4 December 2019
Abingdon Science Partnership’s programme of Primary Science Workshops has been running weekly throughout the term, covering curriculum topics on everything from Plants and Animals to Earth in Space and Chemical Reactions.
Chilton Primary School has brought all three of their Year 3 classes to the Electricity workshop in the past few weeks with over 80 children visiting in total. During this workshop the children create static electricity with balloons and other objects and test its effects, learning about charge, electrons and the electrostatic forces that underpin all of electricity. They also enjoy making a simple electrical cell and then combining these together into batteries and measuring the increase in voltage produced which is sometimes enough to light up simple devices such as LEDs.
The high point of this workshop is always the Van de Graaff generator used to demonstrate snowstorms, flying pie dishes and lightning. Occasionally a brave, accompanying member of staff will also be willing to demonstrate the hair raising effects of static electricity, but only if all the children participating can remember the scientific explanations first.
The ASP’s full range of Primary Science Workshops can be seen on our online booking portal with bookings now being taken for next term’s workshops.
