THE INNOVATOR OF STEAM AND OTHER FUN EXPERIMENTS - YR1 / YR2

Character - James Watt, a Scotsman, who improved the Steam Engine

PROPS AND MATERIAL BROUGHT:

• A model steam engine
• A variety of experiments with steam, light, electricity and air
• PAT tested PA with music and microphone

VENUE REQUIREMENTS:

• A classroom in the morning with table space in the front of the class and the school hall in the afternoon. 6 tables required in the hall in the afternoon.

FORMAT:

• Example of a two form school

Split the time in the morning between the 2 classes. In the afternoon, the entire YR group in the hall rotating around 5 stations trying different experiments. The children will be divided in 5 groups.

TEACHING ASPECTS FROM "an inventor’s" PERSPECTIVE

• A powerpoint presentation of James Watt’s life, influences and inventions
• Inventions that help everyday life
• Industrial Revolution
• How the steam engine works
• Producing energy today

FUN ACTIVITIES INTERSPERSED THROUGHOUT THE MORNING SESSION

• Make a steam engine out of a soda can
• A model of a working steam engine
• Air as energy experiment
• Properties of water experiment
• Experiments with electricity
• Wearing diffraction glasses to see the colours of light

FUN ACTIVITIES IN THE AFTERNOON SESSION

• Each group to visit the 5 stations to try and observe up close the experiments from the morning in 15 min slots
• A fun scientific magic show with crazy inventions and all based on scientific principles