CONTRIBUTORS
CONTRIBUTOR S
An exciting new chapter of reading for pleasure
In his regular column for Education Today, GRA
RAHAMCOOPER, head of education, Capita SIMS, this month reflects on
World Book Day, and the import
rtance of reading for pleasure. Low cost light! L owcost light !
This month, resident Education Today STEM columnist KIRSTY BERTENSHAW continues her popular “science on a shoestring” series with a look at light.
Thismonth, resident Education Today STEMcolumnist RT
shoestring” series with a look at light .
The topic of light occurs in several key stages due to our spiral curriculum. Here are a few ways to explore light on a budget! Shadow puppet theatres are a great way to discover that light travels in straight lines. Save the cardboard that comes around a large glass picture frame and use is as the ‘theatre’ for shadow puppets. Simply staple baking paper to the back and you have a projection screen too.
The topic of light occurs in several key stages due to our spiral curriculum. Here are a few ways to explore light on a budget! Shadow puppet theatres are a great way to discover that light travels in straight lines. Save the cardboard that comes around a large glass picture frame and use is as the ‘theatre’ for shadow puppets. Simply staple baking paper to the back and you have a projection screen too.
ThisWorld Book Day, I was thinking about the first book where I realised I was reading because I wanted to, not because I’d been told to. For me, that book was The Hobbit. As a youngster, it just captured me, I was fully involved in the plot and eager to know what was going to happen. However, my book won’t be everyone’s choice. So, I did a quick straw poll and asked friends and colleagues what ‘their book’ was. As you would expect, the responses were all different; Treasure Island, TheWorstWitch, Harry Potter and TheWind in Willows, to name a few.
I wasn’t surprised at the variety of books that were mentioned. I did get a couple of replies that left me feeling a bit deflated – “I’ve never liked reading”, “books are boring.”, “Graham, what are you talking about?”. It got me thinking, perhaps they just didn’t find that book, ‘the one’. If they had, would things be different?
Research has shown that reading for pleasure can lead to a reduction in symptoms of anxiety and depression for both children and adults. In our busy world, ways to alleviate stress need to be encouraged.We also know that reading has a powerful impact on children’s learning.
As my mini study showed, we all have differing tastes in reading material. So, a book that you loved could very well be the worst book someone else has ever read. The challenge for schools and parents is to find stories that appeal to each individual child.
That’s all very well but how do we do that?
The answer is better information. Knowing what a child’s interests are, do they like fiction or non-fiction, do they like to read on a tablet or have a physical book, have they the reading stamina to read a chapter book or would a graphic novel be their preferred choice? The dif ficulty for schools is having the time, the resources and the tools to be able to find this insight for every child.
Well, one book-loving champion has the solution. Award-winning librarian Adam Lancaster has designed a tool that will help teachers and parents to work together to unlock a love of reading. His Impact Through Reading software gives schools an easy way to find out each students’ attitude to reading and their interests outside school. This knowledge is a powerful tool, which can be used to support students in the classroom and can be shared with parents.
The online tool, which is part of theMLS Reading Cloud, asks the student to take part in a survey.
The results reveal what motivates young readers and provides evidence that shows the difference that reading for pleasure has on a student’s overall academic ability.
However, the bit that I really like is that if you know a child is a football fan or loves animals, you are in a much better position to suggest reading material that is going to spark their interest.
so many more youn I’m really excited
about this as this gives us the opportunity to encourage g people to develop a love of reading.
1 8 www .education-toda
y.co.uk.co.uk www
Using a prism to split light for the first time is magical. Plastic prisms are more resilient to classroom use and much cheaper too. Coloured filters for light allow you to investigate reflection and absorption of colour. If you don’t have coloured filters easily available, you can borrow reading overlays. Or, use coloured plastic sweet wrappers, cut up pieces of plastic bags or food packaging. They work just as well, and it doesn’t matter if they get creased or damaged.
