Workshop in a Box is a resource bank for primary school teachers to borrow from the Abingdon Science Partnership. Each box contains hands-on activities for students to carry out in their own classrooms at primary school under the supervision of their teacher. The boxes contain the equipment needed for the majority of the experiments apart from a small number of cooking activities or some optional activities, none of which require specialist apparatus. The activities are based on the National Curriculum content for Year 3 and Year 4.
A synopsis of each Workshop in a Box is outlined below:
Forces (Y3)
NC Content:
- compare how things move on different surfaces
- notice that some forces need contact between 2 objects
In this workshop, over a course of 6 experiments, students will be introduced to the idea that a force is a push or pull. They will gather and record data, measuring forces with Newton meters and also distances travelled by objects. They will investigate the effect of friction by moving objects (shoes and Hot Wheels cars) on different surfaces.
Light (Y3)
NC Content:
- notice that light is reflected from surfaces
- recognise that shadows are formed when the light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object
- recognise that light from the sun can be dangerous and that there are ways to protect their eyes
- find patterns in the way that the size of shadows change
In this workshop students use torches, plastic mirrors and Lego minifigures to investigate reflections and shadows over a course of 8 experiments.
Magnets (Y3)
NC Content:
- notice that some forces need contact between 2 objects, but magnetic forces can act at a distance
- observe how magnets attract or repel each other and attract some materials and not others
- compare and group together a variety of everyday materials on the basis of whether they are attracted to a magnet, and identify some magnetic materials
- describe magnets as having 2 poles
- predict whether 2 magnets will attract or repel each other, depending on which poles are facing
Over a course of 6 experiments, students will use bar magnets to investigate poles, magnetic fields, which materials are magnetic, and magnetic compasses. Some teacher demonstrations are available looking at ferrofluid and neodymium magnets.
Rocks (Y3)
NC Content:
- compare and group together different kinds of rocks on the basis of their appearance and simple physical properties
- describe in simple terms how fossils are formed when things that have lived are trapped within rock
Students will use hand lenses to examine samples of rocks and use a key to identify different types of rock. They then go on to look at fossils in a similar manner. Additional activities that can be carried out are a cooking based exercise to make rocky road to illustrate layers in sedimentary rock and also fossil making using Plaster of Paris. There are instructions and guidance for these activities but schools will need to provide the resources for these.
Electricity (Y4)
NC Content:
- identify common appliances that run on electricity
- construct a simple series electrical circuit, identifying and naming its basic parts, including cells, wires, bulbs, switches and buzzers
- identify whether or not a lamp will light in a simple series circuit, based on whether or not the lamp is part of a complete loop with a battery
- recognise that a switch opens and closes a circuit and associate this with whether or not a lamp lights in a simple series circuit
- recognise some common conductors and insulators, and associate metals with being good conductors
This workshop has a range of activities for students to work on in pairs including some extension tasks for those that develop a good grasp of electricity and simple circuits. The kit supplied comprises sets of simple components (batteries, leads with crocodile clips, bulbs, switches, motors and buzzers) plus a few extras (LED’s, microswitches).
Sound (Y4)
NC Content:
- identify how sounds are made, associating some of them with something vibrating
- recognise that vibrations from sounds travel through a medium to the ear
- find patterns between the pitch of a sound and features of the object that produced it
- find patterns between the volume of a sound and the strength of the vibrations that produced it
- recognise that sounds get fainter as the distance from the sound source increases
This workshop comprises 4 experiments where students investigate how sounds are made, how pitch changes, how the volume of sound can be changed as well as experimenting with string telephones.
States of Matter (Y4)
NC Content:
- compare and group materials together, according to whether they are solids, liquids or gases
- observe that some materials change state when they are heated or cooled, and measure or research the temperature at which this happens in degrees Celsius (°C)
This workshop enables teachers to teach and demonstrate states of matter and changes of state without resorting to using chemicals exclusively available for use in a school laboratory. In addition to some teacher demonstrations are some student activities. Equipment but not ingredients are supplied for a student activity to make ice cream without a freezer and there is a suggested cooking activity making chocolate crispy cakes where melting and solidification of chocolate will be observed. There is a data analysis opportunity for students at the end of the worksheet.