Taking part in 'real' science.

A series of tweets this morning started me thinking about involving kids in science experiments.  The conversation started with a tweet about Chemistry in the Olympics on the new RSC site ‘Learn Chemistry’.  

The experiment is similar to ones which I have used in the past, especially when working on CREST awards or experience weeks with students.  The RSC experiment looks at the effect of a ‘sports drink’ on performance in a 100m run.  There is a comprehensive risk assessment, and suggestion that collaboration with the PE department might be appropriate, which I thought was good.

However, the experimental design itself wasn’t ideal – there was no real control condition or attempt at a blind (or even double blind) test.  Personally, I would probably have used each student as their own control.   The first measurement would be the time for the initial 100m run, followed by a timed rest during which they either drink water or the ‘sports drink’, and then finally timing their 100m run again.  The dependent variable would therefore be the change in time, rather than the average group time.

My main thoughts about the experiment though, were to wonder what the purpose of the study were.  It is purported to be a global study, with results being uploaded to the RSC website and displayed on a world map and in a bar chart.  But what exactly will this show?  Will different countries have different average 100m runs?  And if so, what will that signify? 

The RSC Press office tweeted the following about the experiment:

• We wanted to do something quick, easy and open to discussion.  We also have to fit in with…
• schools’ timetables and resources.  If they had a spare day we could devote a much longer expereiment though I’m not…
• sure how many kis (sic) would want to keep running all day!

The instructions for the experiment actually say “There is unlikely to be any effect from sports drinks on a 100 metre run, therefore we wanted to introduce a critical evaluation part of the experiment for the students to discuss in the classroom.” Which suggests that the main point of the experimental design is to provide a model which needs improving.  Whilst I’m all for students learning about null results, I think many teachers would rather try an experiment that was likely to show some differences.

Using live data from around the country is not new.  For example, the Wellcome Trust ‘In the Zone’ project has live data on the site. You can compare data from across the country, and there is still time to take part in this, using the kits that have been delivered to every school.

Last year, during the International Year of Chemistry, there was a Global Water experiment.  During the time the experiment was live, over 100000 students took part in 4 different activities and uploaded their data to the website.  Although data collection is now closed, the experimental protocols are still available, and would make an interesting project for schools.  The data is also still available allowing truly global comparison of water sources.

The Open Air Laboratories Network, OPAL, can also allow schools to get involved in collecting data.  They’ve got surveys on Earthworms, Bugs count, Clouds and biodiversity. The data is being analysed by professional scientists.  Well worth a look if you’re interested in the outdoor classroom.

Similar to OPAL is iSpot – a website where you can upload pictures of nature, and the online community will then identify what it is that you have photographed.

Which is why I thought that the RSC had missed a great opportunity here.  I know that they wanted to link to the Olympics (who doesn't?), but there are lots of great crowdsourced, real science projects that are being done out there. 

Taking part in science – a different way.

By coincidence, today I had arranged for my kids to take part in ‘real’ research.  The Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University has a volunteer register which I have signed up to.  When researchers need experimental subjects they can advertise their project and members of the public can volunteer to take part.  I suspect that other universities (and especially psychology and neuroscience departments) have similar registers.  There could even be opportunities for classes of students to take part in experiments.

So today my kids were part of a control group in a study which is looking at planning hand movements and how it changes with age.  It showed them that science can be done by normal-looking people, and they got some sweets at the end of it.  Result!

Can you see what it says yet?

For a while now I have used water bubbles (aka super absorbent polymer balls or hydrogel balls) to discuss refractive index and to illustrate the difference between transparent and translucent materials.

You may have seen them discussed on an episode of QI (though I don't recommend the use suggested by Jack Dee at the end of the clip). 

These little balls start out tiny, but can absorb water to grow many times their original size as you can see from the photo.  

Comparing the dry and hydrated bubbles

The waterbubbles, when dropped into water, are almost invisible.  This makes them a nice starter demonstration when teaching refractive index. I start with a bowl of ‘mini bouncy balls’ and a bowl of water.  Tell students that the waterbubbles are ‘magic’ and drop them into the water.  They disappear!  This can be used to elicit some interesting questions and hypotheses about what has happened. 

And they’re a lot less sticky than the pyrex test-tube in glycerine demo that I used to do. 

The waterbubbles have almost exactly the same refractive index as the water, so the light passing through them continues to travel in a straight line without refraction.  That means that we can’t see them and they are invisible.

Even in primary school they can have their uses.  Children are taught that light can pass through some materials (transparent) but not others (opaque).   However, children will also know about opaque materials which let light through, but you can’t see what is on the other side.  In opaque materials the light is scattered as it passes through, and so the ‘picture’ is lost because you’re looking at light from lots of different places on the object.

