I am a Primary Science teacher in Perth Australia. I enjoy developing resources for my students that encourage hands on inquiry and investigation. I would like to see my students develop a life long passion for Science and to become active advocates at conserving and protecting the Earth's precious resources.
I am a Primary Science teacher in Perth Australia. I enjoy developing resources for my students that encourage hands on inquiry and investigation. I would like to see my students develop a life long passion for Science and to become active advocates at conserving and protecting the Earth's precious resources.
The students collected ants in the school yard to bring back to class and observe more closely. Students were given this text on ants to read. The students then, completed a written task about the ants text in their science journals. They had to write about the body structure of an ant, their habitat and how ants protect themselves from predators.
After viewing the Squawks in the Night powerpoint the students were given this worksheet. The task was to sort out the nocturnal and diurnal animals and then draw an animal of their own- preferably an Austrlaian animal.
The students work in teams with a torch to investigate if light penetrates through different materials such as bubble wrap, cardboard, clear plastic, coloured cellophane. Students record their findings on the worksheet. There is also a rubric to accompany the activity.
Heat producers or heated by something else??
This lesson package includes
1. A powerpoint presentation to identify and discuss with students when an object producers it's own heat or is heated by something else.
2. A hands on team investigation to identify various heat sources set up around the classroom using objects sourced in the classroom or brought in by the students or class teacher.
3. This task is the assessment component. Students need to identify images that produce their own heat and images that are heated by something else and sort them onto their T chart.
4. An assessment rubric to accompany the worksheet component.
This is a powerpoint of fungi images found in Perth Bushlands in Western Australia. It accompanied the IWB lesson on mushrooms from the Children's University of Manchester. Students were given several specimens of &'shop bought mushrooms&'; to draw and label.
Students were placed into teams of three and given a slice of bread to place into a zip lock bag. We then discussed the different locations around the school where they could leave their investigation for a week to investigate if bread mould would grow.
Investigation question
Do you think bread mould would prefer warm, cold, moist or dry environments?
During the week the students were encouraged to make daily observations. At the conclusion of the activity the students completed the remainder of the worksheet.
BTW - in Australia we spell mould with a ‘u’. The document is in Microsoft Word so you can change the spelling to ‘mold’.
Investigate the surface tension of liquids by following the lesson steps on this set of slides.
You will need
milk
shallow dish
detergent
food colouring
cotton bud or popstick
When the cotton bud touches the milk, the colours shift and swirl away from the deterent and a colourful pattern is formed. This is because the detergent breaks the surface tension of the liquid.
This is an activity that is part of a unit on Our Five Senses. To set up the activity gather together up to 17 small film canisters or similar small jars. Place a cotton ball in each container. Use an eye dropper to add a few drops of the following food essences or aromatherapy oils to the containers - peppermint, lemon, orange, vanilla and rose. Mix up a small amount of coffee and pour a ew drops into one of the containers and to the final container add a few drops of vinegar. Place an adhesive dot on each container and then number them. Make a list of the scents and their matching number. This comes in handy for remembering what each scent is. Conduct a discussion with the students about our sense of smell. Invite them to the table that you have set up with the Scent Pots. The students use the worksheet to identify the smells that they recognise and place the correct number next to the scent. Place a cross through any scents that they did not identify.
This is a Frog Quiz to be used at the end of a unit or topic on frogs. All the images are of frogs in the Perth region. Perth in Western Australia. However, the quiz could be used to review frogs in any part of the world. Students work in teams to write their answers.
Students were shown different materials buried in a ‘see-through compost container’. The materials in the container were - a banana skin, plastic knife and paper egg carton. Students then engaged in a discussion about how long it would take the different materials to rot. The students then conducted their own investigation. Students chose one material either; fruit or vegetable scrap, plastic, paper or Chux cloth. Students placed their material in the bottom of a round take away container then covered the material with potting mix. A few weeks later the students uncovered their material and recorded their findings on the worksheet.
Resource also includes an assessment rubric.
This activity template could be used for research on any Australian animal. It is a digital learning activity. The file was shared with each student via Google Drive but could be shared using whatever other digital learning platform that you use at your school. The students had to choose one of the informational sites from this my own website designed by Crickcrick herself!
http://thescienceworkshop.weebly.com/bandicoot.html
They then had to sort the information into the four text boxes on their digital learning file. The students had to describe a bandicoot, list possible threats, describe a bandicoot habitat and list the foods that a bandicoot eats.
the students had the choice to upload their own photo of a bandicoot or use the one on the file.
The students investigate how many how metal objects it would take to change the temperature of a cup of water. The students work in their cooperative teams to make a prediction and set up a fair test investigation by measuring the temperature of the water before and after placing hot metals objects into the cup. The students evaluate the investigation by concluding whether the hot metal pieces are heat producers or heated by something else. To conduct this investigation the students will need a thermometer, tongs to pick up the hot bolts, a timer, a polystyrene cup and several hot bolts from a hardware store. The bolts need to be placed in the sun to heat up prior to the lesson. This resource includes a PowerPoint presentation explaining how to conduct the investigation, an accompanying worksheet to record findings and an assessment rubric.
TIn this package you will find - a worksheet and an assessment rubric. To conduct this investigation you will need to collect several metal coat hangers and tie string to two ends of the coat hanger. Place students into teams of two. Each team has a set of materials to test using their coat hanger. The strings on the coat hanger are ‘draped’ around the students ears. This is how the student will pick up and sense the vibration. The student use the worksheet to record their findings. Each student will ‘tap’ a selection of materials onto the wire of the coat hanger and the other student will indicate if they sense the vibration.
This is a detailed powerpoint on how to guide your students to make a ‘circuit’ bug. A circuit bug is an electronic/craft project using LED lights, a 3V disc battery, a peg, copper wire and pipe cleaners. Once the students have created their circuit they can work creatively to make a bug/minibeast. The possibilities are endless. The final slide in the powerpoint is a a set of review questions for the students to evaluate their learning experience.
The students work in teams of two to investigate
’How many times can the bottle be lifted to shoulder height in 30 seconds?’ This powerpoint explains how to set up the investigation.
The final slide in the powerpoint includes discussion questions.
This worksheet activity guides the students through three weathering and erosion investigation activities. In the first activity this students are given a half cup of frozen water. The teacher will need to set this up the day before. Each team or pair of students will require a cup of frozen water. They will compare and make observations about a glacier freezing and melting. In the second investigation each team of pair of students is given a small container containing three sugar cubes. By shaking the container the students simulate wind. Particles of sugar will gather in the container. This is the wind weathering rocks. In the third investigation the students are given a small piece of chalk and a container with vinegar and a pipette. The slowly add drop of vinegar to the chalk and observe the changes. This is ‘acid rain’. There are a few photos on the second page and the students identify what type of weathering is happening in each one.