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Tag Archive for: science

Make a wormery

24 June, 2021/0 Comments/in STEM at Home/by Melanie Horan

Make your own wormery

Become a worm expert by observing worms over a week in your own worm home!

Overview


Making a wormery is a safe and simple way to observe and find out more about worms and what they are up to underneath the ground. All you need is an empty bottle, some soil and vegetable scraps and you are ready to go.


Printable version

This page will print, but looks a little funky. Click the button for a PDF version which looks a bit better.


Before you start



Younger children might like to listen to this “Yucky Worms” story by Vivian French. It tells us all about worms and why they are so important in our garden habitats.

Older children might be interested in watching this NUSTEM Encounter with environmental scientist, Miranda Prendergast-Miller. She tells us about the reasons why she became an environmental scientist and why worms are her favourite soil organism.


What to do



Step 1



Remove the top from your bottle to make a lid. Do this by squashing the bottle flat at about ¼ of the way from the top. Cut across your bottle here.


Step 2



Cut 2 small (4cm) slits upwards at opposite sides of your bottle. This will make sure your lid fits on your wormery.


Step 3



Scoop up some of your soil with your trowel or a plastic container and put it in the base of your bottle. Add a very small amount of water so that the soil is damp. A water spray is perfect for this.

Worms breathe through their skin so everything in your wormery must be damp. If the soil is too dry, the worms can’t breathe!


Step 4



Scoop up the same amount of sand, compost or worm food and add this to your bottle. Add a small amount of water so that the layer is damp.


Step 5



Continue adding alternating scoops of soil, sand, compost or worm food until your bottle is about ¾ full. Remember to add water to each layer to keep the wormery moist for your worms.


Step 6



Now find your worms! You could look in a compost heap, under stones or logs or you could dig in the earth.

Make sure you handle the worms with great care. Their skin is very delicate, so put them in your wormery as soon as possible so they don’t dry out.


Step 7



Add some worm food to the top of your wormery, on top of your worms. Slide the top part of your bottle over your base.


Step 8



Wrap your black card or paper around your wormery and secure it with tape. Worms don’t like light. Put your wormery in a warm place. You can remove the card to observe the worms.


  • Make sure you wash your hands after building your wormery and handling worms.
  • Regularly check that the worms have food and that the soil is moist.
  • Return your worms to the place you got them from after a week.


Things to do

Observe your worms

Check your worms regularly and record where they are in the bottle.

You could investigate:

  • Where do worms prefer to be in the wormery? Do they like sand, soil or worm food layers best?
  • Do the worms mix up the layers or soil, sand, compost and worm food?
  • Do the worms drag the food down from the top into the soil?

You could record your observations by drawing or taking photographs of the worms in your wormery each time you check it.



Things to do

Make a worm fact file

Research worms on the internet or in books. Choose the facts that you find the most interesting and informative. You could include:

  • scientific name
  • physical description (size, colour, shape)
  • distribution (where they are found in the world)
  • habitat (environment they live in)
  • diet (what and how they eat)
  • social behaviour (how they live)
  • lifespan (how long they live)
  • number of young (how many babies they have)
  • drawings or photographs of worms


Other things to try



Investigate the best ways to collect worms


Try each of these methods and count how many worms you find with each. Which do you predict will produce the most worms?

Worm hunt: look under rocks and stones, under dead wood or leaves or try digging in the soil.

Stamping: stamp your feet in one place on the grass or soil for 5 to 10 minutes. Worms are supposed to be attracted to the surface by vibrations.

Twanging: put a garden fork into the grass and rock it backwards and forwards until the worms appear. How long did it take them to come to the surface?


Soaking: soak an area of ground with water and cover it with a black plastic bag. Water fills the worm’s burrows and they come to the surface.

You could make a graph to show which was the most successful method.



Which worms do I have?



Here is a useful worm identification guide to help you find out which worms you have:

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/research-centres-and-groups/opal/SOIL-4pp-chart.pdf


More STEM at Home


What you’ll need

  • An empty, rinsed 2 litre bottle
  • Scissors
  • Black or dark coloured paper or card (you could colour some in)
  • Tape
  • A trowel or empty container such as a yoghurt pot
  • Water – in a water spray bottle if you have one or in a watering can, jug or bottle if not
  • Soil from your garden
  • Something to make layers, such as child-safe play sand, compost or worm food (see below)
  • Worm food such as grated carrot, vegetable peelings or dead leaves
  • Worms!

Duration

20 minutes or so to make the wormery, a week to observe the worms.

Suitable for…

Age 3 and up.

Safety notes

You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:

  • Supervision: the bottle is difficult to cut and may result in sharp edges.
  • Spade, forks and other garden tools may have sharp edges and points.
  • Always wash your hands after touching soil and worms.
  • Check your sand to make sure it is safe for children to touch- play sand is great but builders sand and sharp sand is unwashed and may contain unwanted additives.

Worm safety notes

Worms are living creatures and need to be treated with care and respect!

  • Worms have delicate skin- please handle them with care!
  • Worms breathe through their skin and this needs to be moist- don’t let your worms dry out!
  • Worms can drown in too much water- take care to dampen not soak the layers in your wormery!
  • Make sure you wash your hands throughly with hot water and soap after making your wormery.
  • Don’t feed your worms onions or citrus fruit peel or waste. Worms don’t like these.
  • Always release your worms back to the place they came from after a week- they are not your lifelong pets!

Did you know?

The reason you see worms on the pavement when is it rain is because the rain floods their burrows. If they didn’t come to the surface then they would drown.


