I’ve dragged a desk outside and the class are gathered around it, agog.I’m sweating – what if it doesn’t work? I pop the fizzy tablet into the capsule and slop in a little vinegar. I fumble a little but manage to snap the lid back on and slap it on to the desk. There’s a pause. Bubbles appear out of the side of the old film canister. I start to formulate a sentence where I explain why our rockets haven’t demonstrated Newton’s third law quite as clearly as I’d hoped…
Pop! The blessed little thing shoots into the air, gaining an altitude of three, maybe four, metres, with every eye in the class following in wonder. There are whoops of joy. Someone punches the air triumphantly (it may well have been me).
Now, vinegar and bicarb rockets are hardly new: I must have done them first 15 years ago and they haven’t let me down yet. But the sad fact is, it’s probably 10 years or more since I last blew the dust off my bag of film canisters and sent them into space. Somehow, there seems to be less time in the school day than ever before, and more things to fill that time with.
You have your “starter for five” arithmetic when you enter the classroom, your phonics session, a good hour for English and another for maths, guided reading is half an hour after lunch, there’s assembly and two PE lessons that must be fitted in. The primary curriculum is packed to bursting and it always seems to be the ace stuff, the stuff that really gets the children talking, that gets squeezed out.
So, when Tes contacted me to see whether I was up for a little experiment – one in which some of this stuff had the possibility of being reintroduced – they found a willing lab rat.
The experiment
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Denne historien er fra October 18, 2019-utgaven av TES.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prÞveperiode pÄ Magzter GOLD for Ä fÄ tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Try not to get hung up on linguistic convention, chic@s
Languages are like water â they take the easiest route. And, like gender, they are fluid. That is why, as world languages evolve to reflect cultural change, a revolution is under way in the use of âmasculineâ and âfeminineâ terms, writes Heather Martin
Three simple psychology tips for better behaviour
When a pupil is acting up, their motivations are often hidden from view. Itâs possible that teachers themselves are partially at fault for setting the wrong tone in their interaction with others, writes Lekha Sharma, who suggests ways to remodel a school culture
This research could be music to your earsâŠ
Schools should resist putting additional time and resources into yet more English and maths lessons and instead give childrenâs learning a research-evidenced boost by encouraging them to join a band or an orchestra, says Martin Leigh
Minority (school) report
Predictive technology â powered by increasingly complex algorithms â is finding its way into schools, promising to pre-empt misbehaviour, violence or mental health issues before they happen. But does it work, and is its use ethical, asks Simon Creasey
Giving school a spin again
In a bid to improve parental engagement, one Edinburgh school is putting parents in their childrenâs shoes to experience a typical modern school day â and the results are breathtaking, finds Emma Seith
Averting Pupils' Social Stigma By âPoverty Proofing'
Do your school policies unintentionally âoutâ children from disadvantaged backgrounds? One charity says such occurrences are all too common and have proposed âpoverty proofingâ as the solution. Lucy Edkins investigates
A Plant-Based Diet Of Learning
Aware of the mental health benefits of green-fingered working, Nigel Cox helped to set up an outreach course at his college to support people recovering from substance abuse and other personal challenges
Social And Emotional Skills In The Early Years
Children who are able to focus their attention, manage their behaviour and interact positively with others from a young age experience better learning outcomes later in life, finds Irena Barker
How Centralised Detentions Get Pupils' Attention
By adopting a consistent whole-school approach to rewards and sanctions, we achieved a marked improvement in attitudes to learning â and reduced teachersâ workload, says Calvin Robinson
Homework Truths
With some studies claiming that homework has little or no impact on pupil achievement, schools have been tempted to cut back on it or ban it altogether. But we shouldnât write homework off, warn two gurus of UK education research. Steve Higgins and Lee Elliot Major argue that the evidence on homework has been misrepresented â and out-of-school study can, in fact, have a major impact on learning outcomes
