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This blog post it brought to you by Jane Winter, one of CIEC's advisory teachers |
CIEC has started the new academic year by adding some more
activities to the existing sustainability resource. Like most CIEC publications these engaging
and easily resourced investigations link real life science solutions to
environmental problems and the primary science curriculum.
Sponsored by Innospec, a company that develops personal care
products, the investigations support children to consider the environmental
impact of products such as soap and shampoo.
In one activity children explore the efficacy of solid and liquid
formulation of soap and research the different transport and packaging
requirements of these everyday products.
In another they plan an investigation to assess the suitability of
different packaging materials, including an innovative soap wrapping that Innospec
scientists have developed which dissolves the first time that the soap is used,
thus reducing waste.
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Children are motivated to work on these challenges to find out how science can provide solutions to environmental problems |
As well as linking to the materials strand of the KS2
curriculum the activities provide ample opportunities for working
scientifically including observation over time, secondary research and planning
a fair test. There are also cross
curricular links including producing written reports for the scientists at
Innospec and creating tables and graphs to display measurements taken during
the investigations.
The PowerPoint, which is included in the resource, provides
open ended starting points for classroom discussion, letters from the
scientists at Innospec and a short video highlighting the long term
environmental impact of single use plastics including packaging.
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The resource contains a short video which provides a context for the investigations |
These activities, and many more, are free to download from
the CIEC
website. If you use this resource in
your classroom we would love to hear from you to hear how it went. Get in touch (preferably with photographs) at
CIEC@york.ac.uk and we will send you a
hard copy of some of our resources to say thank you.