Primary Teacher UK

Sciencecomics

Sciencecomics (www.sciencecomics.uwe.ac.uk) is a resource for both teachers and children that focuses on scientific enquiry (Sc 1) and the materials (Sc3) aspects of the Key Stage 2 Science curriculum. The site includes fun and engaging chemistry comics (currently 5 but there will be 10 in total), games, such as word searches, quizzes and Sudoku, and a suite of teaching resources.

The teaching resources are specifically designed to make teaching the enquiry aspects of the science curriculum easier. Each teaching resource is also linked specifically to a comic and again there will be 10 in total on the site.

This resource is designed to be used with an interactive whiteboard and/or on individual computer terminals. The resource is available free of charge to all visitors, whether teachers or children.

Link: www.sciencecomics.uwe.ac.uk

Potato Growing Competition

'Grow Your Own Potatoes' forms part of Potato Council’s 'Love Potatoes' campaign, to encourage the British public to buy British potatoes. At a time when living costs are rising and health concerns remain high on the agenda, the message is clear; being full of nutrients, extremely versatile and superb value for money, potatoes are the perfect choice for consumers.

Suttons are supporting The Potato Council’s ‘Grow your Own Potatoes’ schools competition by donating two laptop computers as prizes. This is the second year that Suttons have supported this initiative in this way. Last year schools entered the competition to grow the heaviest potatoes and the winners , Pollyplatt Community Primary School in Lincolnshire and Sutton First School in Norwich, were both presented with laptops by Suttons Seeds.

Championed by Peter Seabrook of The Sun, the Grow Your Own Potatoes educational project has grabbed interest from teachers and pupils alike and provides supporting resources for many principles such as growing your potatoes and healthy eating. There are a wide range of fun activities such as planting and harvesting, cooking and eating your own crop !!

This year one laptop will be presented to the school that produces the largest size potato by weight and the other laptop will be provided to the school which produces the largest number of potatoes.

Laptop computers have been selected by Suttons as they offer schools the greatest flexibility in access for children, even those who do not have a computer at home.

Schools should register online by 6th February at www.potatoesforschools.org.uk for their free potato growing kit containing ‘Rocket’ and ‘Vales Emerald’ seed varieties . Kits will be received in time to start growing on 3rd March and potatoes should be harvested by 23rd June 2009. Entries for the computer competition need to be submitted via The Sun by 9th July 2009.

Save Energy Through Educational Games.

The assiduous onset of global warming, reducing oil stocks conspire to threaten the world that will ultimately pass to future generations to resolve. Our school children need teaching resources to be groomed on the significance of alternative energy sources, and receive our apologies for getting it so wrong.

The International Energy Agency projects that the world's electrical power generating capacity will increase to nearly 5.8 million megawatts by the year 2020, up from about 3.3 million in 2000. However, the world's supply of fossil fuels - our current main source of electricity - will start to run out from the years 2020 to 2060, according to the petroleum industry's best analysts.

Unlike fossil fuels, renewable energy sources will never run out. In one day, the sunlight which reaches the earth produces enough energy to meet the world's current power requirements for eight years.

On a global average, each square metre of land is exposed to enough sunlight to produce 1,700 kWh of power every year. The average output is between 850 kWh/m2 in Northern Europe, 1,200 kWh/m2 in Central Europe and 1,200-2,000 kWh/m2 in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean. Only a percentage of the potential held by renewable resources is technically accessible. According to scientists and the solar industry, acknowledging the current state of technology, this percentage is still enough to provide just under six times more power than the world currently requires. Nature offers a variety of options for producing renewable energy. It is mainly a question of how to convert sunlight, wind, biomass or water into electricity, heat or power as efficiently, environmentally friendly, and cost-effectively as possible.

Renewable energy technologies, which have a positive impact for our environment, include wind, solar, hydro, geothermal and organic bio-energy. These are a lot friendlier to the environment than conventional energy technologies which rely on fossil fuels. Fossil fuels contribute significantly to many environmental problems - greenhouse gases, air pollution, water and soil contamination - while renewable energy sources contribute very little or none at all. Greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrocarbons, and chlorofluorocarbons) surround the Earth's atmosphere like a clear thermal blanket allowing the sun's warming rays in and trapping the heat close to the Earth's surface. This natural greenhouse effect keeps the Earth's average surface temperature at about 33°C (60°F). But scientists believe the increased use of fossil fuels has significantly increased greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide, creating an enhanced greenhouse effect known as global warming. Both pollution and global warming pose major health risks to humans as this contributes to lung disease, including asthma, lung cancer and respiratory infections. A significant global effort in clean energy technology research is needed to develop, collect, store and deliver energy efficiently without harming our planet.

Securing our energy holds many political problems, especially since the terrorist attack of September 11, 2001. Foreign oil dependence has resurfaced carrying significant political and economic risks. This conventional energy source is vulnerable to political instabilities, trade disputes, embargoes and other disruptions.

Because renewable supplies are predictable and abundant, they can help stabilize energy costs and free consumers from the volatile price swings in the natural gas and oil markets caused by supply and demand issues. Technological improvements and federal production incentives have made the cost of electricity from some renewable sources more cost-competitive compared to generating power from conventional sources. In fact, technological improvements and market growth are making renewable sources more cost competitive.

Some countries are using renewable energy as one way to encourage economic development and stimulate local economies. In many instances energy needs result in a community going to outside utilities or energy suppliers. By developing renewable energy sources, which often employ native resources and local production, energy money is spent in the local economy, helping to generate local revenue.