Careers link- environmental scientist

Attributes: passionate, creative, committed

Environmental scientists study the effects of human activities on the environment. They are passionate about preventing and solving environmental problems such as pollution. They collect and test soil or air samples to find the type, concentration and source of the pollution caused by industry or agriculture. Environmental scientists are committed to finding out whether contaminant sources will affect or harm habitats, individuals and communities. They are creative in the ways they find to manage, minimise or eliminate any negative impacts of the pollution.

Visit our environmental scientist page to try some more environmental science activities and find out more.



What does an environmental scientist do with worms?

Dr Miranda Prendergast-Miller says:

“I am an environmental scientist and I like to find out more about the world around us and how we are changing it. In particular, I study organisms that live in the soil below your feet. Earthworms are my favourite soil organism because there are different kinds and they are very important in making soil. The work I do helps farmers to grow our food in ways that encourages more earthworms and microbes to live in the soil and provide important nutrients to plants and animals. This means that farmers can look after the soil and use less fertiliser and chemicals. I also do experiments in the laboratory to check if plastic rubbish is changing the soil and organisms like earthworms that live underground.”


Do you want to know even more about worms?

Watch this questions and answers session with Dr Miranda Prendergast-Miller.

https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/20210513_080248-scaled.jpg 1920 2560 Melanie Horan https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo-banner.png Melanie Horan2021-06-24 08:48:022021-06-25 08:36:41Make a wormery

Paper Pillars

22 May, 2020/0 Comments/in STEM at Home/by Melanie Horan

Paper Pillars

Discover which paper shapes are the strongest

Overview


During this investigation you will discover which shape of paper tower can hold the most books before they collapse. All you need is paper, a ruler, a pencil and some sticky tape and you are ready to start.


Printable version

This page will print, but looks a little funky. Click the button for a PDF version which looks a bit better.


What to do


Step 1



Your investigation begins by making three paper pillars: a cylinder, a cuboid and a triangular prism.

To make your triangular prism, turn your paper width ways (landscape) and divide it into 3 with your ruler. If you are using A4 paper, this is about 10 cm per section.

Step 2



Now fold along the lines to make your triangular prism pillar.

Step 3



To make your cuboid pillar, turn a second piece of paper width ways (landscape). Fold the paper in half, then fold each half in to the centre.

To make your cylinder pillar you just need to stick the two short edges of your paper together.

Step 4



The tricky bit is sticking your shapes together.

Put one of the short edges of your paper flat on the table or surface you are using. Cut a piece of sellotape and stick it along the short edge of your paper, so it is half on, half off, as shown in the photograph.

Smooth the down the tape on the paper. Try not to stick it to the table!

Step 5



Turn the paper over so that the sticky side of the is upwards. Put the other short edge of the paper on top of the sticky taped edge, matching the corners and edge together, as if you were folding the page in half.

Don’t push down!

Instead, carefully fold the sticky tape over the edge to stick the two short sides of the paper together.

Step 6



Time for testing!

Which pillar do you predict will hold the most books?

Put your first paper pillar, upright in a space on a flat surface.

Very carefully, place one book (or whatever you are using as a weight) on top of your pillar. Make sure the pillar is right in the centre of the book.

Keep adding books until the pillar can no longer withstand the weight and collapses.

Step 7



Test all three of your paper pillars and see which one can hold the most books. You could record your results in a table like the one in the photograph.

Step 8



Try making some different shapes.

If you are using A4 paper the width is about 30 cm, so you could make a pentagonal prism by dividing your page into five sections of 6 cm, a hexagonal prism by making six sections of 5 cm or a decagonal prism with 10 sections of 3 cm.

We made our octagonal prism by folding the paper in half, into quarters and each quarter in half again to make eighths. Test each one and record your results on your table.


Things to discuss

Time to look at your results table.

Which pillar held the most books? Which pillar held the least? Why do you think that is?

Does the number of corners (vertices) and faces make a difference? Do shapes with more vertices and faces hold more books?

Do odd numbers or even numbers of vertices and faces make any difference to the results?

Have you noticed any patterns of your own?


How it works

Your investigation was about creating the most support for your weight using the material available. Even though each of your paper pillars was made out the exactly the same material, you probably found that the cylinder was the strongest. This is because each point on the surface of a cylinder is an equal distance from it’s centre so the weight of the books, or load, can be equally spread through the pillar. With the cuboid and triangular prism pillars, some points (the folds) are further away from the centre and are areas of  weakness. Cylinders don’t have any folds, so they don’t have any points of weakness.


Other things to try

What happens when you test different size pillars?




What do you think will happen if you make your pillars taller or shorter?

If you are using A4 paper, turn it length ways (portrait) and repeat the experiment.

What happens if you make your pillars shorted? You could try cutting your paper in half and in quarters and repeating the investigation.

You can record your results in a table like the one in the photograph so you can compare them easily.

Do taller or shorter pillars hold more weight?

Did you spot any patterns in your results?


How high can you build using your pillars?




You may have noticed in buildings that two pillars or columns hold up a beam or lintel that supports the wall above.

You could now test how tall a structure you can build using your pillars as supports and your books as lintels.

Look back at your results and decide on the best shape and size pillar. This will be the one that held the most books. You will need to make quite a few pillars then start constructing!

How high did you get your structure?

How do you think you could improve your structure?

How could you make it more stable?


What else can you build?




You could try building different structures using your pillars and books.

Which was the tallest structure you built?

Which was the most stable?

Why do you think this is?

