{"id":383,"date":"2012-10-01T15:33:51","date_gmt":"2012-10-01T04:33:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-blogs-monash-edu.pantheonsite.io\/rural-health\/?p=383"},"modified":"2012-10-01T15:42:42","modified_gmt":"2012-10-01T04:42:42","slug":"scientists-in-schools-program-smelly-but-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.monash.edu\/rural-health\/2012\/10\/01\/scientists-in-schools-program-smelly-but-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists in Schools Program smelly but fun"},"content":{"rendered":"

Angelo d\u2019Amore and Eleanor Mitchell are two of a number of scientists who are part of the CSIRO Scientists in Schools Program. It is a national program that creates and supports long-term partnerships between teachers and scientists and is run under the auspices of the CSIRO. It is hoped that through these partnerships\u00a0students will\u00a0gain exposure to\u00a0science role models and\u00a0learn heaps more about\u00a0science. <\/em><\/p>\n

This is a report from Eleanor on their involvement so far.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Angelo

Angelo d\u2019Amore and Eleanor Mitchell work their magic at the Tambo Upper Primary School.<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/em><\/p>\n

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Angelo and I have both been teamed with Tambo Upper Primary School since March 2012. The school has\u00a081 kids\u00a0spread across four classes. This primary is situated in East Gippsland 306 kms from Melbourne just off the Great Alpine Road, Bruthen.<\/p>\n

To date we have been working with all the kids ranging from Prep to Grade 6. We attend the School every fortnight and engage the kids in fun, hands-on science experiments. The science is tailored to the age group and with the older classes we have looked\u00a0at acids and bases. The students were taught the basics about pH and how to go about doing an experiment.<\/p>\n

In each class the students create aims and hypothesise what will happen before conducting the experiments and\u00a0writing up their results. In the acid and base class, the students were able to test the pH of different substances using litmus paper and red cabbage juice. The students tested the pH of lemon juice, detergent, river water and the soil from the school\u2019s vegetable garden.<\/p>\n

According to the Principal, Wes Vague, when the students were asked their thoughts about the Scientist in Schools program, their reply was unanimous: \u201cIt really stinks!\u201d This response was most likely due to the fact that the red cabbage juice did not have a very nice smell and that the students had the opportunity to test the pH of many other substances such as cow\u00a0and chicken manure!<\/p>\n

Since then, we have also\u00a0examined many\u00a0different\u00a0chemical reactions with the older classes, including exothermic and endothermic reactions, and of course some experiments, like\u00a0adding mint-flavoured mentos to Diet Coke, just had to be done! The raucous reaction from the Grades 2, 3 and 4 students during the latter experiment brought the Principal from his office to investigate why the noise from the playground sounded like a football match!<\/p>\n

With the younger classes we have looked at how plants\u00a0absorb nutrients or pollutants. Each student\u00a0added food dye\u00a0to a carnation or celery stick. We had many different combinations\u00a0of red, blue, purple, and split coloured\u00a0plants on our\u00a0return a week later. The\u00a0younger classes have also been\u00a0more recently looking at\u00a0each of their five senses.\u00a0So far we have looked at how our ears hear, how our sense of smell affects the taste of food,\u00a0and why we have two eyes not one. In this class,\u00a0we were fortunate to borrow many anatomical models to complement our experiments!<\/p>\n

The photo attached was taken from our most recent visit to the Grade 2, 3 and 4 class. The photo is Angelo demonstrating how much carbon dioxide is produced when you mix small amounts of vinegar and bicarbonate of soda. The students were really engaged as they commonly use bicarbonate of soda in their cooking classes to “make their cakes rise.”<\/p>\n

For more information or if you would like to join the ‘Scientists in Schools’ program visit: www.scientistsinschools.edu.au\/index.htm<\/a><\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By Eleanor Mitchell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Angelo d\u2019Amore and Eleanor Mitchell are two of a number of scientists who are part of the CSIRO Scientists in Schools Program. It is a national program that creates and supports long-term partnerships between teachers and scientists and is run under the auspices of the CSIRO. It is hoped that through these partnerships\u00a0students will\u00a0gain exposure […]<\/p>\n Read More...<\/a>","protected":false},"author":656,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2085,1522,1581],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.monash.edu\/rural-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.monash.edu\/rural-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.monash.edu\/rural-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.monash.edu\/rural-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.monash.edu\/rural-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.monash.edu\/rural-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":402,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.monash.edu\/rural-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions\/402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.monash.edu\/rural-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.monash.edu\/rural-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.monash.edu\/rural-health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}