Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Bubbles - Hands on Challenges
Great activities from Barbara Duckworth and Jill Mitchell (Wild daisies).

What makes the best bubbles?
Experiment with detergent, shampoo, bubble bath and liquid soap.
Present your findings on a chart.


How strong are bubbles?
Blow through a straw into a glass that contains some bubble mixture.
Carefully pull out the straw.
Now put the straw back into the glass without breaking the bubbles.

What objects can you poke into the bubbles without breaking them?
Share your findings with the class.


What would happen if all the bubbles made didn't burst? (A 'hot' question - see entry 27.04.06)


Blow through a straw into a glass with a strong bubble mixture.
Can you blow bubbles so that they flow out of the glass and onto a plate?
Who can fill the plate?


Can you make a bubble picture?
Mix 1 teaspoon of food colouring and detergent with some water.
Blow through the straw to make bubbles
Place paper over the bubbles to make a print.
Experiment with other colours.
Display your print.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Welcome to a new year of Discovery Time.

Congratulations to Brandon Intermediate who has the first year 7 & 8 class doing Discovery Time! They started last week and the students loved it.

I was up there this morning and the focus for the day was 'reflection' - to be able to report back at the end on: what they had done, what they had learned and what they might do differently next time. They were also asked to challenge themsleves by trying something new.

These themes (which link closely to the Key Competencies in the draft curriculum) were made explicit to the students at the start of the session and were the basis for discussion at the end.

They had a great range of activities and the students were totally engaged throughout.
A great start.