This article describes a program that was developed to introduce senior high school students in Melbourne, Australia to the technique of X-ray crystallography within the context of chemistry research. Students had an opportunity for original experimentation, performing reactions and attempting to grow crystals of reaction products in a school…

Science centers provide an engaging way for young learners to explore related concepts. The hands-on nature of each exercise secures the stimulation necessary to maintain focused attention. In this article, the authors describe a multi-day 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate) lesson on nocturnal and diurnal animals with science…

Common objects are made of materials that have obvious physical features which, although readily observable, may be overlooked by children. Helping young children to notice characteristic features -- scientifically referred to as properties -- equips them to discern common and distinct (diagnostic) features. Once children begin to recognise…

The author recently delivered an online professional development session on running STEM clubs as part of a Primary Science Quality Mark (PSQM, www.psqm.org.uk) Teaching and Learning Festival. It is a topic the author is often asked about, and she frequently provides training and advises teachers and external organisations on the what, why, how,…

A class of 18 students attending the last year of an Italian high school was divided into groups and performed the extraction of pigments contained in hibiscus tea. Each group worked at a different temperature and carried out multiple extractions using distilled water as a solvent. By means of UV-vis spectroscopy it was possible to determine the…

In this article, a consecutive series of four hands-on experiments are recommended to teach the colors of paint/pigment and their mixtures. These activities, which are effective in learning about how to make a simple observation and help to build argument-based knowledge about colors, offer an integrated and innovative way of teaching colors of…

A simple, cheap, and easy to make ionisation chamber to investigate the decay of Radon-220. Requires no expensive meters, experiment is carried out using thoriated gas mantles to produce the Radon-220, and the chambers are used with low cost digital multimeters. An opportunity for 16-18 students to carry out a hands-on experiment with an ionising…

Many school practical activities focus on scientific methods such as hypothesis testing. Yet science is more than hypothesis testing: it includes other methods. This article presents a framework called 'Brandon's Matrix' that illustrates the diversity of scientific methods. The matrix has been used as part of Project Calibrate based at the…

Questions often heard echoing through classrooms are: 'Why do I need to know this?' and 'When will I use this in real life?'. Working with the Centre for Industry Education Collaboration (CIEC), the authors chose a curriculum segment that aligned with some of their own research -- microorganisms: how they can harm us, help us and how we can use…

The switch to online learning required a creative solution to allow for the experiential learning outcomes of the program to be satisfied when access to physical spaces and equipment was restricted. This paper describes a collaborative process between technical and support staff as well as research and teaching faculty that led to the creation of…

A laboratory experiment that involves the synthesis, characterization, and application exploration of a metal-organic framework (MOF) has been developed for first-year undergraduates in the Faculty of Engineering at National University of Singapore. The desired MOF material was prepared from commercially available reagents in a facile…

In a recent survey of over 240 primary school children between the ages of 8 and 11, NUSTEM found that 75% of children said that they liked science and 63% said that they were good at science. However, when looking at the data by gender, there is a difference in enjoyment between girls and boys, with 71% of girls and 79% of boys saying that they…

A self-avoiding walk (SAW) is a sequence of moves on a grid that does not visit the same point more than once. SAWs are used to study how networks form, including social networks, biological networks and computer networks, and have provided inspiration to scientists, artists and designers. Here we describe a collaborative project which aims to…

Do you want your pupils to understand how science applies to real-world contexts, to provide more hands-on engineering experiences in your curriculum or to improve the way you integrate STEM industry partners within children's learning? These are some of the questions asked as part of the Greater Manchester Engineering Challenge (GMEC), an annual…

Despite the importance of organic chemistry to human health and quality of life, very few outreach programs have been successful in communicating this message. This contributes to negative public perceptions of organic chemistry and obscures the enormous advances in quality of life engendered by organic synthesis. New chemical outreach programs…