PLANET SCIENCE NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 18 Stardate: Friday 24th January 2003 Did you know you can choose to receive this weekly news update free by email? sign up here It's not so often you find teachers, tomatoes, aardvarks and archaeology all in the same place at the same time, but this week's data-feed from Planet Science boasts all four... and more. Here's what's on the menu: 01. SHOW THEM YOU CARE - nominate a teacher! 02. S.E.N. RESOURCES available to all 03. OUT OF THIS WORLD poster offer 04. CODE-BREAKING MADE EASY 05. Activity of the week: MAKE YOUR OWN FOSSIL 06. Science Behind the News: AARDVARKS ‘R’ US 07. RWW: FOSSILS AND TOMATOES 08. JOKE OF THE WEEK O1. NOMINATE A MEGA-TEACHER Know any science teachers who are SO good, they should be given an award for their contribution to education? If so, make sure you lob in a nomination for him or her for this year's Teaching Awards. Whether you're a parent, a pupil, a former pupil, a governor or a colleague, if you know a top science teacher, you’re vigorously urged to enter them for the Award for Science Teaching 2003. The deadline is only a few weeks away on 9th February, so hurry hurry hurry! There’s a lot at stake: each Regional Winner will receive a prize package of cash and equipment worth over £3,000 for their schools, and the person who goes on to become the National Winner at the big Teaching Awards 2003 ceremony will pick up a prize package worth £25,000 for their school. << Not only that, but they get to receive their award and make an Oscars-style acceptance speech on national television too of course... which must be quite a thrill for pupils and parents, not to mention the teachers involved! And they do recruit some quite good celebrities to hand over the goodies, if mingling with the likes of Sol Campbell or Anna Friel appeals…! >> You can make your nomination online by clicking to the Teaching Awards site. Back to top 02. SPECIAL NEEDS RESOURCES Adrian Fenton, Planet Science’s S.E.N. guru, has been in touch to tell you that a new CD-Rom of resources for pupils with Special Educational Needs is being distributed to schools this week. The CD-Rom is the product of a recent project co-organised by the ASE and NASEN (the National Association for Special Educational Needs), and includes investigations, interactive resources and practical guidance to be used by those teaching science in both mainstream and special school environments. A copy of the CD-Rom has already been mailed out to all mainstream KS3 secondary schools, and special schools can receive their copy from their local LEA’s science coordinator for the Key Stage 3 Strategy. By the end of the month, the contents of the CD-Rom will also be available online at the ISSEN website at http://www.issen.org.uk. Adrian invites anyone requiring further information or with feedback/questions to contact him on adrianfenton@ase.org.uk. And he’s a very nice man, so don’t be shy! Back to top 03. FREE COSMIC POSTERS FROM PPARC The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (or PPARC for short – phew) are up to their usual generous tricks again. This time they are offering two sets of free posters to teachers. The posters are called ‘Evidence for the Big Bang’ and ‘Matter and Antimatter’ and if you saw either of the two previous posters, PPARC produced, you’ll know that they like to give a humorous, colourful approach to their subject matter. We reckon they’d look very fetching on any classroom wall, and hopefully grab the attention of all 11-16 year olds in the vicinity... The A1-sized posters are linked to the National Curriculum and focus on both theoretical ideas and evidence in physics. They are accompanied by Notes for Teachers, worksheets and other suggested activities to support classroom teaching. So, if you’re a teacher and you fancy a few of these lovely freebies, you can order sets of up to 15 of them for use with a class. You can sneak a preview peek here and to order a set, contact Science and Society Team, PPARC, Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1SZ. Tel. 01793 442123 Fax. 01793 442125 or E-mail. pr.pus@pparc.ac.uk P.S. Details of all PPARC materials for schools can be found on the web at http://www.pparc.ac.uk Back to top 04. SCIENCE OF SECRECY Meanwhile, if you’re interested in the science of codes and code breaking, then you may like to know that an interactive CD-Rom version of Simon Singh’s bestseller, The Code Book, has now been created, and there are 500 available free. If you’d like one of them, send a cheque for £1 (to cover postage & packing and manufacturing costs) payable to Simon Singh, and addressed to: Simon Singh's Planet Science CD-ROM PO Box 23064 London W11 3GX. The CD-ROM has encoding tools, code breaking tools, animations, video clips and a virtual Enigma machine. It is PC compatible. For more information, visit http://www.simonsingh.net/owtasite/The_CDROM.html. Both the workshops and CD-ROM are relevant to the National Curriculum and are designed to promote reasoning and problem solving skills. They also cover areas such as data handling and graphs. Back to top 05. ACTIVITY OF THE WEEK Why wait millions of years for nature to create a fossil, when you can create one yourself in just a week? Here’s all you need to work some fossil-magic… • A light plastic container to make the fossil in, e.g. a yoghurt pot or a fruit punnet • A sponge (any kind but the more holes the better), • Some fine sand (enough to half fill your container), • Bath salts, • A saucer or small tray. What to do: 01. Create a shape for your fossil by cutting it out from the sponge - it could be a shell, a bone or a whole dinosaur. 02. Make a couple of small holes in the bottom of your container. Place it on a saucer or tray as you're going to pour water over it and you don't want it to spill! 03. Put some sand in the container about 1 cm of the way up and then place your sponge body on top and cover with another 2 cm of sand. 04. Mix 4 tablespoons of bath salts in 4 tablespoons of warm water and pour over the cup, letting the mix sink through the sand. Leave it somewhere safe and warm (e.g. a window ledge). 05. Replenish the water and salt mix at least once a day for at least five days. The longer you leave it the more fossilised it becomes. 06. Leave the sand to dry out for two days before removing the "fossil" sponge. If it's still a little wet leave the fossil for a few days before handling it. And what happens is: The holes in the sponge trap the salts, mineralising the sponge. As they dry out it solidifies to create a fossil. More information about fossils coming up in just a moment… This is just one of the many experiments and demonstrations you can find in our very own Little Book of Experiments. Want to check out the others? You can find it here. Back to top 06. SCIENCE BEHIND THE NEWS This week some surprising news has emerged … we are all descended from the big-snouted, rabbit-eared, dictionary-beginning animal: the AARDVARK. Science Line have been investigating the story, and you can read all about it here: Back to top 07. RECOMMENDED WEBSITES OF THE WEEK FOSSILS & FOSSIL COLLECTING http://web.ukonline.co.uk/conker/fossils A great site for any kids (and adults!) who want to know more about what fossils are, how to find them, how to look after them, and where some of the best spots in the UK are if you want to put your fossil-hunting goggles on. Have a look – it’ll make you want to get in the car and go fossilling this weekend! On a related topic, if you’ve ever wondered how the technique of carbon dating is able to determine the age of ancient artefacts, How Stuff Works has the lowdown here: http://www.howstuffworks.com/carbon-14.htm TOMATO ZONE http://www.thetomatozone.co.uk For a totally different experience, why not ketch-up with a new site from the British Tomato Growers Association? It’s the Tomato Zone a kid-friendly, and very interactive website wholeheartedly devoted to our juicy red friends… Your browser will have to be able to run Flash, and having said that, it was still a bit slow in loading up all the different sections when we tried it, but there’s some good stuff there, so a bit of patience is worth it… And if you’re a teacher, technician, parent or pupil, make sure you enter your details for the free prize draw to win an interactive whiteboard for your school. Back to top 08. JOKE OF THE WEEK Enough of those tomatoes... let's get back to the world of archaeology for today's dose of Light Relief. Dim the lights, hush the audience, here we go... Receptionist: Doctor, there's an invisible dinosaur in the waiting room. Doctor: Tell her I can't see her! Still with us? Good... Q: What do you call a fossil that doesn't ever want to work? A: Lazy bones! An emergency operation to rescue our joke section from the clutches of badness will commence as of next week... Back to top THAT'S ALL FOR THIS WEEK Hope you'll come back next week for more. Meanwhile if you have any comments or ideas for the newsletter please send them through to Anne McNaught on anne@planet-science.com . Meanwhile - have a great week! Back to top