Think Physics, and Think Club members, had a great time at Maker Faire UK this weekend. As you may have seen from our blog, we’ve been creating and making things for Maker Faire for a few weeks.
Here are some of the creations from our wall of light boxes. There was an ever-changing parade of light sculptures on the wall, although some boxes lasted a little longer than others.
If you came along, can you spot your creation?
Think Physics had a great day at the Beacon Centre in North Shields for our very first pop-up shop, Sci-Pop.
Over 200 people attended our family science activities, and had a great time learning about sound by making ‘noisy lollies’, wind by making Think Physics windmills, and electricity by making their own light up circuit cards. We were also talking about body heat and taking infrared selfies, talking about engineering on our marble-bounce activity and getting up close with biology with our giant 3D bug pictures.
See what we got up to:
70 children and their grown-ups attended our Explore your Universe Family Show – a science spectacular from atoms to astrophysics. We learnt about the eclipse, plasma, how light travels, static electricity and how to make your hair stand on end. We even took a look at some meteorites which are 4.6 billion years old!
“I maybe would have liked science if it had been like this at school” Parent
Think Physics will be delivering Explore your Universe shows around the North East, so if you would like to request a show please email think.physics@northumbria.ac.uk.
We ran a drawing competition during the day, and asked entrants to design a planet that would be suitable for life. We had some amazing entries, which made it very difficult to narrow down our favourites. The winning entries are from Dylan, Madeline and Arenus. Each of you will receive a gyroscope.
Thanks to everyone who came along to Sci-pop. We hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks especially to the Beacon Centre for hosting us, and in helping create such a successful event.
The IET have just launched a lovely campaign called Engineer a Better World. There is also a great accompanying video which encourages children to remain curious and inquisitive. As the video plays, children are seen stopping and wondering about objects in the world around them. Although both boys and girls are shown, one of its key messages is that girls and boys can be engineers. It also highlights that 0nly 6% of engineers in the UK are female.
The video is focused on primary school aged children, which is a good idea. This is the age when we should be starting to share ideas about careers with children, and more importantly, parents.
I would also encourage you to read the accompanying report about the IET research into perceptions and understanding of engineering. Key points from the report are:
Fewer than half of parents of girls would encourage their children to consider a career in engineering, compared to two thirds of parents of boys. More than half of parents feel that engineering careers are more for boys, and children’s views are largely similar.
Two thirds of parents don’t feel they know enough to help their child if asked for advice on engineering – although the majority said they would like to know more after being shown additional information about careers in engineering and technology.
By involving parents earlier in the careers process they too can promote and feel more equipped to advise their children. If a parent thinks engineering is ‘just’ about fixing engines its understandable why they are not promoting these options to their daughters. If parents know about the many areas of engineering, the creativity and opportunities it can offer, they may be more inclined to encourage their daughters to become engineers.
Starting careers information and advice earlier allows children and parents more chance to find out about a wider variety of different careers. At the moment, these conversations occur at about the same time as young people are making choices about GCSEs and concentrating on exams (and their social life). Careers advice should be a much more sustained process over years of careers discussions and practical investigations, with emphasis placed on the skills and attributes needed to be successful in different careers.
This video, and the campaign by the IET, is a step in the right direction.
Think Physics, in conjunction with Reading University, is hosting a free CPD session aimed at primary science teachers.
The session will take place on Tuesday 21 April 2015 from 16:30 until 18:30 in Think Lab at Northumbria University.
Light refreshments will be available from 16:00.
The session will be delivered by Chris Hatcher from the University of Reading.
Evolution and Inheritance will become part of the statutory Science Curriculum for Year 6 students from September 2015. This session will show you ways to bring these tricky concepts to life through hands-on investigations and activities. The team at Reading have developed lesson plans designed to maintain children’s enthusiasm and progress their understanding of evolution while working scientifically. Many of these resources are free to access on their website, and additional resources will be provided in the session. The session also addresses common concerns teachers have about teaching evolution in the classroom and will suggest ways to respond to children’s and parents’ questions.
For more information, please see the Primary Evolution Project, www.primaryevolution.com
http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/primary-evolution-cpd-tickets-16086800052
Directions to Think Lab can be found here. We look forward to seeing you in April!
Although the Think Physics project is led by Northumbria University, it is a partnership between 10 different organisations.
This afternoon, I had the pleasure of spending time supporting teachers from one of our partners, North Tyneside Learning Trust. I was leading a session for primary school teachers about levers, pulleys and gears – which are in the new National Curriculum.
We sorted household objects, created three sorts of catapults, and played with pulleys. I suspect that I may have lost at least one pingpong ball in the classroom!
The materials from the session are available in here.
On Monday 2nd March the BBC published an article called All schools need trained careers teachers, says charity. The article reported on calls from Teach First that more needs to be done in schools relating to careers advice.
“All schools in England should have a teacher trained to give high-quality careers advice, particularly to poorer pupils… Without a fresh effort, careers advice in schools will remain ‘fragmented and ineffective’.”