More STEM at Home


What you’ll need

  • Paper – 3 pieces the same size and thickness. We used A4 but you can use any size.
  • Sticky tape
  • Ruler
  • Pencil
  • Books – these need to be about the same size and weight. You could use other objects of the same size and weight for your testing, e.g. coins or cutlery (don’t use anything that will smash!)
  • Scissors (for the additional activities)

Duration

30 minutes or so.

Suitable for…

Age 4 and up, although younger children will need help and close supervision.

Safety notes

You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:

  • Supervision when using scissors
  • This activity causes the paper pillars to collapse. You will need to be in a large space on a surface that won’t be damaged by falling books or other items.
  • Children may require close supervision during the testing phase to avoid getting in the way of falling books/other items.

Careers link – Architect

Architects plan and design structures such as houses, schools, office buildings, stadiums and shopping centres. They may even plan and design outdoor spaces. Architects need to visit the site location so they can visualise what their structure will look like, then prepared scaled drawings for the person employing them. Architects need to take into consideration factors such as environmental impact, planning laws and disability access.

The skills and attributes you need to be an architect are imagination, observation and organisation.


Buildings with pillars in our local area

There are lots of examples of pillars or columns in architecture. Look carefully at the shapes of the columns on these structures. Why do you think the different shaped pillars have been used?

Can you find any examples in your local area? You may find them in your street or you may find examples in nature.


Theatre Royal



City Hall



Newcastle Central Station



Grey’s Monument



Tyne Bridges



Dunston Staithes


https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Pillar-tower-scaled.jpg 1920 2560 Melanie Horan https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo-banner.png Melanie Horan2020-05-22 14:46:272020-06-04 14:26:59Paper Pillars

Spinners

15 May, 2020/0 Comments/in STEM at Home/by Melanie Horan

Spinners

Create a spinning top and investigate how we see colour.

Overview


In this activity, you’ll make a spinning top from card and a short pencil. You’ll explore how your eyes see colour by spinning your top and recording what you can see.

All you need is some card, felt tips or crayons, a short pencil and some scissors.


Printable version

What you’ll need

  • Card- recycled card from a cereal box, old greetings card etc
  • A pencil – a short one works best
  • Felt tip pens, crayons, colouring pencils or paints
  • A small plate, CD or something circular to draw around
  • Sticky tack, plasticine or playdough – anything squishy that you can push a pencil into
  • Scissors
  • White paper if your colours won’t show up on card
  • Scrap paper to protect your table from pencil marks

Duration

20 minutes or so.

Suitable for…

Age 4 and up.

Safety notes

You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:

  • Supervision: the activity involves small parts, so there’s a choke hazard.
  • Take particular care when poking sharp pencils through card.
  • Watch small children with sharp scissors.


What to do


Step 1



First collect all of the equipment you will need for your spinners. If you are using cardboard boxes, open them up by cutting along an edge and flatten them out.

If the card you are using is not white, your colours won’t show up so you will also need a piece of white paper.

Step 2



Draw around your CD (or circular object) on your card. If you are using brown card, make another white paper circle using the same circular template.

If you’re using a CD, you can draw around the centre circle so that can find the middle of the spinner later.

Step 3



You now need to split your spinner into 8 sections. Fold the spinner in half, half and half again. It doesn’t need to be too accurate!  When you unfold the spinner again, you will have 8 sections.

Choose two primary colours (red, yellow or blue), and colour the spinner in to make a repeating pattern (like in the picture).

Step 4



You now need to make a small hole in the middle of the circle.  If you used a CD, then you can easily see where the middle is, but when you folded your spinner, all the folds should cross in the middle of the circle.

Put your sticky tack underneath the centre of your spinner and poke your pencil through the card into the sticky tack.

If you have a card and a paper disc, poke the pencil through them both at the same time so that the hole is in the same place.

Step 5



Now move your circle so that it is about 2 cm from the tip of the pencil. Wrap sticky tack around the pencil, underneath the disc.

This helps to make your spinner more stable, and keep the circle in place.

Step 6



At this point, you may want to put a piece of scrap paper on the table to protect it from pencil marks.

Hold the pencil at the very top and give it a spin.

If you only have a long pencil, keep your finger loosely around the pencil at the top to keep it spinning for longer.



Things to discuss


What happens to the two colours on the disc when you spin it?

Experiment making different discs. If you don’t have any card left, you can make the new disc on paper and put it on top of your cardboard one.

What do you predict will happen if you make a red and yellow pattern? How about a blue and red pattern?

What happens when you spin a disc that has all the colours of the rainbow?



How does it work?

The light we see is made up of the different colours of the spectrum, these are the colours of the rainbow. The colured pen on your spinner absorbs some of the colours of light, and reflects some back to us. So the blue section absorbs all the colours apart from the blue – which is reflected back for us to see.

When the spinner is moving, the colours are changing too quickly for you to see which colour you are looking at. This means that the colours appear to blend into each other.

When you used the pattern of two primary colours, you see this as a mixture of the colours, so a yellow and blue disc becomes green as it spins. When you spin a disc that is coloured with all of the colours of the rainbow, you see it as white.



Other things to try

Investigate colour and pattern

What happens if you use different colours on your spinner?

What happens if you use different patterns.

We have some CD sized Spinner Templates that you can print out.



Investigate the size of your spinner

What happens if you make the size of your disc bigger or smaller?

Which size disc spins for the longest?

You could measure the time using a kitchen timer, the timer on your phone, a clock or watch with a second hand or by counting one elephant…two elephants…

To make your test more accurate you could spin your spinners at least three times each, and make sure that you spin it in the same way each time so that it is a fair test. You could record your results in a table like ours.



Can you beat this spinner?

