At a recent SSERC course I was able to take part in a range of innovative practical activities that I hope to be able to integrate into our science and chemistry courses at St Margaret’s.
Practical activities included:
- a novel method for carrying out chromatography that can be used in biology (separating compounds found in plants) in chemistry (chemical analysis in the new National 5 course)
- etching zinc plates as a new way to demonstrate displacement reactions – this allows a possibility of creating cross-curricular links with art (using the plates for printing) or CDT (shaping the plate to make a product).
- ethanol rockets as a way of comparing energy from different fuels (this can be run in conjunction with physics to allow calculation of acceleration, velocity and average speed.)
- making and analysing a shampoo from herbs and natural oils
- extracting limonene and pectin from oranges and using the pith as an absorbent
- looking at the properties of hydrogels
- making ceramics
- making liquid crystal displays
