rocket scientist

"Miss, I wanna be an astronaut"

Hey, don't we all!  So, how do you reply when a student of average academic ability tells you of their lifetime goal, their dream for the future?  To become a doctor, professional footballer, rocket scientist...?  However unrealistic it may seem to us as teachers or parents, a dream is a dream, without dreams we are nothing, so without question most teachers encourage their students to pursue their personal goal(s) and bring it as close to reality as is possible.  Although I will add that I feel it is so important to open our students eyes to the range of options available to them, so that they don't set themselves up for failure.

For those budding astronauts, NASA offers a number of scholarships open to students from all around the world, local observatories give students the opportunity to catch a glimpse of outer space and students can make the most of hands on activities and learn from displays at the space exploration section of most Science Museums.  For those millionaires amongst us, (that'll rule out the teachers then), good ol' Sir Richard Branson has made a trip into space a possible reality through his Virgin Galactic Space program. It'll set you back.$200,000 (US).  If I win lotto, I'll be online and have my flight booked in a tick.

There are a huge number of reference sites to learn about the planets, I'll start with this mnemonic.

My 

Very 

Easy 

Method 

Just 

Speeds 

Up 

Naming 

Planets 

(although given that now Pluto is no longer a planet, this mnemonic is out of date but no doubt, 

your students can think up a mnemonic of their own for the 8 planets)

and I recommend this simple overview of the solar system from CELS at Nottingham Trent University and this very cool 3D viewer from ForgeFX which also has a brief bit of info on the planets and one that I suggest to students for their own research is A multimedia tour of the Solar System.  As mentioned already, there are many more...the NASA site is obviously a good starting point.

If you like the look of the screenshot above then definitely be sure to view the Earth (or the moon) from different perspectives using this superb, truly excellent Earth and Moon viewer has been compiled by John Walker using information provided from satellites and a number of other sources.  It ranks in my top ten of favourite urls, no doubt about it!

Have you got a sense of humour? Then have a laugh at this video clip with "proof" that the Moon landings in 1969 were faked.

Moving swiftly on... we have just passed the 41st anniversary of the first moon landing.  July 20th 1969 was the momentous day as can be seen from this post 1969 edited version of a copy of The Times newspaper. 

and here is a powerpoint that I put together on the moon landings with evidence for and against them being a fictitious Hollywood movie.

And some useful moon related resources, some of which will lend themselves well to collaborative learning experiences for your students.

and there's more...

Science concept cartoons open up more possibilities for creative, collaborative learning, leave your students  in groups to discuss and debate their thoughts and ideas using the concept cartoons as a focal point, available from Amazon here

and this fabulous computer animated video clip of the Rover landing on Mars, produced by NASA, no surprises there!

and an excellent resource document "To Mars and beyond" which was put together by School Program Officers at the National Museum of Australia and The Melbourne Museum.

Astronomy is such a fun topic to teach, although I rarely find that I "teach" it as such but my students come up with questions which inevitably lead to more questions that they discuss and research by themselves individually or in groups. Exploration and knowledge of "what's out there" is akin to finding a black hole and being unable to escape as a result of the pull it has on you and the endless myriad of questions that develop.

image from http://jila.colorado.edu/~ajsh/insidebh/intro.html

creativity is crucial

"Schools kill creativity"

"Creativity is as important in education as literacy and we should treat it with the same status"

"If you are not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with anything original"

"We are educating people out of their creative capacities"

                                                                                             Sir Ken Robinson

Watch and listen to creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson who challenges the way we are educating our children. He champions a radical rethink of our school systems, to cultivate creativity and acknowledge multiple types of intelligence.

His talk could also double as a stand up comedy act, it is a highly recommended must watch video.

There are many more videos of talk worth watching on TED, the site for videos of talks with "ideas worth spreading."

Have a look at this movie "The Hero 2, a movie about someone you know, or you". for top notch originality and creativity.

This wonderfully original, innovative and creative film is the second viral film that was used by the Swedish   broadcasting company Radiotjanst to bring peoples attention to broadcast fees and thank them for paying it. The ad reminds people what is good about nationalised tv and the "hero" can be anyone, just upload their photo.  No doubt you can find a use for it in your classroom.  Make your own film here.