We found this spinner from a Christmas cracker in a drawer. Watch how long it spins for! Can you make a spinner that spinner than spins for longer than this?


More STEM at Home


What you’ll need

  • Card- recycled card from a cereal box, old greetings card etc
  • A pencil – a short one works best
  • Felt tip pens, crayons, colouring pencils or paints
  • A CD or something to draw a circle around
  • Sticky tack, plastercine or playdough – anything squishy that you can push a pencil into
  • Scissors
  • White paper if your colours won’t show up on card
  • Scrap paper to protect your table from pencil marks

Duration

20 minutes or so.

Suitable for…

Age 4 and up.

Safety notes

You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:

  • Supervision: the activity involves small parts, so there’s a choke hazard.
  • Take particular care when poking sharp pencils through card.
  • Watch small children with sharp scissors.

Careers link – Optical Engineer

Are you interested in light, colour and how we see? Maybe you could be an optical engineer. They research the science of light, and design devices that use light.  An optical engineer might design a laser, create fibre-optic communications systems, or machines to look inside the human eye.

Optical engineers need to be:
  • observant,
  • hard-working,
  • committed

Want to know how your eyes work?

Dr Chris and Dr Xand explain how you see in this episode of Operation Ouch.


https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Spin-the-spinner-scaled.jpg 1920 2560 Melanie Horan https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo-banner.png Melanie Horan2020-05-15 08:41:032020-07-06 14:12:41Spinners

Careers in Initial Teacher Education

11 May, 2020/0 Comments/in CPD/by Carol

Careers in Initial Teacher Education (CITE)

This page is now archived. Please see the main CITE project page for more details, updated links, and the evaluation report.

Main CITE Page

The Careers in Initial Teacher Education (CITE) Project was a collaborative project between NUSTEM and the North East Local Enterprise Partnership (NELEP) funded by the Careers and Enterprise Company.  The project ran during the 2019/20 academic year.

The project began working with ITT students who were undergoing placements in primary schools taking part in the NELEP Primary Benchmarks Pilot.  Once schools closed due to COVID, the project was moved online, and the training activities were opened out to teachers as well as students.

The online resources for the project are available on the NE Ambition Website

Following completion of the project, NUSTEM is working with schools and teachers to use the training materials to embed careers-related learning in primary schools.


For more information please contact nustem@northumbria.ac.uk

https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo-banner.png 0 0 Carol https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo-banner.png Carol2020-05-11 16:57:312021-09-14 12:14:22Careers in Initial Teacher Education

Shadow tubes

5 May, 2020/0 Comments/in STEM at Home/by Melanie Horan

Shadow tubes

Use objects and materials you have around your home to investigate shadows.

Overview


Discover how to create shadows using a toilet roll tube, a torch, some cling film and paper, stickers or foil.

This 15 minute activity includes a story for younger children and investigations for older children.


Printable version

This page will print, but looks a little funky. Click the button for a PDF version which looks a bit better. This is a stop-gap while we work on a better solution!

What you’ll need

  • A blank wall, door or cupboard to create your shadow on
  • Toilet or kitchen roll tube, or rolled up dark coloured paper or card
  • A torch – there will probably be one on your phone
  • Cling film, a clear plastic bag or clear plastic food wrapping
  • Paper, foil or foam shapes, pipe cleaners, buttons, stickers or anything else you can stick to the clingfilm to block the light
  • Glue, sticky tack or rolled up sticky tape

Duration

15 minutes or so.

Suitable for…

Age 3 and up.

Safety notes

You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:

  • Supervision: the activity involves small parts, so there’s a choke hazard.
  • Glue can damage carpets.


What to do


Step 1



The Black Rabbit by Phillipa Leathers is a story all about a Rabbit and its shadow.

It’s written for younger children, so if you have older children you may want to skip straight to Step 2!

The Black Rabbit is a great way to start talking about shadows.  After you have listened, you could ask:

What is the black rabbit?

Why does the black rabbit follow Rabbit?

Why can’t we see the black rabbit in the woods?

Why does the black rabbit scare the wolf?

How does the black rabbit become bigger and smaller?

Why is the black rabbit sometimes in front and sometimes behind Rabbit?

Step 2



Cut a square of clingfilm big enought to cover one end of the toilet roll tube.

Pull the clingfilm tightly across the top of the tube and secure it by wrapping it around the sides of the tube.

If you are using a plastic bag or wrapping, you’ll need to secure it using an elastic band or sticky tape.

Step 3



Step 3

Cut out some small shapes from your paper, foil or other material.

Then stick the shapes onto the clingfilm using a little bit of glue, sticky tack or sticky tape.

If you don’t have any glue, you can put the shapes onto the clingfilm and then add another layer of clingfilm over the top to hold them in place.

Step 4



Point your tube at a wall or door and shine a torch through the open end of your tube. You should see shadows made by the shapes on the end of the tube.

You could make a second shadow tube with different shapes.



Things to discuss

How did you make the shadows?

The light coming from your torch travels in straight lines until it reaches your wall. In your shadow tube, the light was blocked by the shapes you stuck on the end. Light could still pass around the edges of the shape through the clingfilm. This light travelled towards your wall and formed a shadow. Watch this BBC video to find out more.

You could investigate:

  • What happens if you move your torch and shadow tube closer to the wall?
  • What happens if you move your torch and shadow tube further away from the wall?
  • What happens if you move your torch further away from your shadow tube?



Other things to try

Coloured light


Instead of using clingfilm you could use coloured cellophane (like you find on some chocolates) on your shadow tubes.



Hand shadows


Have a go at making animal shadows using your hands!

