British Science Week
School Activity Pack
This pack includes:
- Guess the different types of scientists ............... pg 2
- Become a scientist for a day ..................................... pg 5
- Research like a scientist............................................... pg 11
- Famous scientist activities ......................................... pg 12
This pack has been pulled together by The3Engineers for teachers and parents to use and gives ideas for conducting lessons/activities for British Science Week
Skills learnt by the end:
Research skills, creativity and questioning,
Link to the curriculum:
Biology-animals and their environment, digestion and decay
Page 1 of 16
Guess Who
Guess the scientists who would….
1) Study living organisms (animals and plants)
2) Classify different organisms into groups
They are great at identifying different plants and animals.
They can observe how different animals interact with each other.
Answer: Biologist/ecologist.
Page 2 of 16
Guess Who
Guess the scientist who would….
1) Protect the biodiversity of an ecosystem
2) Monitor nature and sustainable practises
3) Raise awareness of environmental issues
They are good at keeping up to date with what is happening in an ecosystem.
Page 3 of 16
They work outside, inside, and wherever there is an environment to look after.
Answer: Conservationist.
Guess Who
Guess the scientists who would….
1) Collect data on planets, stars and galaxies.
2) Uses satellites, telescopes and space probes.
3) Study weather patterns to understand the atmosphere and climate.
They are very good at observing, interpreting and predicting.
They make good decisions when conducting experiments on and in space.
Answer: Astronomer/meterologist
Page 4 of 16
Become A Scientist for a Day
There are so many different types of scientists.
Most end in ‘ologist’ or simply ‘ist’.
Below are the three main sciences and activities on how you can be a scientist in a day.
Extract DNA from strawberries as a biologist
Make ice cream in a bag as a chemist.
Create chromatography planets as a physicist.
Page 5 of 16
Scientist Scout - Biologist
Things you need to be a biologist:
Fruit (kiwis or strawberries work best), 2 tbsp of salt, 2 tbsp of detergent, water, filter paper, stick, 1/2 cup of rubbing alcohol (with adult supervision).
Extract DNA from strawberries as a biologist:
1) Mash up the fruit to break open the cells inside it to release DNA.
2) Create a mixture of detergent, salt and 1 tbsp of water to add to the mashed strawberries.
3) Mash the mixture and strawberries together.
4) Filter the strawberry mixture and keep the liquid that passes through.
5) Pour the rubbing liquid down the side of the glass/container the strawberry liquid is in.
6) A white substance should now form. This is the DNA and can be wrapped around a stick to see how long it is.
Page 6 of 16
Scientist Scout
Mashing, salt and detergent helps to get the DNA into the liquid solution.
The alcohol encouraged the DNA to stick together, which is good for us as a single strand would be too small to see (unless you had a microscope).
The Science!
DNA is genetic material in a cell which is the code or blueprint for a living thing.
Every living thing is made up of cells. In eukaryotic cells (plants and animals), DNA is found in an enclosed nucleus.
If you do it with other foods, you can compare how much DNA they have.
School links: biology and combined science- cells topic. Then microscopy of cells is a required practical with AQA.
Page 7 of 16
Scientist Scout - Chemist
Things you need to be a chemist:
Half and half milk (1/5 cup of whole milk and 1/2 a cup of cream), 2 tbsp of sugar, 1/4 cup of salt, ice, 1 small and 1 big freezer ziplock bag.
Make ice cream in a bag as a chemist.
1) Pour the milk mixture and sugar into the small freezer bag and zip it up.
2) Put the ice and salt into the larger bag.
3) Put the smaller zipped up bag into the larger bag and zip the larger bag too.
4) Shake both bags until the liquid mixture in the small bag forms a solid.
5) Taste the inner bag (try not to make it salty! you may need sprinkles).
Page 8 of 16
Scientist Scout
Things you need to be a chemist:
Knowledge on states of matter.
There are three main states, which have low to high movement of particles:
Solid, liquid and gas are states that all matter can be in but what they are at room temperature depends on their melting and boiling points.
The Science!
Salt lowers water’s melting point below 0.
The ice begins to melt.
Melting requires energy (it is an endothermic reaction), which comes from the inner bag making inner bags molecules slow down and form a solid (states of matter- GCSE content.)
Page 8 of 16
Scientist Scout - Physicist
Things you need to be a physicist:
Coffee filter paper, pens, water.
A list of all the planets in our solar system.
Create chromatography planets as a physicist.