Ray boxes are traditionally used for light experiments but can be quite expensive. Instead, high powered LED torches can be used. These can often be found in supermarkets and can cost as little as 99p each. These do use batteries, so if you want to consider the environment, rechargeable batteries can be used. Ray boxes have slits to reduce the light to one single beam. Depending on the design of the torch, you can do this too by attaching a piece of thick opaque card over the torch with either a thin slit or a small round hole in. Be sure to cover the whole outline of the torch glass to avoid light contamination in experiments.
Often classrooms are too bright for good light experiments. Avoid excess light by saving small delivery boxes or cereal boxes, sealing the edges with cloth tape and asking pupils to perform the experiments inside the box!
Often classrooms are too bright for good light experiments. Avoid excess light by saving small delivery boxes or cereal boxes, sealing the edges with cloth tape and asking pupils to perform the experiments inside the box!
Reflection requires mirrors, which are usually glass and fragile. Two -sided mirrored plastic can be bought for less money, and cut to the required sizes too. Plus, if you keep the protective backing on one side, then once the plastic is too scratched to be used, turn it over and remove the other backing to reveal a shiny and perfect mirrored surface again.
Reflection requires mirrors, which are us Two -sided mirrored plastic can be bought
for less money, and cut ually glass and fragile.
to the required sizes too. Plus, if you keep the protective backing on one side, then once the plastic is too scratched to be used, turn it ov er and remove the other backing to re veal a shiny and perfec t mirrored surface again.
Fibre optic cables use total internal reflection to send information from one place to another, but they are too small to see this happening. Use a child’s fibre optic lamp or torch to show light goes into one end of the cables and comes out the other. These are regularly in the toy section of my local corner shop, so can be found very inexpensively. A simple way to demonstrate total internal reflection is to fill a large colourless glass tank or casserole dish with water, then add a few drops of milk until it becomes cloudy. Use a high-powered torch or a laser pointer for the best results, and aim the beam through the side of the dish, so it bounces off the surface of the water and is reflected back into the milky water, where it will then bounce off the bottom of the dish, continuing the internal reflection. Alternatively, you could use a two-litre bottle instead of the glass casserole dish, preparing it in the same way, and pressing the light source up to the bottle’s side to begin. Please make sure that only low-powered lasers are used for safety reasons.
Fibre optic cables use total internal reflection to send information from one place to another, but they are too small to see this happening. Use a child’s fibre optic lamp or torch to show light goes into one end of the cables and comes out the other. These are regularly in the toy section of my local corner shop, so can be found very inexpensively. A simple way to demonstrate total internal reflection is to fill a large colourless glass tank or casserole dish with water, then add a few drops of milk until it becomes cloudy. Use a high-powered torch or a laser pointer for the best results, and aim the beam through the side of the dish, so it bounces off the surface of the water and is reflected back into the milky water, where it will then bounce off the bottom of the dish, continuing the internal reflection. Alternatively, you could use a two-litre bottle instead of the glass casserole dish, preparing it in the same way, and pressing the light source up to the bottle’s side to begin. Please make sure that only low-p for safety reasons .
Ray boxes are traditionally used for light experiments but can be quite expensive. Instead, high powered LED torches can be used. These can often be found in supermarkets and can cost as little as 99p each. These do use batteries, so if you want to consider the environment, rechargeable batteries can be used. Ray boxes have slits to reduce the light to one single beam. Depending on the design of the torch, you can do this too by attaching a piece of thick opaque card over the torch with either a thin slit or a small round hole in. Be sure to cover the whole outline of the torch glass to avoid light contamination in experiments.
Using a prism to split light for the first time is magical. Plastic prisms are more resilient to classroom use and much cheaper too. Coloured filters for light allow you to investigate reflection and absorption of colour. If you don’t have coloured filters easily available, you can borrow reading overlays. Or, use coloured plastic sweet wrappers, cut up pieces of plastic bags or food packaging. They work just as well, and it doesn’t matter if they get creased or damaged.
KIRSTY BERTENSHAW continues her popular “science on a
AW
2018 owered lasers are used
Marc h 2018
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