Camera Obscura - Working Model Eye (Sexto) By Elena

Elena's students build working models of eyes (camera obscura) in class using shoe boxes and tracing paper. 

Then they went out on a sunny day and tested them on the patio.  The construction is relatively simple but what you see inside the box - the world projected upside-down is weird and fascinating.  You can tie this in to the nervous system and the brain because the information that the eye collects is upside-down and the brain corrects it for us.  We don't see the world upside-down, our brain is too clever and adaptable for that.  Safety warning - Don't look at the sun!

Link to pdf:  Instructions and Information for Camera Obscura Activity

KUBB: plastic-free, wooden game.

Stone Age, Bronze Age… Plastic Age?

The one material named by nearly all sources  was plastic. Plastic “has redefined our material culture and the trush we leave behind”
Kubb is a good outdoor game from Sweden.  Also known as Viking Chess.

And the most important,  Kubb set is crafted from eco-friendly material.

CLIMATE CHANGE is really not the issue.

BASIC EDUCATION and our ATTITUDE is !

Thanks to AMIGOS DEL KUBB.

Mini Chemical Reactions - Primero hasta tercero de primaria

This is a very simple and controlled way for children to explore chemical reactions with relatively little mess.  I made jelly from the purple water from boiled red cabbage and I allowed it to gel in a plastic container (a thin layer).

To the thin layer of purple jelly, you can add drops of lemon juice, vinegar, sodium bicarbonate and ammonia (if supervised).  Acids make the jelly turn from purple to pink and alkalis make it turn blue, green and even yellow.  We used pipettes (or syringes) to add drops and the colour changes are reversible.

  

Adding sodium bicarbonate at acid on the jelly makes carbon dioxide bubbles and the colour changes were quite beautiful.  Plus my kids were fascinated by the texture of the jelly and by using the pipettes to transfer liquids.  You could photograph the mixtures and have a science-art project!

You need:

• plastic containers
• red cabbage
• gelatine
• lemon juice
• vinegar
• sodium bicarbonate dissolved in water
• (diluted ammonia - small group supervised activity)
• pipettes or syringes
• containers for the lemon juice, vinegar and sodium bicarbonate 

 Good experimental chemistry with surprisingly little mess!

New School Year!

September is here and we´re all super busy.  Firstly, if you have material from last term, please send it to me to post.  Secondly, Nieves and I were talking about maybe doing another workshop at the end of October.  If you have ideas or requests for what to do, please tell us.

Septiembre ha llegado y estamos super ocupados.  Primera cosa, si tienes material/fotos del año pasado para subir al blog por favor mandármelas para que puede incluirlas.  Segunda cosa, Nieves y yo estamos pensando en tener otro taller al fin de octubre.  Si tienes ideas o sugerencias sobre temas por favor dinos.

Un saludo

Jenny

Sexto Activities Book is Finished

I have finished putting together the activities book with teaching notes and worksheets for sexto.  Have a great summer holiday.  Jenny

Link to download pdf:  Hands on Science: Sexto

Hands on Science Sexto: Project - Making an Electronic Device

Since the science books finish off with machines, computers and electronic gadgets, I thought that an electronic project would be a nice way to end Sexto.  I've picked out some website links for the students to look at and they can decide what to build after a bit of internet research.  They need to plan their project, make it and then present it to the class.  I suggest getting them to make a video of their project because it is a computer based activity and it will improve their performance. 

This activity is connected to the Objects and Machines unit.  I have highlighted four links to simple projects but if you have students who can program and know how to put more complicated circuits together on a bread-board then encourage them.

Link to activity (pdf):  Electronic Device project

Hands on Science Sexto: Activity 20 - Human Robots

Writing and following instructions is the focus of this computer-free programming activity.  There are two parts, Part 1 is about a simple dice game and getting the students to create robot style instructions for the game using repeating loops.  Part 2 is about a Robot Cafe:  They need to write instructions for a robot to make sandwiches, then they are going to demonstrate their instructions by acting as robots to the class.  You can select which types of sandwich you get the robot students to demonstrate so you can accommodate for not being able to provide all the sandwich making materials.

This activity is connected to the Objects and Machines unit.  The activity requires the students to write algorithms (instruction lists), use loops (instructions that can be repeated) and put instructions in the correct order.  By acting out the activity rather that doing it on a computer I think that this will be really fun and the students with no programming experience will relate to the concepts better.

Link to activity (pdf): Human Robots Activity