Teach First.
Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan responded to the report saying that there were many schools and colleges doing “fantastic work” but there was also too much provision that was “patchy and in places inadequate.” She also mentioned that in many cases teachers did not have the time to dedicate to careers nor the training to deliver good careers advice. Ms Morgan then commented that the government’s new Careers and Enterprise company, announced late last year, would help schools to develop links with employers and improve pupils employability.
This reference to the new Careers and Enterprise company is interesting – it’s being sold as if it will make careers advice in schools magically better.
The new enterprise company sounds like a good idea, but as yet we don’t know much about it. With the best intentions in the world, employers still won’t be able to link to every child and young person. They do not really have the time to… they have businesses to run! Similarly, I don’t believe that a visit from one employer is going to create a school full of young people wanting to do whatever it is the company are encouraging pupils to consider. The Careers and Enterprise company may be part of a solution, but interventions and engagements need to be sustained and meaningful: there is not a quick fix.
Another part of the answer may lie in better training for schools and teachers, and a careers strategy from primary school age through to post-16 which lies at the heart of the national curriculum. I think careers advice needs to be central, embedded and expected in most lessons. It should become second nature to teachers, providing meaning and context for what is being learnt.
You have a maths lesson, with no idea why you are learning certain topics; would it not be better to show how maths, and the skills you are developing, apply and will support you in the future? Engineering, accountancy, hairdressing, plumbing or sport, all require a mathematical understanding. Would this not help pupils better understand why they are learning something and how they can apply it, as well as introducing the many different careers out there?
For me, this is one of the problems with careers education, that we do not make enough use of careers examples within our lessons. Yes some teachers do, but not consistently and there is no guidance or expectation that teachers should make careers links consistently.
My personal opinion is that careers advice should be incorporated in the majority of lessons, not bolted on or exclusively discussed in citizenship and similar lessons. Teachers should be able to go to a website for example for this information, carry out regular personal CPD, and easily find role models/employers they can use to clearly highlight careers links from their lesson topics. These should be included in lessons, and examples and challenges set around them.
Currently career guidance is compulsory from Year 8. This is too late. Some young people are fully aware of what they want to study, and have a career in mind by 13 years of age, but the majority don’t have a clue! Also, how can you have high aspirations if you are not aware of the careers available to you?
We should be introducing pupils to careers earlier to inform the choices they need to make from year 9. Whole schools need to take some ownership of their role within careers advice, rather than leaving one person to deal with careers and progression (a problem shared, is a problem halved as they say)! If not, we may keep witnessing the year 11 head or teacher with careers responsibilities firefighting a situation which could be much more easily and effectively dealt with earlier on.
This whole school approach is backed by the research carried out by ASPIRES (2013) which suggested that STEM careers advice should be embedded within science lessons, as well as much earlier interventions relating to STEM careers information in primary school. Otherwise, we risk secondary careers information, advice and guidance being ‘too little, too late’.
Today is World Book Day. Across the country, schools will be celebrating books and reading. Here at Think Physics we’re very keen to encourage reading too.
For our primary work with younger children, we’ve been looking for fiction books which feature science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM). And if possible, a strong female main character. We’ve found a few. We’ve saved them onto a pinterest board for you to have a look at.
At secondary, we’d also like to be able to share fiction books which feature STEM with a strong female main character. It’s a bit harder to do though. For strong female main characters, there is of course, The Hunger Games trilogy with Katniss Everdene, but they’re not really STEM related. I also find that, as an adult, some of the themes in young adult fiction are really gruesome or disturbing. I’m not sure why that doesn’t seem to bother my children, but it doesn’t. There are some young adult books which have a link to STEM, but in general, it’s far less central to the story. There’s a useful list of books on the School Library Journal website, which gives some examples.
Finally, if you want to have a read of non-fiction popular science books, then have a browse through the shelves of the Science Teaching Library, curated by Alex Weatherall. There are some great books on there suitable for the general reader.
If you have any recommendations, please do let us know.
Have you ever wondered how to stop the ice cubes in your drink melting? In this investigation you will use materials from around your home to discover which help to slow down ice melting.
Have you ever wondered which way the wind is blowing? Use an empty plastic bottle, some carrier bags, and a piece of string to discover more about the wind.
During this investigation you will discover which paper shapes can hold the most books on top of them before they collapse. All you need is paper, a ruler, a pencil and some sticky tape and you are ready to start.
Using “Room on a Broom” by Julia Donaldson as inspiration, this activity uses a coat hanger, string, containers such as yogurt pots and some of your small toys to investigate how we can get objects to balance on a beam.
Discover how to create shadows using a toilet roll tube, a torch, some cling film and materials such as paper, stickers or foil.
In this quick activity, you’ll create floating paper flowers. The folded petals of your flowers will open up and your flower will bloom when placed in water.
Make paper fish which tumble gently to the ground, using scissors and scrap paper.
Sorry, no posts matched your criteria
