11 February 2012

 

Day 6: Let the workshops begin!

Struggling with bust lock
A 7.45 departure to arrive in plenty of time for the workshops picking up Yusupha (whom we sponsor) on the way. First problem – we can't unlock the classroom door – the lock is well past fixing.
20 minutes later, Joe finds another way in and then a college maintenance guy gets the door open anyway.
!0 minutes to prepare and off we go...




Teaching electronics
Teaching chemistry
In one room we have optical microscopy led by Pippa and Cathy, in the other us physicists and chemists. In our room we have 5 “stations” covering, electricity (Dan and Jayson), levers (Joe), radioactivity (Katie and Emma), chemistry (Sally, Ian and Andrew) and waves (me).



Each group of ~3 student teachers has 45 minutes at each station to experience some hands on science. My station is deliberately minimal as kit is so difficult to get here; we make an eye using the bottom 100mm of a plastics drinks bottle, corrugated cardboard iris, milk and two proper items, a lens and a wind up torch.


Teaching refraction
Teaching about waves
All the student teachers are very willing to learn and at the end of the day they each have 15 minutes to teach a class (the rest of their group) on one experiment from the day. It is interesting to see how their ability to engage and involve their students varies.


Potions with Prof Snape
Potassium permanganate+glycerol - highly exothermic

As a finale Bob poured glycerol over potassium permanganate to produce a purple flame and smoke, while Sally started soaking an egg in a chemical I missed. Is she trying to dissolve the calcium?



We were all pretty whacked after a long but successful day. Same again tomorrow!

PS Thanks to everyone who has sent such encouraging feedback by Facebook. It is so good to have your support.




<< Home