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Summary

Year 4 students from Hillbrook Primary take a trip to Launchpad , the Science Museum's most popular interactive gallery. Recently relaunched with new exhibits, demonstrations and shows, the gallery...

Year 4 students from Hillbrook Primary take a trip to Launchpad , the Science Museum's most popular interactive gallery. Recently relaunched with new exhibits, demonstrations and shows, the gallery targets pupils at KS2 to promote enthusiasm about science and complement learning in the classroom. How can teachers can make the most of such a visit and the opportunities it has to offer, including how to prepare properly and how to follow up the learning back in the classroom? Teacher Katie Chesworth is keen to tie the visit into her students work on forces and friction. They get the chance to explore the relevant exhibits and take in an explosive show on rockets. There is also a brief introduction to the Science Museum's online interactive game Launchball , designed to bring scientific principles alive in the classroom and to make homework that bit more interesting.

Science Museum Outreach Educators Nora Maddock and Katie Arnott visit Werneth School near Manchester to put on a Science Communication workshop. Nora and Katie start with a dynamic show for the whole of Year 7, before a group of thirty students are selected to learn how to present and explain their own scientific demonstrations, each with the crucial wow factor. They get advice on presentation and the chance to practise and explore the science before they have to take to the stage themselves. The outreach team believes in the importance of communication as part of the KS3 science curriculum and hope that it will aid students in developing a critical scientific awareness of the world around them. Subject leader for science Nichola Budd describes how to make the most of such opportunities, including ideas for how the experience can be followed up. Involving only simple household props, the workshop is also easily recreated by teachers.

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