This video is really easy to follow, all you need is a light source such as a torch, lamp or even the sun, your two hands and a wall to create your shadow on.



Shadow puppet theatres


Shadow puppets are a great way to tell stories. Watch this video about The Hungry Monster and then try making your own.

The easiest way to tell stories using shadow puppets it to project them onto your wall, like you did with the shadow tubes.

You could also make a shadow puppet theatre; this video from Cbeebies shows you how to make a simple shadow puppet theatre.

Don’t worry if you don’t have all the equipment, you could use cereal or other empty boxes. Just cut out the shape that you need and stick it onto a long stick such as straw, pen, pencil, kebab skewer or even a spoon.

More STEM at Home


What you’ll need

  • A blank wall, door or cupboard to create your shadow on
  • Toilet or kitchen roll tube, or rolled up dark coloured paper or card
  • A torch – there will probably be one on your phone
  • Cling film, a clear plastic bag or clear plastic food wrapping
  • Paper, foil or foam shapes, pipe cleaners, buttons, stickers or anything else you can stick to the clingfilm to block the light
  • Glue, sticky tack or sticky tape

Duration

15 minutes or so.

Suitable for…

Age 3 and up.

Safety notes

You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:

  • Supervision: the activity involves small parts, so there’s a choke hazard.
  • Glue can damage carpets.

Careers Link: Lighting Technician

Lighting Technicians are also known as Lighting Operators or Lighting Electricians and they usually specialise in film and TV, or theatre, concerts and live events. Their work can range from basic spotlighting to operating strobes, lasers and pyrotechnics. They may be the only lighting technician on a theatre production, or part of a large crew on a concert tour or feature film. Duties can include setting up the lighting equipment before a shoot starts, carrying out lighting tests, programming and operating manual and computer-controlled lighting systems, or taking down the equipment after shows or filming.

Attributes: patient, tenacious, collaborative


Dancing shadows

You might enjoy this music video called Shadows by Lindsay Stirling.

Watch what happens to her shadow during the song. How do you think she does this?


https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Stars-shadow.jpg 1600 1200 Melanie Horan https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo-banner.png Melanie Horan2020-05-05 08:44:472021-07-29 19:28:51Shadow tubes

Build a nest

14 April, 2020/0 Comments/in STEM at Home/by Melanie Horan

Build A Nest

Use materials you find around your house to build a nest to keep an egg safe.

Overview

Birds lay their eggs in lots of different places. Some lay them directly onto the ground or onto rocky cliffs, but lots of birds build nests to keep their eggs safe. You may have seen tiny nests in bushes, or huge nests in tall trees. Birds build nests from the different materials they find in their environments. During this activity you are going to watch a video of a bird building a nest, then see if you can build a nest using the materials you can find around your home.


Printable version

This page will print, but looks a little funky. Click the button for a PDF version which looks a bit better. This is a stop-gap while we work on a better solution!

What you’ll need

  • Eggs, or egg-shaped objects
  • A container to hold your nest in (a cardboard box or food container works well)
  • Nest building materials from around the house

Duration

40 minutes or more.

Suitable for…

Age 4 and up.

Safety notes

You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:

  • Supervision: the activity can involve small parts, so there’s a choke hazard.
  • Check that materials such as twigs, cocktail sticks and pencils don’t have sharp ends.
  • If you are using natural materials, make sure that you and your child wash your hands after the activity or before eating.

What to do


Step 1

Look at the photographs of different nests below (click or tap the pictures to make them bigger). Try to work out what they are made from. If you have time, this BBC website shows lots of different birds’ nests.

Then watch the film clip of a bird building a nest.



Step 2

Now you will need to find a pretend egg or something egg-sized, such as a stone or rolled up paper, and a container, box, bowl or tray to build your nest on or in.

Talk about the materials that would make a good nest. These might include shredded paper, cardboard and plastic bags, pencils, pens, straws, cocktail sticks, scraps of fabric or string.

Talk about the properties of each material and what it could be used for. Should  it be strong, stretchy, or maybe comfortable to sit on?


Step 3

Next, have a look around your home for your materials.

Be like a bird and collect a small amount of material at a time, and bring it back to your nest site. Birds have to make many trips back and forth to their nests, often carrying one twig or bit of fluff at once!


Step 4

Use your materials to try and build a nest that will be big enough and safe enough to hold your egg.

This is where you need to use your imagination and creativity to try things out for yourself. There are no instructions for birds to follow!


Step 5

Now you need to test your nest.

First try blowing on it. Does it hold together?

Now try putting your egg in in it. Has the nest fallen apart?

Finally, can you pick your nest up?

If your nest didn’t stay together, you could try to make it stronger by weaving the materials together to form a basket, or using a binding material like string or elastic bands to hold the pieces together.

Things to discuss


Which were the best materials for building your nest? What properties (light, heavy, flexible, sticky…) do they have that makes them useful?

Which materials didn’t work very well? Why do you think that is?

What could you do to improve your design?


Other things to try


Build an outdoor nest

If you have a garden or outdoor space at home, you could try to build an outdoor nest using natural materials such as twigs, grass, leaves, soil, stones or moss. Follow the steps above to create this nest, but this time use your natural materials.

You could then compare your indoor and outdoor nests.

Which nest passed the tests and is best? Which nest was the easiest to build? Which materials are the most useful for nest building?

Which birds can you see through your window?

The RSPB’s Birds to Look Out For page was intended for the Big School Bird Watch, and is a great resource for helping you identify the birds you’re most likely to see from your home.

More STEM at Home


What you’ll need

  • Eggs, or egg-shaped objects
  • A container to hold your nest in (a cardboard box or food container works well)
  • Nest building materials from around the house

Duration

40 minutes or more.

