Hello Caroline,
We had a stand with "hands-on" experiments at the recent BA
Festival of Science in Exeter. The kids loved them (and the
activities at all the other stands in the hall) ! - I asked quite a few
of our visitors if they did do experiments of this kind at school and the
majority said that they did not. I also went to a Meccano workshop
and one of the educators there commented that many young children had to
learn that "for nuts one required bolts, too."
Just a few examples of some sad developments and I'm not surprised that
less and less children are interested in science and want to study
chemistry etc at university level.
The solution(s) ? Well, I am sure there are many approaches, we do
the following:
- project oriented workshops in schools, eg URL
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/voices/education/thailand_lwd/index.htm
- active learning (constructionism), eg URL
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/voices/science/villahermosa/index.htm
- virtual experiments that support real experiments, eg URL
http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/lab/buoy_exp/index.htm
- "Lab in a Lorry", an interactive mobile physics lab staffed
by volunteer practising physicists and engineers, URL
http://www.labinalorry.org/
Best wishes, Bernd
Bernd Eggen
Science Expert
SEED Foundation (SEED = Schlumberger Excellence in Educational
Development)
URL
http://www.seed.slb.com/
At 14:06 28/09/2004 +0000, you wrote:
I just had lunch with someone
who told me that most schools no longer let
pupils use bunsen burners for fear of falling foul of health and safety.
Is
this true? If so, what on earth do they do in
chemistry/physics/biology
lessons?
Caroline Davis
Reporter - Times Higher Education Supplement
Admiral House
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London E1W 1BX
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