[Patrick Curran]

Last year, my class really enjoyed the Skittles colour mixing experiment. The resources are very simple for this and it always causes a lot of excitement no matter what the age.

As part of this experiment, I would first show the children the resources (warm water, skittles and plastic plates). I would then display the inquiry question: What will happen to the skittles when the warm water is poured over them? Children would be given a chance to discuss their ideas in their groups before sharing them with the class. I would record all of their answers on a flipchart so that we could refer back to them at the end of the lesson.

Groups would each be given a plastic plate and some skittles to rearrange in a colourful pattern. This would also link into the Maths curriculum – they could discuss and identify the pattern within their group and others. I would then gently pour warm water over the skittles for the children to observe the results. Afterwards, we could discuss what happened and the reasons behind it. I would use the flipchart from earlier as a stimulus for this also and we could discuss why some predictions were correct and why some were not.

For younger children where water may be a hazard at their groups, I would perhaps perform just one experiment at the front of the room. I would use my visualiser connected to the interactive board so that the children would not miss out on any steps.

[Patrick Curran]

That sounds like a really fun lesson. I think the children would particularly enjoy the freedom and creativity afforded to them in designing their own bridge from scratch. There are nice opportunities for self-assessment and peer-assessment also.

[Patrick Curran]

Hi, I’m Paddy. I teach 1st class in an Educate Together school in Dublin. My favourite space fact is that a NASA space suit costs approximately $12,000,000!

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