Suitable for…

Age 4 and up.

Safety notes

You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:

  • Supervision: the activity can involve small parts, so there’s a choke hazard.
  • Check that materials such as twigs, cocktail sticks and pencils don’t have sharp ends.
  • If you are using natural materials, make sure that you and your child wash your hands after the activity or before eating.


Careers Link- The Ornithologist

Ornithologists are a type of zoologist who study birds.  They observe physical appearance, behaviour, songs, flight and migration patterns of birds. They also work on the conservation of birds and their habitats.

Attributes: curious, self-motivated, patient



Identifying birds by their song

Be like an ornithologist by opening your windows and having a listen to birds singing. Watch this video to learn how to identify the songs of different birds.


https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Testing-the-nest-scaled.jpg 1920 2560 Melanie Horan https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo-banner.png Melanie Horan2020-04-14 09:14:162020-04-23 16:45:39Build a nest

Blowing bubbles using a straw

14 April, 2020/0 Comments/in STEM at Home/by Sonia Singh

Indoor Bubbles

Use things you can find in your kitchen to blow huge bubbles on your table!

Overview

We all love bubbles. This activity allows children to make their own bubble solution by following a few simple instructions. You need a couple of spoons, a cup, a straw (a tube from a pen or a Calpol syringe work too), warm water and a little sugar, along with some washing up liquid. The great thing about these bubbles is that they stay in one place so you can play indoors without making a mess!


Printable version

This page will print, but looks a little funky. Click the button for a PDF version which looks a bit better. This is a stop-gap while we work on a better solution!

What you’ll need

  • Two cups
  • A tablespoon and a teaspoon
  • Sugar (half a teaspoon)
  • Washing up liquid (about 1 teaspoon)
  • Warm water
  • A straw (a tube from a pen, Calpol syringe or rolled up paper will work too!)
  • Bin bag (this is to protect the table you are using)
  • A table

Duration

30 minutes or so.

Suitable for…

Age 4 and up.

Safety notes

You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:

  • Check the temperature of the water. It only needs to be warm enough to touch, no hotter.
  • Make sure all objects to be used as straws are very clean before they are put into mouths.
  • Don’t let children taste or drink the bubble mixture.
  • If any washing-up liquid gets into a child’s eye, rinse with water. Get the child to lie on their back near a sink or bath and gently pour cool water from a jug, or similar, over the open eye continuously for 10 minutes.
  • Children who are allergic or sensitive to soap or detergent products should not do these activities.
  • Ensure children wash their hands after the activity.

What to do

Step 1 – Making the bubble solution

Put 40mls of warm water in a cup – that’s about 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons.

Add 1 teaspoon of washing-up liquid, and stir gently.

Find a clean, flat surface to use – this could be a table, plastic mat or plate. If you’re using a table, lay out a plastic bin bag to protect it from the bubble mixture. If you’re outside, you might want to tape or weigh it down to make sure it doesn’t blow away.

Wet an area about 10 cm across by dipping your fingers into the bubble mixture and spreading it on to your surface. Then try blowing bubbles – see Step 2.

If your mixture doesn’t work, try adding half a teaspoon more washing up liquid to the mixture. You could also try dissolving ½ a teaspoon of sugar into your mixture.

The type of washing-up liquid also affects your bubbles: Fairy liquid is good, as are many supermarket own-brand products. But some brands just don’t work too well. If you’re out of luck with your washing-up liquid, try bubble bath if you have some.



Step 2 – Blowing bubbles

Dip one end of your straw or tube into the bubble solution so it’s completely coated.

Place the coated end of the straw or tube onto the bubble mixture on your surface. Blow gently into the other end of the straw to create a bubble.

Dip the straw back into the solution every time you want to blow another bubble.


Step 3 – Challenge step! Blow a double bubble

Dip the straw back into the bubble solution. You need to make sure that the bubble end is completely coated for this to work.

Aim for the centre of the first bubble and carefully push your straw inside. Gently blow a second bubble on the table surface, inside the first bubble.

Can you blow a third bubble inside the second bubble? How about a fourth bubble inside the third bubble?


How does it work?

Mixing washing-up liquid with water forms a solution. When you blow a bubble, air is trapped by a thin film of your bubble mixture. This film is made of a layer of water sandwiched between two layers of soap.

A bubble pops if the soapy outer skin is broken. This can happen as the water in the bubble evaporates, or if the bubble touches something dry or oily. It can also happen when the bubble becomes too big and there isn’t any more soap to create the sandwich layer. If your bubbles last a really long time, you might see the colours shift as the water drains around the sides of the bubble back onto the flat surface. Eventually, the bubble gets so thin you can barely see it – right before it pops by drying out!

Wetting the straw by dipping it in the bubble solution allows it to slide it into the bubble without popping. You can try doing the same with your fingers: can you poke your finger into your bubble without bursting it?


Things to talk about

  • What happens when you blow more than one bubble onto your table?
  • What happens if you blow more and more bubbles?
  • Why do you think bubbles join together?
  • Sometimes, a bubble that pops turns into a smaller bubble. What do you think might be happening?

Other things to try

Who can blow the biggest bubble?

Coat a small plastic ruler with bubble solution and slide it into the middle of your bubble to measure its height.

Do larger bubbles take longer to pop?

Use the timer on your phone, a clock with a second hand or count elephants (one elephant, two elephants, three elephants…) to measure the time it takes for each bubble to burst.

Which ingredients make the bubbles last longer?

Try using more soap, sugar or water in your mixture. Can you make a better bubble solution than us?

