PEOE

I did a demonstration in class to show how the amount of hot water affects the amount of egg being cooked. In my first Science class, I began the lessn by telling them the aim of the experiment. After that, I cracked 2 eggs, put one each in 200 ml and 450 ml of water at 91 degree celsius. After 3 mins, I got pupils to observe the egg and compare the eggs.

During the lesson, I realised I could have used POE( Predict, observe, explain) strategy and the effect would have been different. So I got pupils to predict and there were pupils actually predicted the egg in the 200 ml of water is more cooked. I was very curious so I immediately asked them to explain why they predicted the egg is more cooked in less amount of water. One boy explained there was less water. I guess he is using his prior knowledge that he needs a shorter time to heat up a smaller amount of water which him to think that egg is cooked after in smaller amount of water. But in this case, we are investigating how the different amount of water can affect the rate of egg being cooked.

In the end, my strategy has changed to PEOE. To my surprise, there is such a strategy. So I have learnt and applied another strategy by accident.

Here is the website for predict-explain - observe-explain.  http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/mcvittiej/methods/predict.html

Zip Line Toys

One of the accomplishment during this one week break is the production of the zip line toys. I wanted to order rope runners from this website http://roperunners.com/ but was disappointed that the company does not take overseas order. Coincidentally, I discovered another wonderful website http://madebyjoel.com/2010/07/zip-line-toy.html which shows how to make  zipline toy which is similar to rope runners.

It seem very easy to make the toys on the website but actually it took me a number of hours, a number of trials and errors, a number failures to finally come out the toys that roll down the zip line wihtout falling off.

Zhi Quan started to make the toys with me. He and I tried and we could not get it to roll down instead it slid down the line so I went to get Mrs Lim to troubleshoot for me. Mrs Lim is really good at problem solving. She adjusted the paperclip so that the bobby wheel turned more freely. She also used the LAN cable which is thicker and a stapler to balance the booy wheel on the cable. As a result, the centre of gravity is changed to a lower position.

I must thank her for helping me so that I move on to create more.

There are many factors affecting the balance of the toys on the rope. If the weights are too heavy, the toy will topple. If it is too light, it will also fall off and the toy does not move at all. If the rope is too steep, the wheel will roll very fast and fall down halfway. By the way, I am not good at hands on and it took me a long time to turn the paperclip to the desired one as shown above and my fingers ached.

With the help of Hui Ning, we managed to come out these prototypes. She is good at hands on.



Yeah! My first zipline toy that moves without falling!

Initially I wanted to get my P4 pupils to make this during art periods so that they also learn Science at the same time. But I decided not to do it as I may not be able to give them the feedback on improving the toys to make them move without falling. I believe the learning process in making the toys is very important. It defeats the purpose of doing it if they only focus on the products. Let me master the skills of trouble shooting and deepen my understanding of how the toys move before I introduce them to my pupils.



History Of Sony Science Creative Award

My daughters and I created 2 toys for  Sony Creative Science Award and submitted in 2004 and 2006. We were the proud winners and I managed to find some pictures from the website but sadly, there are no pictures of the toys. I am still searching the pictures of the toys.

The Winning Entry " A Frog That Never Leaps Out of the Pond"



Here is another toy I display at the window. When anyone is bored, they can try this!



My Toy Story

I have been collecting toys for quite a number of years. It started many years back when Sony & Science centre first organized Creative toy competition. I was incharged of Science Club then and got pupils to create to participate in the competition. Since then,  I was very intrigued by the animated toys working on  different Science concepts. It is really a great joy watching at how the toys move when you are free, stressed....

I just bought this toy  and is really expensive. I felt the pinch until my sister enlightened me. She explained that I am paying for the creativity and their skills .And I totally convinced with whatshe said.

The Magnificent One!



Here is the video.

Science concept: Potential energy of the wooden block changed to kinetic energy of the horse.

Here is another wooden toy - pendulum toy

Science concept: Centre of gravity & equilibrium

Here a jumping frog.

Science concept: elastic potential energy of frog changed to kinetic energy and sound energy

I have hours of fun watching them in action.

By the way, whenever I have to do relief teaching, I will bring a bag  of toys to show the pupils. After that, put the toys in stations for pupils to play. It is really a hit! And the time passes very fast!!!

Enjoy viewing! 

Leadership Practices

I read it from one of the ASCD brief and I like it very much and hope it will serve as a reminder.


Leadership Practices

“The leadership we need is available in all of us. We have only to make it manifest."

The quote summarizes our purpose in reflecting on leadership--we are ALL leaders; but are we utilizing our leadership skills everyday and in every way?  Leadership is commonly defined as the ability to influence and mobilize others.  Ask ourselves: What have we done today to influence others?  Good leaders set the tone, support others, foster collaboration and teamwork, set goals and celebrate success.

As we reflect on leadership , consider:
What are the key actions of an effective leader? Do I practice these actions?
How do effective leaders build a shared commitment to the work?
How do effective leaders keep the focus on results and what specific leadership practices influence student achievement?

Resources on Light

Recently, I found some wonderful online resources which I have used to engage my pupils on the topic of light. It is great to share the links in the blog with other educators and at the same time I can categorise all the resources.




I started the lesson with this video at the Engage stage of the 5 E inquiry before the pupils began the activity on investigating how the distance between the object and the light sources affects the size of the shadow. After watching, my pupils immediately played with their hands and they were so fascinated by the shadows.

I used the 2 resources below to teach how the changing position of the sun affects the position and size of the shadow.

•          http://www.engineeringinteract.org/teachers5.htm

•          http://www.schoolsobservatory.org.uk/astro/esm/shadows