Australia's Science Forum

One of my favourite teachers recently took a group of our top Yr 10s to ANU, where they were able to work in a "real" lab. One of the pracs they saw was "making icecream using liquid nitrogen", and of course, one of the boys has since come up with a vaguely related question - &qu...

Update: Potato vine flowers in full strength universal overnight - looked very unhealthy this morning, and no colour change with spraying. [I was wondering about how it was supposed to work with the indicator being within the cells, and the spray on the surface.] Checked with teacher, and he reckons...

Open night coming up, and one teacher has suggested something he'd done elsewhere - something about putting flowers in a vase of universal indicator solution & leaving them for ??? how long. Then you spray the flowers with an acid or base, and the petals change colour. Apparently reversible if a...

Must be wedding season! My nephew gets married in Q'ld that weekend, and the logistics just got too complicated. And I had every intention of coming this year - it just sounds so good. Oh well, next year.....

Unbelievable #-o Hope they're cancelling all pracs for several weeks to allow you to do this, cause it sure looks as though the form will need your undivided attention with the level of detail required! Does anyone know how to do a web search for the original, 'cause I for one would love to know whe...

I drew grids on black card, then laminated. Easy to use, clean, store. Depending on the grid size you want, you should get 2 to 4 to an A4 laminate sheet. Don't forget to leave a clear zone round each card, or else they'll peel apart at the first wash!

Agreed - if you regularly have to work extra time just to get through the work load, don't do it. Or make sure you get overtime, or time off in lieu - check your award/agreement. And count the time you spend running round outside work hours doing the odd bit of shopping, etc - it all add up! There s...

I think that the phones should be a necessity, not an optional extra for the prep room. Our set up is six labs, one central prep room, and there is a phone in the prep room. Phone has STD access - at one stage not all phones in the school had access, but the registrar thought that I needed it :-) (N...

How about "Breeding Reebops"? Also know as making little critters out of marshmallows, tooth picks, thumb tacks and pipe cleaners. A web search for "reebops" should give you the method, but let me know if you want more info. We haven't done it for a few years now, but as I rememb...

A few years back, I got sick of the solid mass at the bottom of the beakers that resulted when kids made saturated solutions by just adding spoonful after spoonful of alum to boiling water, so I did a bit of checking and measuring. Results: Solubility of alum (anhydrous): 1g/20ml in cold water, 14g/...

We had a lockdown practice this week. We'd finally gotten everyone locked into their labs, and all was quiet. Next thing, there's a relief teacher out of her lab, door left wide open, banging on another lab door, wanting to know was the practice finished! Sigh!!!! I think we've got some problems to ...

I have a couple of students wanting to make smoke bombs using potassium nitrate and I'm not sure what else, to be used for a chemistry classroom presentation and possibly shown to local primary schools. Can anyone help with information on how to do it, whether we should be doing it, and any precauti...

Thanks Robbie, Trish & Rosalie for the lab advice. I've also had a quick look through the NSW lab upgrade comments, so have a good bit of info to get me started. Mind you, we're not off to a good start - the bods that were supposed to turn up for the meeting this morning haven't showed up - yet....

Help!!! We have been told, at very short notice, that we are eligible to apply for a grant to do up some of our labs - no promise that we'll get the money,or that prep and store areas might be included, but I can dream! Anyway, first meeting is tomorrow (I did say short notice) and I'm after ideas o...

Thanks Lisa, I enjoyed the slideshow - brought back memories from my dim, very distant past! Once a microbiologist, always a microbiologist??? Incidentally, is there any requirement for teachers to have any sort of basic micro training before they're let loose with a class and some agar plates, or i...

Could I belatedly put my hand up for a copy of the slideshow too.

cecilia.melano@ed.act.edu.au

Many thanks
Cecilia