More STEM at Home


What you’ll need

  • Two cups
  • A tablespoon and a teaspoon
  • Sugar (half a teaspoon)
  • Washing up liquid (about 1 teaspoon)
  • Warm water
  • A straw (a tube from a pen, Calpol syringe or rolled up paper will work too!)
  • Bin bag (this is to protect the table you are using)
  • A table

Duration

30 minutes or so.

Suitable for…

Age 4 and up.

Safety notes

You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:

  • Check the temperature of the water. It only needs to be warm enough to touch, no hotter.
  • Make sure all objects to be used as straws are very clean before they are put into mouths.
  • Don’t let children taste or drink the bubble mixture.
  • If any washing-up liquid gets into a child’s eye, rinse with water. Get the child to lie on their back near a sink or bath and gently pour cool water from a jug, or similar, over the open eye continuously for 10 minutes.
  • Children who are allergic or sensitive to soap or detergent products should not do these activities.
  • Ensure children wash their hands after the activity.

Make your own bubble wands

If you want to use up your bubble mixture, you could blow some bubbles outside or even out of your window. There are lots of instructions around the web for making wands for giant bubbles using loops of string. We particularly liked this page from Rhubarb and Wren, who even have their own bubble mix page.

Blowing bubbles with no apparatus at all – make a loop with your fingers and blow through that!

https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/00100lrPORTRAIT_00100_BURST20200409130350674_COVER-scaled.jpg 2560 1920 Sonia Singh https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo-banner.png Sonia Singh2020-04-14 09:13:102020-04-15 10:37:20Blowing bubbles using a straw

Make Fish Tumblers

3 April, 2020/0 Comments/in STEM at Home/by Joe Shimwell

Fish Tumblers

Using scissors and scrap paper, you’ll build paper fish which gently tumble towards the ground.

Overview


We’ll use scrap paper, and scissors (you can tear the paper if you don’t have scissors) to make simple tumbling fish that fall gently to the ground when you drop them. Make big ones, small ones, fat ones, thin ones and see which tumble to the ground slowest.


Printable version

This page will print, but looks a little funky. Click the button for a PDF version which looks a bit better. This is a stop-gap while we work on a better solution!

What you’ll need

  • Scrap paper – junk mail leaflets work well
  • Scissors (if you don’t have them, you can tear it)

Duration

15 minutes or so.

Suitable for…

Age 5 and up.

Safety notes

You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:

  • Supervision: you might want to be in charge of the scissors.
  • Be careful if you are standing on a chair to drop your tumbler.

What to do


Step 1: build the tumbler

Get some scrap paper and scissors.

Cut a long thin rectangle. Draw two lines on the strip (shown in the picture). Snip the two lines, and then curl the paper around and connect the two snipped lines together.

The short video below shows more detail on how to make the tumbler.

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Step 2: Drop your Tumbler

Hold your tumbler high in the air and drop it. It should spin as it falls towards the ground. If you want an extra bit of height, try standing on a chair to drop it.

Step 3: Try different sized rectangles

It doesn’t take long to make another tumbler. Try:

  • A long thin rectangle
  • A short, fat rectangle
  • Different types of paper
  • Fish with short tails
  • Fish with long tails

To see which falls slowest, drop two at the same time to compare them.

Things to discuss


Use these questions to talk about what’s happening

  • How does the tumbler fall to the ground?
  • What movement does the tumbler make?
  • How could you  make a better tumbler?

Other things to try


These tumblers are quick and easy to make.

If you want to start experimenting you could video one falling and then watch it back in slow motion to get a better look at what’s happening.

Use the stopwatch on your phone to see how long the drops take and write your results down on a piece of paper.

More STEM at Home


What you’ll need

  • Scrap paper – junk mail leaflets work well
  • Scissors (if you don’t have them, you can tear it)

Duration

15 minutes or so.

Suitable for…

Age 5 and up.

Safety notes

You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:

  • Supervision: you might want to be in charge of the scissors.
  • Be careful if you are standing on a chair to drop your tumbler.

https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/IMG_20200402_153457-scaled.jpg 1920 2560 Joe Shimwell https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo-banner.png Joe Shimwell2020-04-03 13:09:592020-04-14 09:16:47Make Fish Tumblers

If I Built a House

31 March, 2020/0 Comments/in STEM at Home/by Joe Shimwell

If I Built A House

Listen to a story on YouTube and then create your own dream home from materials you can find in your house.

Overview

In this 20 minute activity, you and your child will listen to a story on YouTube about a boy who designs his dream home. Then you can use the story as inspiration to build your own house using materials you will already have at home. The activity takes about 20 minutes and is easy to set up. It’s suitable for ages 4 and up.

Printable version

This page will print, but looks a little funky. Click the button for a PDF version which looks a bit better. This is a stop-gap while we work on a better solution!


What you’ll need

  • Something to watch YouTube on
  • A variety of materials from around your house

Duration

20 minutes.

Suitable for…

Age 4 and up.

Safety notes

You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:

  • Supervision: the activity involves building things, so there’s a trip hazard.
  • If you’re using full tins, they might be a bit heavy if the house falls over.


What to do


Step 1: Watch the story together

Sit down and watch the story ‘If I Built a House’. If you can, find somewhere comfortable and watch it together.





Step 2: Talk about the story

Talk about the story. Ask:

  • What was your favourite room in the house in the story? Why did you like it?
  • What do you like about our house?
  • Would you like to build a house like ours or a house like the one in the story?

You could listen to the story again and pause the video to look more closely at all the different rooms.



