Exploring Sustainable Fuels in the Classroom: Engaging Activities for Years 5 & 6

Our free resource shows that science can offer the solutions to environmental problems

 The Sustainable Stories and Solutions for Our Planet resource from CIEC offers practical, hands-on science lessons to help Upper Key Stage 2 pupils explore sustainability in everyday materials, personal care products, food, energy, and – most recently – fuels.

With the rise of electric vehicles, now is the perfect time to help children understand how sustainable fuels can reduce air pollution and protect our environment. The newest section focuses on how sustainable fuel is made and its role in future transport.

Key Activities:

• Electricity to Gas: A teacher-led demo shows how water splits into gases using electricity, prompting discussion about hydrogen fuel cells and electric vehicles.
• Main Beam: Children investigate how adding cells to a circuit affects bulb brightness – a fun way to understand how larger vehicles need more energy.
• Lumpy Challenge: Pupils explore how surface area affects dissolving by testing different sugar shapes, linking this to materials used in fuel cell coatings.
• Increasing Surface Area: Children test different grinding methods to find which creates the finest powder, helping them understand particle size and reaction speed.

All activities are free to download from our website.

Top teaching tips

As you introduce children to the idea that science is a way to provide solutions to environmental problems you may find the following tips helpful.

Letting children plan their own investigations fosters independence and leads to deeper understanding

·       Review children’s prior knowledge at the start of each topic. This means that you can tailor next steps in learning as well as establish a baseline for evidence of progress.

·       Record children’s ideas during demonstrations. This enables them to focus on their thinking rather than their writing and will be useful to guide later discussions.

·       Let children’s plan and carry out investigations independently although this can be scary! Yes, they will make mistakes, but in the long run the learning will be deeper and more ‘sticky’.

We would love to hear how you get on using this activity. Do you have any teaching tips or photographs to share? Get in touch at ciec@york.ac.uk

 

 

The BEST way to assess children's scientific understanding

Children may be familiar with the water cycle, but do they really understand some of the processes involved?

Our latest blog post is from Helen Harden who, thanks to funding from the Worshipful Company of Horners, has worked with other members of the CIEC team to develop the primary Best Evidence Science Teaching (BEST) diagnostic tools. These support teachers to assess children's understanding of important science concepts. Read on to find out more about one of the latest additions to this important bank of resources.

The water cycle is an important feature in the primary curriculum, but have you ever considered how the ways of thinking it develops are essential for future understanding of climate change and sustainability?

From observation of small-scale changes of state in the home or classroom, children must shift their thinking to the vastness of the oceans and clouds high above their heads. Instead of thinking about a single change of state, the children must understand a connected cycle that spans the whole surface of the Earth and the atmosphere above it. Some processes in the water cycle will be very familiar to children who have stood in the pouring rain or who have watched a rushing river.  However, the complete cycle includes a key process (evaporation) that is invisible. It is this way of thinking about a whole interconnected system, including both visible and invisible processes, that is a critical skill for future understanding of climate change and sustainability.

The Best Evidence Science Teaching  (BEST) 7-11 Water Cycle resources are free to download, and support children’s development of understanding about the more challenging aspects of the water cycle. The resources include diagnostic questions and prompts for discussion to identify misconceptions as well as ideas for investigations and other activities to help children develop a more mature understanding.

By laying a strong foundation of this core primary topic children will be better placed to develop their understanding of climate change and sustainability.

Examples of some of the activities included in this free to download resource.

BEST Primary Resources have been produced as a UYSEG project in collaboration with CIEC

Exploring STEM careers with Oak Academy resources

 We are proud to share a selection of ‘science careers’ lessons created by CIEC as part of the new primary science curriculum recently launched by Oak National Academy. 

The lessons are linked to the National Curriculum for primary science and encourage more children to feel that ‘science is for me.’ 

Children as young as Year 1 (5 and 6-year-olds) will learn about how some people use science every day as part of their job, and how science can be a job for everybody.

An extract from the Y1 unit on developing new materials

The lessons include opportunities for teachers to uncover and discuss any misconceptions children may have about who might work in a science related career. 

The Oak materials encourage children to discuss preconceptions about STEM careers.

They also encourage young children to consider a range of careers in science- related industries, as they begin to think about future aspirations with information such as... 

“If you like asking questions and finding out about the world around you, then you might like to have a career in science.”

For more information about these lessons, please get in touch with CIEC or visit The Oak National Academy primary science page to access the free primary units.