Let YouTube help you teach Science #12 Christmas Edition

In the Christmas Edition of my "Let YouTube help you teach Science" series I would like to recommend a few easy to set up experiments which you can do with your children or nephews. All tried and tested and they work really well.

Merry Christmas!

Karolina 

Spectroscopy in a suitcase

If you are based in the UK or Ireland, I highly recommend checking out Spectroscopy in a Suitcase workshop from the Royal Society of Chemistry. It´s an excellent opportunity for the students to use a spectrometer and learn more about its use.

You can ask for the workshop to be tailored to your students´needs and abilities. I had sessions with my very able Y9 pupils as well as A level students.

I wish you great lessons!

Karolina

Water density

A few years ago I came across an article in the Catalyst magazine called "Water in the oceans". Apart from discussing whether or not salty water in the oceans would mix, it had a simple experiment which explored water density.

Start with two cups of water. In one, make a saturated solution salt solution and add food colouring of your choice. To the second cup of water just add different food colouring. Once done, try mixing the two together and you will get two distinctive layers.

This is a great experiment to use in a lesson on density. Super easy and cheap to prepare.

I wish you great lessons!

Karolina

Let YouTube help you teach Science #11

What can you teach with this seemingly useless equipment?

Surface tension of water is one of the options. How? Have a look at the video:

This easy to prep experiment is great to merge fun and learning. Click here to read more about the science behind this activity.

I wish you great lessons!

Karolina 

Chemical magic

If you need to run an open evening and showcase your department it´s good to have a selection of experiments and demos that will leave the audience speechless. I have already discussed the classic ammonium dichromate volcano (click here) and today I would like to share some chemical magic. This simple to set up experiment when paired up with a bit of acting can easily surprise your audience as you turn water into wine:

Then wine into water:

and lastly water into milk:

I tested it in beakers but for your "official" demo I suggest following the instructions and use wine glasses and a glass milk bottle.

If not used as a demo, you could use it in your lessons to discuss phenolphthalein as a narrow range indicator. Furthermore, it could be used in precipitation reactions lesson.

I wish you great lessons!

Karolina

Electrolysis

I really like to teach my students how to use less reagents (click here to see my precipitation reactions worksheet). Microscale chemistry offers a great way to do so. While doing Teaching Practical Science: Chemistry course from the National STEM Learning Centre, I learnt an easy way to conduct electrolysis using less reagents. The set-up includes using a Petri dish:

Petri dish contains sodium chloride solution and universal indicator

Once the electricity is flowing through the circuit, the changes are easy to observe almost immediately:

The same set-up can be used to conduct electrolysis of copper (II) sulfate solution:

An alternative to the graphite electrodes are ordinary pencils sharpened at both ends. 

Click here to get the worksheet for this experiment.

I wish you great lessons!

Karolina

Let YouTube help you teach Science #10

Throwback to the 80s with the Classification Rap song! I absolutely love to use this video in revision lessons. Added bonus: it´s really hilarious to hear the students humming the song during tests!

Which topic/s could you use this video with?
- AQA - 4.6.4 Classification of living organisms
- Edexcel - Topic 4: Natural selection and genetic modification
- OCR - B5.2b describe the impact of developments in biology on classification systems

Key words: class, classification, family, genus, kingdom, order, phylum, species, taxonomy

I wish you great lessons!

Karolina

NHM Crime Scene Live

If you are a fan of CSI shows and you happen to be based in London, you should check out this amazing event at the Natural History Museum:

Crime Scene Live allows you to become a CSI investigator, analyse evidence and solve a crime. You get a chance to work with experienced crime fighters who will teach you about fingerprinting and forensic entomology. It´s a great way to get inspired to do something similar with your students.

I wish you great lessons!

Karolina

Quality CPD you can access anywhere

CPD - Continuing Professional Development - is an essential part of our profession. Being a teacher requires a lot of time and effort to go beyond any initial training. It often happens that schools may lack funding for CPD. To overcome this, I have been using FutureLearn website to find relevant for me courses:

FutureLearn is a convenient way of learning, regardless of your location. While on a course, you are able to work collaboratively with people from around the world. You are also supported by educators and professionals from universities and institutions. The courses are full of articles, videos and quizzes which make them engaging and interesting.

The courses are free but you also have an option to upgrade. This gives you an unlimited access to the course as well as a certificate of achievement (digital, printed and transcript).

I wish you great lessons!

Karolina

Let YouTube help you teach Science #9

Today I would like to recommend an outstanding YouTube channel called Freesciencelessons. It features a fantastic selection of videos linked directly to the exam papers. Here´s an example of one of their videos:

The channel offers a number of playlists for all sciences. The videos are short and use easy to understand language and good visuals.

I wish you great lessons!

Karolina

Stickers and stamps - teacher´s best friend

I always look for the ways of saving time. One of the things that worked really well for me are stickers and stamps. Below are some of the examples of what I use.

1. Personalised stickers as merits

Each school is going to have a different reward system but no matter where you teach, nothing beats a merit sticker. This small token of appreciation always puts a smile on a student´s face and motivates them to work harder.

2. Stickers for marking

I came across the idea of using stickers for marking when I found Mr Thornton Teach website. Greg Thornton is an outstanding history teacher and his website is full of amazing ideas and resources (share it with your history colleagues!). He has loads of history and humanities stickers. Inspired by his work I came up with a couple which worked really well for me:

3. Planner not signed

If you are a form tutor it´s a life saver in the mornings!

4. Homework not done

Another time saver: I started with using stickers but then my HOD suggested stamps specific to each science.

 

5. Verbal feedback given stamp

This stamp is so useful especially when you are observed or if there is a book check. It allows you to have a proof of the fact that you gave your students feedback. Furthermore it opens a dialogue between you and the student as it´s clearly seen in the book how the work was improved once the feedback was given.

The stamps and personalised stickers were ordered either on Ebay or Taobao. The marking stickers were printed on the address labels.

I wish you great lessons!

Karolina