Step 3: Create your own house

Decide on the materials you are going to build your house from. This will depend on what you have available, and how big you want it to be.

For a small house you could use:

  • Building blocks, Duplo, LEGO,  or other construction toys
  • Old greetings cards or playing cards
  • Play Doh, or modelling clay
  • Empty cardboard boxes, toilet or kitchen roll tubes, washed out yoghurt pots, margarine containers
  • Tins and boxes of food
  • Sticky tape, masking tape, pegs, blue tac to hold it together – or you could just balance it!

For a house you can get inside you can use:

  • Blankets, towels, sheets or duvet covers
  • Chairs, tables or bunk beds
  • Pegs or string to hold things in place
  • Large cardboard boxes
  • Washing baskets and clothes driers

If building  isn’t your thing, then you could draw your dream house instead.


A house built from tins and food packets.


An example blanket house from WikiHow.

Things to discuss


Once you’ve gathered your materials you can start to plan. You can ask:

  • What do you think we should build first?
  • What should we build it from?
  • What else will we need?
  • What else could we put in that room?
  • How can we stick that together?
  • Are there any more rooms we could build?
  • What else does a house need?

Other things to try


  • Drawing a picture of your house to add more detail
  • Drawing a plan of your house, labelling the different rooms
  • Building each room from different materials then joining them all together

More activities based on this story can be found on this page from Inventors of Tomorrow.

More STEM at Home


What you’ll need

  • Something to watch YouTube on
  • A variety of materials from around your house

Duration

20 minutes.

Suitable for…

Age 4 and up.

Safety notes

You know your children better than anyone, and you should judge whether they’re ready for this activity. You might want to think in particular about:

  • Supervision: the activity involves building things, so there’s a trip hazard.
  • If you’re using full tins, they might be a bit heavy if the house falls over.

https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/if-i-built-a-house.jpg 1200 1200 Joe Shimwell https://nustem.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/logo-banner.png Joe Shimwell2020-03-31 09:48:382020-04-14 09:22:14If I Built a House

Underneath the Ice

15 November, 2019/0 Comments/in Simple/by Melanie Horan

Underneath the Ice

Who wants to go to Antarctica?

During our online sessions you learned what it looks, sounds and feels like when you visit Antarctica. You found out about the Princess Elizabeth Research station, and about some of the work that scientists do there. Most importantly, you discovered what secrets may be lying underneath the ice!

Kate in Antarctica

Dr Kate Winter is one of the scientists from Northumbria University and she does her research in Antarctica. To find out more about Kate, her research and her adventures in the Antarctic, click here.



Teachers in the freezer

This video shows what happened to a group of teachers who went to Antarctica. Do you think they could cope with this extreme environment?

Ice cores


What are ice cores?

Glaciers form as layers of snow fall on top of each other. Over time, the buried snow is compressed by the weight of the snow above it, forming ice.  Bubbles of  air from the time the snow fell are trapped in the ice. Layers of ice build up over years, creating a record of the local temperature, the greenhouse gas concentrations and volcanic activity when the snow fell.

Ice cores are cylinders of ice drilled from glaciers, with the youngest ice at the top and the oldest ice at the bottom of the core. Scientists are able to use this to tell what the climate was like when the snow fell. By understanding how the climate has changed in the past, scientists are able to predict how the climate will change in the future.

Click here or watch the video on the left to find out a lot more about ice cores.

Do try this at home: home made ice cores

Fancy making your own ice core? Take a look at this fantastic instructional video made by one of the Year 6 pupils at Chopwell Primary School.

Do try this at home: melting ice

Speed it up 

You all enjoyed investigating ice cubes and ice cores today and discovered you could speed up melting by holding the ice in your hands. If you have an ice cube tray at home, fill it up, freeze it and continue experimenting.

How else can you speed up melting? Which room in your house does ice melt quickest in? What happens when you add salt to your ice? Remember to keep your ice in a cup or bowl to avoid puddles inside!

Slow it down

How can you stop the ice from melting? Can you cool your ice down, or protect it from the heat? Can you cover your cup or bowl in different materials such as paper or tinfoil to see if this makes a difference to melting speed?

More ice fun

Try freezing water balloons filled with water to create ice baubles. You can add different coloured food colouring to warm water and drip it on to create some great effects. Try adding salt now and watch what happens.

Fizzing ice

Try mixing some baking powder or bicarbonate of soda with water (about 3/4 powder to 1/4 of water). Put into ice cube trays, moulds or any spare plastic container you have handy, such as a cleaned yogurt pot. When frozen (overnight is best), tip out your ice onto a tray, washing up bowl or bucket. Add vinegar drop by drop and watch it fizz. What happens when you add more vinegar?

Antarctic Poetry

For inspiration in our workshops, we used a poem by a nationally recognised, award-winning poet, Katrina Porteous. Katrina is published by Bloodaxe books. Could you write another poem about the Antarctic, based on the scientific facts you have discovered?
Download Katrina’s poem Ice Cores here.

Poetry from our schools

Take a look at these amazing poems created by children in Year 5 and 6 in response to the Underneath the Ice workshop sessions.

Walbottle Village Primary Year 6 Poetry


Cheviot Primary Year 5 Poetry


Beech Hill Primary Year 5 Mr Wooton Poetry


Sea View Primary School Year 5 Poetry


Sea View Primary School Year 5 (Mr Brown) Poetry


New Delaval Primary School Year 5/6 Poetry


Beech Hill Primary Year 5 Mrs McDonough Poetry


Castletown Primary School Year 6 (Mr Davison) Poetry


Castletown Primary School Year 6 (Mrs Palmer) Poetry