We did an experiment to find out about freezing. We mixed ice with salt and put a test tube of water inside. We took the temperature every minute to find out what temperature water freezes at. We decided as a class that water freezes around zero degrees Celsius.
Making mucus. For the live and kicking module, year 8 students learnt the important of using artificial or ‘model’ mucus rather than real mucus. They planned and carried out an experiment to make mucus of the right consistency, planning a fair test and a suitable range of variables. Unfortunately our mucus (PVA & borax) wasn’t as gloopy as we would have liked, but a useful APP activity all the same.
We carried out fair test cookery – missing out the one of the ingredients for pancakes for each test. When we had analysed our results the students then predicted what would happen if they added bicarbonate of soda to their pancake mix.
This is our pancake with no egg in the mixture 
This pancake had no flour in it.
The pancake below had no milk, just flour and eggs
These were American style pancakes. Can you see the bubbles?
We made model lungs from Adorable Wearables. This was the best example from the group. Students could name the parts of the lungs, point out where they would be located in the body and explain how they work. Well done class 2!
It’s finally all finished. Our brand new Science lab is fully operational.
Year 10 pupils compared a filament light bulb and an equivalent low energy bulb (BTEC Science). After measuring the brightness and heat given off we compared the power consumption of each bulb. You can see a clear difference in the energy meter readings of the two bulbs.
Y7 Wikid Science – Forensic Science.
We were carrying out a circus of experiments to investigate particle theory and the diffusion of gases. One of our favourites is the Whoosh bottle, and we saw clearly how the acetone vapour diffused throughout the bottle after we ignited it.
For your entertainment, this is the Whoosh bottle at 1/16th speed.
Whoosh bottle from Rob Butler on Vimeo.
After trying out Google apps we are hoping to expand its use across more of the science curriculum. We have now added the Postini message filtering system (meaning we can now send/receive internal emails and the occasional external email) and Google video.
We also hope to increase the collaborative work we do (for example collecting class data from multiple experiments) and expand this to include working with our partner mainstream school.
For information how to set up Postini email services see my personal blog post here.
You may also have noticed our new blog theme – a new fresh theme for a fresh academic year! I’m looking forward to expanding our use of ICT in science lessons over the coming year.