Thank crunchie its Friday! Have a great week!

back to basics

Many students find Science difficult, it really doesn't have to be.

Science and particularly Chemistry, requires students to visualise particles, atoms, molecules etc on a microscopic scale.  So, most teachers frequently use models on a macroscopic scale to help students with this crucial part of the learning process.  Here's my back to basics on the particles that make up water.

Place 3 beakers containing ice, water and steam on a desk at the front of the room.  Get your students to draw a quick sketch of what they see.


If you work in a laptop school, students may like to use diagram maker or lab equipment for their sketches, but hey, there's nothing wrong with a simple pen and pencil.

Next step, ask your students to draw particles in the beaker that make up the 3 different states of water.  Students usually represent particles as circles (although they could be shown as triangles, squares, hexagonals, any shape really!).  Here's 3 simple animations showing the particles in water in 3 different states.

animations are from the Royal Society of Chemistry

There are many experiments that can be carried out that involve a change of state, students can make models, do a class roleplays etc...  The bottom line is that science students need to have a clear idea of the movement and energy of the particles and their resultant effect on the volume, shape and relative density of solids, liquids and gases.
Following on from the movement of particles, students may carry out a heating curve experiment, plot a graph and analyse each step in detail, see below a graph showing the changes of a state.

animation from Footprints

Finally, onto step 3...recap on the chemistry term for water being H2O, which can be shown visually as

and moving away from the phrase "particles" but making use of the words atoms and molecule to describe water, get your students to sketch the beakers of ice, water and steam in terms of atoms and molecules.  Vision Learning has 3 superb and clear animations detailing the molecules of water in the 3 different states, see the screen shots below.

 images from Vision Learning

For senior students, hydrogen bonds between the water molecules are shown. 

As a teacher, you may be surprised the learn that the majority of students assume that in the gas state, the water molecules separate to form oxygen and hydrogen atoms, this isn't the case.  A simple demo of the hydrogen balloon (or hydrogen and oxygen balloon) and prior knowledge that a match near water vapour from a kettle does not result in an explosion, will help students to realise this.

Also, worth a mention is this interactive animation "Particle viewer of objects in a room", whereby students can click on different objects and get a peak at how the atoms are arranged.  This again, helps students to visualise the atoms in the objects on a microscopic level.

And molecule 3d, mentioned on my previous blog "water hydrant" in which students can make up their own simple molecules, then view them in 3d.  It's quick and straightforward, although for senior students I'd recommend Chemsketch and Chime.

This document titled "On the Ball" from The University of Southhampton, 2001 emphasises the importance of using models in the teaching of Science and has many suggestions and ideas on the uses of models in junior science.

This report "Beyond appearances, students misconceptions about basic chemical ideas", Vanessa Barker highlights in detail many misconceptions that students have and suggestions on what we can do as teachers to help students develop the "molecular spectacles" required to progress further with their chemistry knowledge.

Finally, here is a wonderful animation on dissolving salt in water which shows clearly that even though the salt cannot be seen it has not "disappeared" and that the mass of the beaker containing dissolved salt and water is not the same as the beaker of water.  Yep, another couple of common misconceptions there.


Senior students will find this animation useful to help them to visualise and explain in detail the solubility of an ionic substance such as NaCl in a polar solvent such as water and here is a worksheet from the RSC on mass and dissolving.

I hope those of you in the Northern Hemisphere are enjoying a steaming and stinking hot summer, I'm off to splash about in puddles as its raining cats and dogs down here.

ps: to download any animations shown above...

1) use Mozilla Firefox to open this internet page

2) top of page click Tools, then select Addons and Get Addons

3) type in "Embedded Objects"

4) restart Firefox

5) click the little green arrow (bottom right) and the animations/videos from any site you visit will be saved to your computer

end of term videos

I'm weary...worn out....11 week term was too long...light at end of tunnel...end of term tomorrow...YAY!

I'm officially too tired to teach tomorrow so it'll be a video day of "popcorn lessons" for me and my students.

Here's my top ten (well actually, nine) list of end of term videos...in no particular order...

