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.

Science of Healthy Skin: Investigating what happens when oil is added to water

Full details of the activity can be found in the CIEC resource 'Science of Healthy Skin’ which can be downloaded from: http://www.ciec.org.uk/resources/science-of-healthy-skin.html

Based upon the extraction of lanolin from wool grease, the activities in this resource include testing immiscible liquids using oil and water and investigating the effects of adding detergent to produce emulsions which in turn reduce the efficiency of the separation of oil from water.

The Activity: Fleece to Grease

Resources 

• 300 ml water
• 300 ml sunflower oil
• 50 ml clear water - sample A
• 50ml clear glycerine - sample B
• 50 ml clear detergent - sample C
• 50 ml white vinegar - sample D
• 4 clear plastic mini pop bottles or lidded containers around 30ml per group of 4 children
• Pipette x 1 for each child
• Teaspoon or similar for stirring
• 100 ml measuring cylinder 

Objectives

• To describe changes that occur when materials are mixed
• To make systematic observations and measurements
• To know that that some liquids do not mix, can be separated easily and are termed ‘immiscible’
• To observe that detergent can cause immiscible liquids to mix, producing an emulsion

What happens when oil is added to water?

Each child in the team of 4 to pour 10ml of water and 10ml of oil into one of the containers.

Ask them to wait for 1 minute to see what happens to the oil and water.

Tip the containers upside down four times and ask the children .....

• Did the oil and water mix?
• Did shaking make the liquids mix?
• Why do you think this happened?

The oil and mixture quickly separate when they are on their own.  But will adding any of the other ingredients make a difference?

Investigate whether adding sample A, B, C or D affects the separation of water and oil.

Using the pipette, add 10 drops of sample A to one of the bottles, 10 drops of sample, B to another bottle and 10 drops of samples C and D to the other two bottles.

Ask children to observe how long it takes for the oil and water to separate after 4 shakes.

Ask them to consider how they will record their observations.

Health and Safety

Remind the children not to drink their samples.

Links to the National Curriculum for Science:

Working Scientifically

Learning Objectives

• planning different types of scientific enquiries to answer questions, including recognising and controlling variables where necessary
• Taking measurements, using a range of scientific equipment, with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate
• Use observations, measurements or other data to draw conclusions

Subject Knowledge

Learning Objectives

• Know that changes occur when materials are mixed and some of these are reversible

Is Anyone Out There: Investigating craters

Full details of the activities can be found in the CIEC resource 'Is There Anyone Out There?' which can be downloaded from http://www.ciec.org.uk/resources/is-there-anyone-out-there.html

The activities in this free resource, written in conjunction with the UK Space Education Agency and ESERO UK, look at the ways that scientists carry out investigations, using data such as photographs and other images, to find out about Mars and other places that are too far away for humans to visit.  Activities include looking for signs of life, comparing samples of Martian soil with soil from earth and finding out about volcanos and lava.  The activity described here invites children to investigate the effect of meteor size, mass and the height from which the meteors have fallen on the resulting craters.

The Activity: Investigating Craters

Resources

• Challenge cards from activity sheet 8 (see image below)
• Tray half filled with sand
•  A variety of ‘meteorites’ (eg. marbles, rubber balls, stones)
• Tube for safely directing/dropping/rolling ‘meteorites’
•  Measuring device (see online resource for instructions to make one of these)
•  Ruler·        
• Meter stick

Instructions

• Children start by investigating the effect of dropping various masses into a tray of sand.  They then discuss which variables effect the size, shape and depth of the resulting craters.

Different groups of children are given one of the challenge cards and invited to design a fair test in response to the challenge posed.

• Groups of children then plan and carry out different investigations depending upon the challenge card that they have been given.·         
• After they have completed the investigation and collated their results children are invited to compare the craters that they have made with photographs of craters on Mars, to comment upon whether or not they are similar in appearance and to discuss how useful they are as a model to find out more about real craters

This table shows the depth of crater produced when dropping meteorites of identical volume but increasing mass.

• They are also asked to think about whether their tests were fair, their results reliable and whether there are any improvements that they could make to their investigations.
• Because this activity provides lots of scope for taking measurements and making tables it could usefully take place in a relevant maths lesson. The ensuing discussion could then take place in a subsequent science lesson.

Tip

• To make meteorites which are the same size but different masses try wrapping objects of different mass in plasticine    

Health and Safety

• To increase the height dropped put the tray on the floor rather than standing on a raised surface.
• Dropping the meteorite through a tube can help to ensure that it lands safely in the tray.

• Links to the National Curriculum for Science:

Working Scientifically:

• Take measurements, using a range of scientific equipment with increasing accuracy and precision, taking repeat readings when appropriate.
• Report and present findings from enquiries, including conclusions, causal relationships and explanations of and degree of trust in results.

Generating Electricity: Sensors

Children can feel inspired, motivated and spend more time engaged on task when the problems posed involve them searching for a purposeful outcome, particularly when some-one is asking for their advice! The sensor activity on page 16 of our publication ‘Generating Electricity’ (which can be found at http://www.ciec.org.uk/resources/generating-electricity.html)  provides this kind of context and would be a useful challenge to give children during ‘Tomorrow’s Engineers Week’ (6^th -10^th November) while covering KS2 objectives for electricity.

After receiving a letter from ‘Electricaid’ children work collaboratively to design and build a mini working model of a well which includes some kind of sensor to warn when the water has reached a desired level. Each group is given a large beaker (1000ml) to represent their well, one 1.5V cell and the rest is up to them!

The most innovative designs are achieved when children are provided with a selection of basic circuit equipment as well as lots of everyday conducting and insulating materials to choose from - paper clips, drawing pins, split pins, coins, corks, cotton reels, tin foil, bottle tops, glue, blu-tac, sellotape, card, plastic tubes and plastic sheets (A4 overhead projector transparencies are ideal) plus anything else that the children think they will need.

Working collaboratively

Children are encouraged to discuss and swap ideas not just at the planning stage but throughout this activity, jotting and amending notes and annotated drawings on whiteboards and listing the types of equipment they may need to start with and then to modify and improve their designs. Giving children space to make mistakes as they design and evaluate their designs through a process of trial and error helps children to develop a deep understanding of what they are doing as well as fostering real pride in their achievements.

 It can be valuable not to show children the diagram of a successful design which is provided in the resource until after they have made their own sensors.  When they do this teachers are amazed at the variety of ideas and at the ingenuity of children.  Most models have some kind of floating conductor (say a ‘raft’ of corks covered in tin foil) placed in the bottom of the well. When water is added and the level rises, this floats up to touch a carefully positioned contact point near the top of the well which is then connected to a simple circuit built safely away from the water.  

Close up of a working sensor

We would love to see your children’s designs; you can tweet them to @ciecyork for a chance to win a hard copy of some of our resources!

Generating Electricity