Cold Fish and Water Quality @PSN

The session started with Fish Anatomy.

Live fish was handed out to the kids

Ean taking the temperature of the water and Han examining his brother

Emil counting the number of times the operculum of the fish opened and closed in a minute.
We counted 126x. The fish was hyperventilating, probably due to Ean swirling his thermometer in the water and scaring the fish.

Ean at work

We were given ice cubes to lower the temperature of the water. The respiration rate of the fish was reduced by half.
As more ice cubes were dropped into the water, the fish's respiration rate lowered further until...

By the end of the experiment, most of the fish in the lab was barely moving. Some went belly up.

Concerned kids and parents looking on as the fish was placed into a warmer environment. The fish was not poured into the tank but lowered in its beaker to allow it to acclimatise to the warmer water. The lab demonstartor warned against sudden temperature changes in fish

All the fish revived after a few minutes.
The kids were too fascinated at the condition of the fish to ask why the fish stopped breathing in icy cold water and eventually recovered in warmer waters.

Fai's worksheet

Next experiment was to compare test results of pond and tap water using a test kit

Pour in either pond or tap water. Squirt in a few drops of the indicator solution according to the instructions given and compare the colour of the solution obtained to the reference colour card to determine the pH.
Same procedure for testing of nitrite and ammonia.

Lesson learnt:

Animal testing is heart wrenching

Ants book @PSN

This book that I grabbed off the shelf could have triggered Fai's fascination in ants at Pulau Carey

He observed the ants as they went about their daily routine just like the girl in the book.

He put food out too and watched as they bit out smaller piece to haul back to the nest.
This book was read just once and at least a week before the trip to Pulau Carey.

Total Chaos @PSN

It was one of those days when the kids refused to follow any instructions. They were supposed to be doing some serious investigative work:

• Acidity and Basicity of some substances
• Testing of starch in food

Han and Ean decided they wanted to do their own investigation

with loads of baking powder

and creating bubbly foam when vinegar was added

their concoction of biscuit bits, sugar and salt floating in water

and scattered litmus paper and sugar all over the tabletop.

Tornado in a bottle and Water absorption @PSN

3 experiments were in store for us.

The apparatus we would be using.

All 3 experiments can be conducted at home as all the materials are readily available.

Ean squirting water into a petri dish

Fold paper along the dotted lines

To get a square

Place the folded paper into the water and observe how the paper unfolds as water is absorbed.

Bend at midsection but do not break the toothpicks

Arrange the toothpicks as above. Place 3 drops of water into the centre using a dropper.

Observe.

Fill a canister with water. Do not fill to the brim, allow some space for a few squirts of dish washing liquid.
Add in a few drops of food colouring.

We were given blue colouring. Cover the canister.

Shake and swirl the bottle. Observe the tornado. If the tornado is not visible, add in more detergent.

We had a bonus experiment.

The kids got to see a rubber glove expand using baking soda and vinegar

5 teaspoons of baking soda, a few squirts of vinegar, tie up the end of the glove quickly and Ean had himself a balloon :)

Make your own rainbow and rubberball @PSN

JY, Fai and Han headed down to the 2nd floor of PSN for their workshop on animation.

Ean stayed with me.

DH spent his time in the library, he said he wanted to do some research on the beach and tide.

A splash of colours awaited us in the lab.

He couldn't wait to get started and started fiddling with the test-tubes.

Out two activities for the day - Make our own rainbow and rubber ball. We had done both before during PSN's Science Day but no harm in some repitition.

The worksheet.

Each colour was of a different density. Red had highest density and purple lowest.

Test tube had to be tilted and the solution dripped in slowly to avoid mixture of colours.

Lots of help was given - with a smile. The lab staff were fabulous. Patient and friendly, they even babysat for a while so that a mommy could assist her 2 older children.

Our rainbow in a test tube.

The 2 little girls seated next to me were very curious and asked if the colours could be put in in reverse order, as in from purple to red instead and the answer was YES!
So they tried it out but it was more difficult and the resultant solution turned black -a storm was made they were told. No rainbow :)

The 8year old and 5 year old handled themselves very independently while their mom cared for their baby brother.

Rubber ball was made using white PVA Elmer's glue, water, borax and food colouring

water was added to the glue and stirred.

Then add a bit of food colouring

Add borax and stir till a sticky lump is formed.

Remove the lump. Squeeze and roll into a ball.

Bouncy balls.

The kids had a variety of colours. After the session, they went around and exchanged bits of their balls with others the get a multicoloured ball.
A very fun session indeed.
Thank you Pn Maznah and the rest of your team for making learning science fun.

News from the teenagers doing Animation was not so encouraging.
They found the session too simple as they were taught stop motion. Something the teens had already done themselves - at a higher level.
JY was bored stiff and the other teens dryly commented that they won't attend another PSN workshop again.
However, Fai said he had a good time. So I guess the lesson must have been pitched for his level.
JY said she thought that the programmes would get progressively harder not conversely.
Looks like a serious discussion must be had with the PSN staff in charge of this.

Watch out Below! 22ndJuly2011

Fai who went for Robotics with his sister, missed out on making Fun with Air toys. He was excited when he saw the parachute and that got his younger brothers interested as well.

They started throwing the parachute down the stairs, experimenting with adding more plasticine or tying Thomas the train or a soldier to it just to see how it effects its speed as it descends to the ground.

Made more parachutes using a bread bag and raffia string.

The boys played soldiers on the stairs

A soldier tied to the parachute