woodchurch science

in this radio program howard stableford discovers how jurassic plankton ends up in our petrol tanks, why oil dominates world politics and what we might do when it starts to run out. its worth getting pupils to listen to the first 10 minutes or so of the program (including the bit about using a mars bar to illustrate the formation of sedimentary basins!), then get them to, for example, produce a timeline or cartoon strip to illustrate how plankton is converted to oil.

channel 4 have released a bank of clips for use in science lessons. you can buy a licence to access them all but there are free ones for use when taching about particle theory, energy changes in chemical reactions and crude oil etc.

15 y9 pupils took part in a project to prepare perfumes. fragrances were extracted from rose petals, lavender, rosemary, mint, orange peel, cloves and stock by maceration and steam distillation. after break pupils then made simple soap from vegetable oil and caustic soda.




resources for this project can be found here:
teacher guide/technician guide/soap making instructions/pupil booklet

clip 1 dead animals fall to seabed, clip 2 plant/animal matter turns to rock, then oil, clip 3 oil rises through permeable rock, clip 4 drilling for oil

here’s a link to some information about steelmaking. useful if you are taking separate science chemistry year 11.