A renewable energy teaching resources set has been developed to demonstrate the workings of clean energy technologies on a miniature scale. Using an educational games approach can let children build an entire miniature renewable energy system and configure the system in different ways to visualize the complete system from start to finish. Children can learn about direct renewable power generation using solar photovoltaic technology. Experiments with electrolysis shows how to generate and store hydrogen and discover how hydrogen can be used as a renewable "energy carrier" that can power many applications via fuel cell technology.

The combination of science games provides an excellent opportunity to learn about the exciting prospects of renewable energy, as well basic physics and chemistry principles. Seeing how renewable energy can be harnessed, stored, and re-used is an essential ingredient in children’s understanding that can inspire novel developments of the future. Their inheritance may have been eroded over the last few generations; this is a way to start putting something back for the future.

Alistair Owens  keen2learn.

The Children's University of Manchester

The Children's University of Manchester contains a number of pages of high-quality interactive content relating to: the body, energy and the environment, ancient Egypt, Space, Teeth, Senses, Textiles and Word games.

Link: http://www.childrensuniversity.manchester.ac.uk/

E-On energy experience

The E-On Energy Experience is a free multimedia resource for 5-16 year olds that explores energy, including what energy is, how to stay safe around energy and why saving energy is important.

For the 5-7 year olds there is an Energy Home and teaching notes. This consists of 4 sections:

What is energy - find out what energy is and about different energy sources.
Using energy - locate items in the home that use energy and find out how this energy is used and where is comes from.
Wasting energy - explore what a day would be like with no energy and find out how to save energy.
Safety - be a Safety Superhero and help everyone stay safe in the kitchen.

For the 7-11 years olds there is an Energy Town and teaching notes. This consists of 4 sections:

Electricity - identify items that use electricity, look at how electricity is produced, see how a simple circuit works and how electricity gets to the home.
Energy and the Environment - look at how different energy sources affect the environment.
Saving Energy - find out why it is important not to waste energy and look into ways that energy can be saved.
Safety - discover how to stay safe around electricity.

Phun Science

Here's a great free game called Phun that you can download and play with to develop those that enjoy physics in class or just for youself. It's been developed by a Computing Science student Emil Ernerfeldt for supervisor Kenneth Bodin at VRLab, Umeå University. The solver is based on work by Claude Lacoursière

Phun is meant to be a playground where people can be creative. It can also be used as an educational tool to learn about physics concepts such as restitution and friction. Have a look at the video to see what 'phun' you can have!

For more info on Phun have a look at the Wiki. I think this is almost as much fun as Armadillo Run.

The Big Schools' Birdwatch

The Big Schools' Birdwatch is a free activity for schools throughout the UK, which the RSPB run every year in January and February. By observing the birds that visit the school grounds we can help to monitor UK bird numbers.

A free teacher's activity pack is available and there is also lots of information and resources on the RSPB pages to help carry out the activity. Schools without suitable school grounds can carry out their birdwatch in a local park. This years Big Schools' Birdwatch runs from 21 January-1 February 2008.

Full details on how to take part are available on the RSPB pages.

Teachers TV launches national science investigation for schools

As part of National Science and Engineering Week, Teachers TV, in association with The BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science), will attempt the largest national school’s scientific experiment investigating children’s readiness to learn, 10 – 14 March 2008. Schools can register to take part in this national experiment from Monday 14 January 2008 at www.teachers.tv/experiment. To help teachers, lesson plans providing examples of how to integrate Ready to Learn? The Experiment into the Science curriculum at every Key Stage will be available from www.teachers.tv/experiment, and from February, CPD programmes and a fascinating documentary on the neuro-science behind the experiment will be broadcast on Teachers TV.

Bee Movie game for primary chools

Primary schools across the country will be able to get a free interactive classroom game devised by insect scientists linked to the upcoming DreamWorks animated comedy Bee Movie.

The Royal Entomological Society (RES) has teamed up with DreamWorks to produce a free teacher’s resource which features characters and artwork from the forthcoming film. The game aims to educate children about bees and the important role they play in the eco-system.

The resource, called ‘Into the Hive’, has been developed for Key Stage 1 and 2, and can be played with up to four teams in the classroom. With the teacher acting as the quiz master, children pick a character from the film and follow their path to make it back to the hive before the other teams, answering bee-related multiple choice questions along the way.

RES president Jim Hardie said: “We are absolutely delighted to be partnering with DreamWorks on this project. The bee is a vital pollinator and one of the hardest working insects, and is unfortunately suffering a drop in numbers in the UK. We hope that our interactive resource encourages children to learn more about bees and the insect world”.

The game pack includes an A2 game board, a sheet of counters featuring characters from the film, and 32 bee-related questions for each age group, which have been approved by entomologists. The game also features extension activities and outside learning, and has clear links to the Science curriculum.

‘Into the Hive’ is supported by the DfES Year of Food and Farming and Growing Schools. Teachers can order their free pack by visiting http://www.royensoc.co.uk/welcome_intothehive.shtml and filling in their details, or by calling 01423 567111.

Gardening Club?

Suttons new ‘Fun to Grow’ range have been introduced for the next generation of gardeners. These products are fun to grow and highly educational. The seed-based growing products in the “Fun to grow” range, feature practical tips, interesting facts and even healthy eating recipes, and have been designed to tie in closely with KS1 and KS2. Information on flowering plants, parts of plants, seeds, plant nutrition and growth are all apparent in the use of this range and also the added fun facts and activity sheets. The products have been designed to appeal not only to children, but also parents, grandparents and teachers.

Suttons new Fun to Grow products are scheduled for delivery to retailers from early October, ideal timing for the Christmas gift market.