cards for pictogram

Field Voles – template cards for pictogram

Mice – template cards for pictogram

Rats – template cards for pictogram

Shrews 1 – template cards for pictogram

Owl Pellets – teaching ideas

Mission X: Train Like an Astronaut is an international educational challenge focusing on fitness and nutrition to encourage pupils to “train like an astronaut”.

The World Health Organization has designated childhood obesity as one of the most serious public health challenges of the 21st century – and diet, physical activity, and health are the best answers to this largely preventable problem. Astronauts know the vital importance of physical training for mission success,  and the Train Like an Astronaut activities are designed to help pupils stay healthy through life.

Teams of pupils will learn principles of healthy eating and exercise, compete for points, and get excited about space and the educational possibilities for their own future. Pupils will practice scientific reasoning and teamwork while participating in hands-on training missions targeting strength, endurance, coordination, balance, spatial awareness, and more. Points can be uploaded on to the Mission X site.

MissionX_Overview_Flyer

Please Note – you need to register your class for Mission X through the link below. Mission X then send you resources to use in class.

http://trainlikeanastronaut.org

Electricity Resource Box – Oban, Lorn and the Isles

Planning on doing a block of science focusing on Electricity? OLI Schools now have access to an Electricity resource box, provided by SSERC, containing a variety of resources which can be used when covering the experiences and outcomes at First and Second level. The box contains eight sets of materials required to build a variety of simple circuits, materials for investigating conductors and insulators, laminated resource cards, a circuit pairs/ snap card game, a flystick wand for demonstrating static electricity and resources for an whole class activity designed to model the flow of electrons around an electrical circuit. (See video demonstration).

Copies of all the printed resources can also be downloaded using the links below. There are also some sample lesson plans and ideas for designing games involving circuits.

If you would like to borrow the box or would like further information on using the resources please contact us using the details below.

Gemma, Alison and Jenny.

OLI Science mentor team.

Contact details:

Alison Ralston, Lochnell Primary   alison.ralston@argyll-bute.gov.uk

Gemma Robertson, Dalmally Primary   gemma.robertson@argyll-bute.gov.uk

Jenny Love, Taynuilt Primary   Jennifer.love@taynuilt.argyll-bute.sch.uk