To demonstrate this, I put lots of the hydrated waterbubbles into a clear plastic container and put it on top of a short poem.  The refraction of the light at the air/water/air boundaries mean that the light is scattered and you can’t see the poem, although you can see that there is something underneath.

Waterbubbles on top of the poem.  They are a model of a translucent material

 

Slowly add water.  As the water covers the waterbubbles they no longer refract the light, and the poem underneath starts to become clearer.

Can you tell what it says yet?

Finally, when all the waterbubbles are covered you can read the poem in its entirety.  The light passes straight through the bubbles, and to you.  

Waterbubbles fully covered with water.  A model for a transparent material.

For older students, you could have them sketch what is happening to the light as it passes through the boundary of the balls, and ask them the explain what they have seen using the terms: refractive index, refraction, boundary, air, water, light.

You are now asking “Where can I get these wonderful water bubbles?”.  The ones in these pictures were taken out of a cheap gel air-freshener, rinsed to get rid of the perfume oil, and put in water to plump them up a bit.  They are used in flower arranging, so a local garden centre or florist might stock them.  I have also bought some from waterbubbles.co.uk in the past.

Starting again.

It’s been a while since I started the blog.  Since I began much has changed.  A couple of year ago I began with the idea that I would comment on science stories published in the news.  However, since then I’ve changed my job and that has given me a different perspective on things.

Nowadays, I’m much more interested in the education side of things.  Perhaps because, having left the classroom, I now have time to think.  Time you don’t have when you’re working in the classroom. 

And then there’s twitter.  A flood of ideas, diatribes and social chat.   

So now I’m thinking that a blog would be a good place to record my thoughts about what I’m reading and pondering.  Probably still science linked, but I suspect that education will creep in quite often.

I hope we enjoy the ride.

Atlas of Risk

The National Health Service website has a really interesting tool on it - the Atlas of Risk.  The aim is to put the relative risks that we all face into context.  It's well animated, and quickly and easily shows different risks to males and females, to different age groups and to different areas of the country.

You can also click through to find out more information about each type of risk.  Great fun, and a very visual way of thinking about the ideas of risk with students - for example the difference between percieved and actual risk, the size of risk and how it is measured, making informed decisions about the management of a given risk and that everything we do carries some form of risk.

I was particularly struck by the difference in risk for males and females in the North East.

Another excellent use of taxpayers money!

Brain Training

I'm sure you've seen the adverts.  You may even have played the games.  Now the BBC is running a mass participation experiment to see if there are benefits of brain training.  You can find the website here.

I think that this could be an interesting experiment to get students involved in.  There are whole areas of How Science Works that could be discussed using this as a starting point.  For example:

• sample size - why do bigger samples generally give better quality data than smaller samples
• experiment design - what are the important features that have been included and why.
  
• ethics - are there any ethical issues that could arise from this?  Who determines if the experiment is ethical?
• community of scientists - who are the scientists that have designed this? what are their credentials
  
• Peer review - how are the results going to be publicised?

 The timescale of the project is such that preliminary results should be available after Christmas allowing the whole experiment to be included in a single year for students.

Handy Websites 1

These website are taken, mostly, from the Summer 09 Teachers Magazine published by the DCSF.  A mixture of chemistry and physics. 

Practical Physics - from the nice people at Nuffield and the IOP. Practicals for all occasions (with risk assessments too!)

The Naked Scientists - Podcast and linked website.  Interesting answers to science questions, and articles about current science research.

Lancaster University Particle Physics Package - Aimed at A level Physics students.

Chem4Kids - American website which introduces children to the essentials of chemistry.  Also available for other sciences.

Future Morph - Site to give students an idea about the range of science careers available.

Planet Science - extensive site developed from the Science year a few years a go.  Lots of fun things to explore.

Web Elements - An interactive periodic table.

Singing Science

One of the things I really like to do in a lesson is to play music which is related to the topic.  Sometimes they are straight-forward, but not always.  Some kids figure out what I'm doing quite early on, and then it becomes part of the lesson for them to guess what the topic is, or how the song is related to it.

Some examples:
Chain reaction (the Diana Ross version of course) for anything to do with Radioactivity.
The Vegetable song (Beach boys) for Digestion
Good morning starshine (from the musical Hair) for Life cycle of stars
A New England (Kirsty MacColl) for Satellites

However, in a much crueller way, I also like to play 'science songs' which get inside students heads and hopefully helps them remember the ideas.  Most of these are from 1950s or 60s recordings which can be found at 'Singing Science Records' .  They are very dated, but I love them.  At a previous school I included 'E-lec-tric-ity' in the department lesson plans, and you could hear students coming out of their science lessons singing this song.  Great!

Other classics of the genre:
The photosynthesis song by Peter Weatherall
Meet the elements by They Might Be Giants
The elements by Tom Lehrer
Bunsen Burner song by John Otway
Electric Car by They Might Be Giants
Digestion Blues by Joe Crone