Chromatography is a way scientists can separate mixtures. It means ‘colour writing’ in Greek. Let’s do it:
Page 10 of 16
1) Draw coloured circles on the filter and add water to the ink marks.
2) Watch the inks run (they may form a range of colours based on different sized inks that they are made up of).
3) Hang them up to dry, and learn the order of planets from the sun.
Research Like a Scientist
Research famous scientists, and do activities that link to their work.
Other words for research:
INVESTIGATE, TEST,
EXPERIMENT, EXPLORE,
ANALYSE
Page 11 of 16
How to research:
1) Use a range of reputable sources (reputable sources are evidence/research-based).
2) See if multiple sources have the same information (this means the information is RELIABLE and more likely to be ACCURATE).
3) Never copy and paste other people’s work. Put information in your own words and reference where you get the knowledge from.
Scientist Scout- Mary Anning
Research famous scientists, and do activities that link to their work.
Activity to do at home-
MAKE YOUR OWN FOSSILS
1) Make playdough using 8 tbsp of flour, 2 tbsp of salt, 1 tbsp oil and 50-100ml of warm water.
2) Section the dough into balls and flatten using a rolling pin
3) Pick your favourite small toy (e.g. the ones you get from a kinder eggs) and press it into the dough.
4) Play a game, taking turns with a friend, to pick a toy to make into a fossil and get them to guess what it is by only looking at the imprint.
How hard would it have been for scientists to guess what extinct animals would have looked like from their fossils?
What Mary did:
Mary was a fossil hunter.
She discovered Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaur, and other unnamed at the time skeletons.
Reputable source to find more about her life: https://www.natgeokids.com/uk/discover/history/general-history/mary-anning-facts/
Page 12 of 16
Scientist Scout- Louis Pasteur
Research famous scientists, and do activities that link to their work.
Activity to do at home-
FIND OUT WHAT BACTERIA CAN DO TO FOOD.
1) Find your favourite piece of food.
2) Add this food to a bowl or cup and leave it in your kitchen.
3) Take photos every day and observe what happens. it should decay (break down), but what does this Look like.
4) Repeat this with your food in water, vinegar and with a cover over the food. Which condition reduced the decay most?
Bacteria cause decay and disease. Research how bacteria replicates. This shows you why illness and your decay of food occurs so fast.
What Louis did:
Louis was a French chemist.
He researched bacteria.
He came up with the Germ Theory of Disease.
Louis found that air and dust contained microorganisms (micro means small) that can multiple.
Page 13 of 16
Scientist Scout- Jane Goodhall
Research famous scientists, and do activities that link to their work.
Activity to do at home-
LEARN HOW TO SPEAK CHIMP
- Grunts= greetings and food
- Hoo= different pitches can mean socialisIng, alerting or travelling
- Blowing bubbles= positivity
- Showing the soles of your feet = jump on my back
- Scratching your body= groom me
- Gentle back of the hand nudge= budge up
They can also scream, pant, whimper, bark and ROAR!
What do you think these sounds mean?
What Jane did:
Jane was a chimpanzee expert.
She studied them for 60 years and learnt how they communicate and socialise.
Page 14 of 16
Scientist Scout- Joseph Lister
Research famous scientists, and do activities that link to their work.
Activity to do at home-
Young children: Make up a song to make sure you remember all the parts of the hand to wash and for the time that’s needed to clean them properly.
Older children: (links to combined science and biology infection and response) fill a bowl with sand, pepper and water.
The surface water is your hands, move a stick around the mixture. See how the pepper and sand moves about. This is what happens when you only wash your hands with water. You move the sand and salt around which represents dirt and bacteria.
Design a soap to get rid of the dirt and bacteria (see what ingredients are on the back of your soap at home).
What Joseph did:
Joseph Lister was a British doctor that found a correlation between hand washing and infections in hospitals; surgeons who washed their hands had less patients dying from infections.
Extensions: describe how white blood cells can fight against infection if you do not wash your hands.
Page 15 of 16
Scientist Scout- Mary Secole
Research famous scientists, and do activities that link to their work.
What Mary did:
Mary was a nurse who treated wounded and sick soldiers in the Crimean war.
She went to Crimea in 1855, and was very brave it was recorded she once rode onto the battlefield to nurse men on both sides of the war, in the middle of the field.
She grew up in Jamaica. She made two trips to England when she was a teenager.
She loved travelling.
After nursing she travelled between England and Jamaica.
Page 16 of 16
Activity to do at home-
Can you travel through the maze to help Mary travel from Jamaica to England?
