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.
For this investigation each team of students will need
a small container of sea shells.
a piece of coloured card A3 size.
textas
There are three slides in this resource
Title slide
Suitable to for Years 1-3 students. The students complete several sorting and classifying activities. They arrange their shells onto their A3 coloured card then use the words on the powerpoint to label their collection.
Slide suitable for Years 4-6. For this activity the students have a few more challenging tasks.
To conclude this activity the students can take a photo of their display with their iPads and upload to their digital online learning platform - eg Seesaw, Google Classroom, Freshgrade.
This is a 15 slide powerpoint that takes students step by step through an investigation into lava viscosity. Students will work in teams to mix different viscosities of flour and water then pour their mixture onto a paper plate to investigate flow. This investigation leads into a discussion on how different volcanoes take their shape dependent on lava flow. The powerpoint concludes with a focus on the possibility of past volcanic activity in Australia.
This powerpoint includes five slides to guide your student to set up a decomposition investigation in a small take away plastic container. each team of students will need a small piece of apple, paper, plastic and cloth.
Once the student have covered their materials with soil or potting mix and secured the container they will construct a table in their Science book and write predictions for the materials.
Delight your students with this chemical and physical changes quiz. Students can work in teams or individually to answer 10 quiz questions. The questions are presented on slides with images.
Here is the answer key
Perfume evaporating on your skin - physical.
Butter melting - physical.
Digesting food - chemical.
Burning fuel in a lawnmower - this one is NOT a physical change.
burn (combustion) - chemical, crumble - physical, melt - physical, rust - chemical, crush - physical, freeze - physical, grind - physical, rot - chemical
Fogging a mirror with your breath - physical.
Mending a broken bone - chemical.
Paper ripping - physical.
Glass cracking when placed in cold water - physical.
Slicing potatoes to cook fries - physical
This powerpoint guide prepares students for a design task. Discuss with students what they have read or observed about robots helping to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities, or for use in medicine or in hospitals. The task is to design a robot that can help someone. Students label each of the robot’s parts or features and then write a paragraph on how their design could have a positive impact on the quality of a human’s life.
Students include a comment predicting whether humans will accept or reject the new robot and why.
This is powerpoint explains how a 2 stroke engine operates. It explains the difference between a 2 stroke and a 4 stroke engine. There are definitions explaining the parts of a 2 stroke engine - spark plug, air filter, carburettor, crank shaft and piston.
There are 8 slides in this PowerPoint. The students are encouraged to look closely at a variety of images and make observations about the ancient rock art from different regions of Australia.
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.
As a whole class the students made playdough. I found this to be the best recipe as it did not require cooking.
Ingredients
· 2 cups plain flour
· 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
· 1/2 cup salt
· 2 tablespoons cream of tartar
· 1 and a half cups boiling water (adding it slowly until it feels just right)
· food colouring (optional)
· few drops glycerine (secret ingredient for stretch and shine!)
Method
Mix the flour, salt, cream of tartar and oil in a large mixing bowl.
Slowly add boiling water into the dry ingredients.
Stir continuously until it becomes a sticky, combined dough.
Add the glycerine.
Allow it to cool down then take it out of the bowl and knead it vigorously for a couple of minutes until all of the stickiness has gone. This is the most important part of the process, so keep at it until it’s the perfect consistency.
If it remains a little sticky then add a touch more flour until just right.
Before the students were given their blob of playdough, we conducted a class brainstorm about all the ways we could manipulate it. These were recorded in our Class Science Journal eg, press, pinch, squeeze, roll, flatten etc. Then the students were given time to get creative.
Once the students had completed their model they were asked to use the words on the worksheet to describe how they formed and molded the dough. This is where the worksheet comes in handy as the students had a visual copy of the words. Students who struggle with literacy and to write a full sentence were encouraged to circle the words that they used to create their model.
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.
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.
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.
This worksheet guides students as they work in teams to investigate the different properties of rocks. Each team is given a rock and worksheet. You will need th following materials to conduct the tests
magnifiers
digital scales
tape measure
water and pipette
scissors
torch
vinegar and eye dropper
This is a design activity with the final goal making a set of shoes made from a variety of everyday materials.
The students will test the following materials in this investigation.
wood
plastic
sponge
fabric
cardboard
There are 4 tests for the students to conduct.
Investigation 1 - Heating and cooling
Test each material by holding it against different surfaces for 1 minute and recording findings in a table.
Investigation 2 -Friction
Rub the material against different surfaces such as carpet, grass and paving for 1 minute to see if there is an effect on the material.
Investigation 3 - Force
Set a timer for 1 minute while standing on the material. Describe the material after standing on it.
Investigation 4 - Water
Immerse the material in water for 1 minute and recording findings in a table.
To conclude the investigation the students share their findings and decide on the best materials to use to make their set of shoes.
This is a set of PowerPoint slide to guide your students to investigate viscosity. Each team will need the following materials
one polystyrene cup with a hole in it
a small container of vegetable oil
a small container of honey
a small container of water.
Newspaper to collect the mess
timers
The students will take turn to pour each liquid into the cup and time how long it takes for the liquid to exit the cup.
This investigation is a lot of fun for young children.
You will need one old CD rom or DVD for each child.
Take the children outside on a sunny day. If you’re in Australia make sure that the children are wearing hats. LOL No hat no play!
Locate the Sun. Make sure that the children are standing in the full Sun.
The idea is to capture the sunlight by angling the CD rom or DVD and then shining the light into a shaded area.
I had the children stand on the oval and then shine the light onto the school’s ‘undercover’ area. There were plenty of objects like benches and bins for the children to shine their light. The area I chose also had plenty of people coming and going so the children were able to shine their light onto them.
This activity can be a be tricky and you will find many children saying ‘mine doesn’t work’.
To conclude and to ensure that every child can shine a sunbeam, I asked small groups of children to stand in the shaded undercover area while the reminder of the class sone a ‘disco’ onto them.
We then returned to class and I demonstrated on the whiteboard how to draw a ray diagram to show how light travelled from the Sun to the DVD or CD rom and then onto an object or person.
On the worksheet the children can draw themselves holding the CD rom or DVD and the object/person that they shone light onto. They can add ray arrows to show how light travelled. And finally write their own sentence about the investigation.
Students set up a bug zapper in the evening at their own home to conduct their own 'fair test'. All the information you need is explained on the word document - investigation question, materials, procedure, analysing and explaining the results and extension ideas.
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 powerpoint to guide students through an individual investigation where they explore their nervous system. To conduct the investigation the students will need
one pin
1 paper clip
ice
a polystyrene cup
hot water
a fine tipped black texta
a piece of 1cm grid paper
The students will use a black pen to draw and 1cm grid on the back of their hand. In this grid they will use different materials to test out their sense responses. The students will make a duplicate grid on a piece of 1cm graph or grid paper. On this piece of paper they will record their responses using codes.
The final slide in this resource includes discussion questions.
This erosion investigation can be carried out in the school sand pit to investigate the effects of water on sand. Students can investigate what happens to a sandcastle when they pour differing amounts of water onto it.
The powerpoint details the steps required for students to conduct their investigation. Students use the 'investigation planner' to determine variables and record their measurements and findings.