I’ve blogged before about literacy across the curriculum and what worked for me. I recently spoke to Alison Thomas from Special Children Magazine about literacy across the curriculum. The attached article provides an insight into what I’ve done in my own school, and how a mainstream school has built on my work with their own pupils.
Times are hard. With resources being diverted to save front line staff, money to pay for chemicals and practical activities may be reduced. I’ve come across reduced scale chemistry before (at ASE events) but was impressed by this video from CLEAPSS that I decided to give it a go.
Like all good science teachers I had to try the experiment myself and I soon produced a small plug of soap with minimal effort (and measuring chemicals was simple and easy since they are both liquids and small quantities).
The final test of the technique was carrying out the practical with students. Students found the CLEAPSS method easy to follow and by the end of the lesson we had several samples of soap. The only problem was getting them out of the test tube since our rape seed oil based soap was very firm, but the students all got to experience making a useful chemical product (handy if you teach BTEC Level 1 Applied Science!).
I’ve tried micro-scale chemistry on courses before but this is the first time I’ve used it with students. Small quantities of liquid were easy to measure with syringes and pipettes, and having everything in one test tube reduced the opportunity for mistakes.
I’d be interested to hear from anyone else who has tried reduced scale chemistry with their groups and for which practical activities.
I’ve got a range of microscopes and you can’t argue that having a built in camera is convenient. The photo below was taken by a student in my own school who prepared his own slide of onion cells. He used a standard point and shoot camera and a couple of attempts was all it took to get this shot. There are still occasions where is desirable to have an integrated camera but capturing evidence of their own slides isn’t one of them.
Have a go at taking photos down a microscope yourself – it is deceptively easy!
A visitor to my site alerted me to the following graphic (available to download here). The figures on it serve as a useful reminder that we shape perceptions of what makes a scientist or engineer at an early age. What should we be doing to encourage more girls into STEM careers?