March of the Penguins

Documentary film narrated by Morgan Freeman: A wonderful, emotional and very visual journey that relates to adaptation and habitats.

"The film depicts the yearly journey of the emperor penguins of Antarctica. In autumn, all the penguins of breeding age leave the ocean, their normal habitat, to walk inland to their ancestral breeding grounds. There, the penguins participate in a courtship that, if successful, results in the hatching of a chick. For the chick to survive, both parents must make multiple arduous journeys between the ocean and the breeding grounds over the ensuing months."

BBC Blue Planet

Time flies as you sit back and effortlessly watch any of the 8 of these 50 minute episodes with links to adaptation.  I recommend episode 2 "The Deep".

"The Blue Planet has been described as the first ever comprehensive series on the natural history of the world's oceanseach of the eight 50-minute episodes examines a different aspect of marine life.  My favourite is episode 2 "The Deep", it's just extraordinary. The underwater photography includes creatures and behaviour that had previously never been filmed."

Man on Wire

WOW! I'm a little speechless, what an incredible lifetime dream that was achieved by Philippe Petit! Show this in class after teaching a unit on forces, it is a gripping documentary and a well deserved winner of numerous Film Awards.

"On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between New York's twin towers, then the worlds tallest buildings. At 7:15 AM, Philippe took his first step on the high wire 1,350 feet above the sidewalks of Manhattan. James Marsh's documentary brings Petit's extraordinary adventure to life through the testimony of Philippe himself, and some of the co-conspirators who helped him create the unique and magnificent spectacle that became known as the artistic crime of the century"

Atom Bond, the atom with the golden electron

I cannot recommend this highly enough, it is superb, a fun, creative and informative summary for Senior Chem students on bonding and intermolecular forces.  Available to purchase from Classroom video.

"The scientific concepts are presented as a parody of a James Bond movie: Gold Metallic Bond is sent off to investigate why carbon, nitrogen and other atoms are training themselves in other types of bonds. He discovers their 'bond' school and university, finding that they are all working towards Project D. Complex information is presented in a way that is designed to be fun at the same time."
Winner of a Gold Dragon at the International Science Film Festival 2001 Beijing and gold medal for the Most Innovative program at the Questacon (CSIRO) Awards 2001.

BBC Life of Plants

A wonderful series, written and presented by David Attenborough. Due to time constraints it's unlikely you'll be able to show all six episodes, I recommend episode 1 "Travelling", which introduces students to many weird and wonderful types of seeds and their methods of dispersal.

Man v's Wild

Hosted by Bear Gryllis (surely, not his real name!).  Have a look at the Namibian desert episode (season 2, episode 9) where he puts together a makeshift water distiller and finds sources of water in the desert, there are loose links to distillation and adaptation.

I came, I saw, I redoxed

Another favourite from the Classroom video crew this is an excellent summary of redox chemistry for your senior Chemistry students.

"This video explains or redox reactions via an animated story in which the mighty caesium and his legion of atoms set out to conquer the world. A number of reactions are covered and the properties of different types of atom explained."

Wallace and Gromit by Nick Park of Aardman Productions. 

These plastercine charachters are very popular with students, all three of the 20 minute episodes are worth a look. I recommend "The Wrong Trousers" with links to levers and forces, this episode alone has won over forty top international awards including the Academy Oscar, and has become one of the most successful animated short films ever made.

As a side note, there is a "Wallace and Gromit, World of cracking ideas" exhibition on at the Science Museum in London until November 

Atoms and their electrons

The synopsis below sounds cheesy, because it is! This is a fabulous summary of ionic, covalent molecular, metallic and covalent network bonding.  Another highly recommended video, available to purchase from...yes, you guessed it, a very creative and talented group of professionals at Classroom video.

"This program provides a history of our understanding of the atom including the pioneering work of Dalton, Thomson, Rutherford and Bohr. It features an animated love story of chlorine and sodium, showing how 'at the disco' atoms combine in various ways. Carbon forms a show of network covalent models, we see evolving molecular shapes C02, H20, NH3, CH4, and N2. Chlorine is asked to dance with Ca, Al and C but waits for Na. They dance and transfer an electron. Love at last."

Happy holidays!  Enjoy a relaxing and restful break :-)