Ideas for setting up a primary science room Follow FizzicsEd Articles: Comments 0 Primary science rooms are awesome! Engaging kids in science can be a breeze if you prepare the right environment. Last week I was at Lane Cove Public School to run an after-school science club and noticed the fantastic effort the teachers had put into their dedicated primary science room. Normally in most primary schools there just isn’t enough space for a room like this but in this case, the school had definitely done a great job in making the most of it! Primary science classroom exploratory materials at Lane Cove Public School Across all the side benches was a variety of interesting collections taken, all supported by bright and inviting signage that would grab your attention as you walk through the door. Arranging science stimulus materials in such a way certainly would help school’s students be aware of the world around them; especially as a number of the displays were created by the students themselves as ongoing experiments (eg. a soil sedimentation longitudinal experiment and a plant growth experiment that also combined a little art too). Soil sedimentation experiment jars along a windowsill Art & science at Lane Cove Public School Looking around the room there were a variety of ideas that primary teachers could use in their own rooms; definitely a source of inspiration for student blogging or getting out those digital microscopes! Pen chromatography by primary students. This is simple chromatography displays done by allowing water to spread through the paper to reveal the pigments used. Rock collection by a primary student. Rock collections by students can depict where the sample was collected and the date Biological photography by primary students. Students can create close up digital photographs of insects with descriptions written in the student’s own words \ Fact sheets on planets done by primary students in their own words … and much more… It was great to see that the school displays had been created mainly by the students themselves and that the displays were clearly woven into the normal curriculum. Having a dedicated science room in your primary school certainly makes sense if you make it happen. Considering that students are required to do science in primary school and that most schools have at least 1-2 classes of students per year group means that somewhere within your school science would be being run at most times anyway… why not consolidate this work into a functional primary science room? Yes some time would be lost moving between rooms and yes there would be some budget required up front, however, an efficiency would be gained in having all your experiment support materials in the one spot (no more searching for plastic beakers!). Plus it could be inspiring for your students! If you can get this going in your school the room would naturally become a fantastic resource to bring parents through for a school science fair! Find out about STEM PD programs by Fizzics Education Even if you can’t go to the full length of a dedicated primary science classroom you could still setup a science corner in your classroom. Here students could showcase their work, run an ongoing experiment or read & research more about the science topic you’re currently teaching. A science corner is quite common in preschools and early learning centres, why not make a start on your primary version today? The kids will love it and you might get more attention from the kids as a result! Happy teaching, Ben Newsome. NEW Primary science teaching book! “Be Amazing! How to teach science, the way primary kids love” Want more ideas for teaching science? Subscribe to the FizzicsEd Podcast! Love Science? Subscribe! Join our newsletter Receive more lesson plans and fun science ideas. PROGRAMS COURSES SHOP SCIENCE PARTIES Calendar of Events HIGH SCHOOL Science@Home 4-Week Membership 12PM: March 2024 Feb 26, 2024 - Mar 29, 2024 12PM - 12PM Price: $50 - $900 Book Now! PRIMARY Science@Home 4-Week Membership 2PM: March 2024 Feb 26, 2024 - Mar 22, 2024 2PM - 2PM Price: $50 - $900 Book Now! Light and Colour Online Workshop, Jan 18 PM Jan 18, 2024 2PM - 3PM Price: $50 Book Now! Light and Colour Online Workshop, Jan 18 AM Jan 18, 2024 9AM - 11AM Price: $50 Book Now! Lego Robotics, Sydney Olympic Park Jan 2024 Jan 24, 2024 9AM - 12PM Price: $50 Book Now! Creative Coding, Sydney Olympic Park Jan 2024 Jan 24, 2024 1PM - 4PM Price: $50 Book Now! Creative Coding, Sydney Olympic Park July 11 2023 Jul 11, 2023 9AM - 4PM Price: $100 Book Now! Fizzics Education STEAM Day: Robots vs Dinosaurs, Lalor, Apr 14 Apr 14, 2023 9AM - 12PM Price: $45 - $50 Book Now! Creative Coding, Sydney Olympic Park April 14 2023 Apr 14, 2023 9AM - 4PM Price: $100 Book Now! Science@Home After School 4-Week Membership: March 2023 Mar 06, 2023 - Mar 31, 2023 4PM - 5PM Price: $40 - $1200 Book Now! Featured Articles Ideas for teaching STEM in preschool Topics Biology [43] Events [45] National Science Week [3] Space Science [27] competitions [12] Sustainability [8] Student investigation [2] Social Emotional Learning [1] CAST test [1] Books [3] Farming [1] Outdoors [36] Sport [8] careers [10] UN SDGs [4] collaboration [1] Engineering [4] US Education [1] China [1] Food [4] Outreach [35] STEM [217] Physics [6] Global [2] K to 2 education [1] Virtual reality [2] citizen science [1] Churchill Fellowship [19] Gaming [7] Ozscied [2] Teaching [262] Chemistry [5] International [1] Photography [1] Play [1] Cleveland [1] Gifted [7] Podcasts [119] Television [2] design thinking [8] Chinese student visits [1] Parenting [4] preservice teaching [5] Club [4] History [4] Pop Culture [4] Toys & Gadgets [1] project-based learning [5] Science & Technology Camps [1] Lesson ideas [1] Comedy [2] Coding [14] Indigenous [3] Preschool [24] Video Conferencing [40] family [2] Design [2] Lab Tech [1] math [1] Cooking [3] Kids [36] Remote Education [16] Virtual Excursions [9] Inclusive education [6] Oceans [5] Leadership [1] Electricity [1] Dinosaurs [7] Kids Parties [5] Robotics [10] Edutech [26] Classroom management [1] video conference [1] special needs [1] scholarship [1] Apps [11] Distance Education [50] Kitchen Chemistry [7] Safety [2] Distance Learning [19] Student encouragement [2] online [4] image [1] Africa [1] Agriculture [4] Eastershow [2] Maker Space [11] Scicomm [141] primary education [46] STEAM [9] virtual [2] gamification [1] Asia Pacific [1] Art [17] Edchat [223] Maths [14] Scied [34] literacy [6] Higher education [4] Child online safety [1] Esports [1] Easter [1] Augmented Reality [4] Edtech [68] Media [18] Science [6] secondary education [44] teacher [1] dis [0] biotechnology [1] curriculum [2] AussieED [1] Education [207] Museums [31] Science News [4] Christmas [1] Vacation care [1] Film [1] computational thinking [2] high [1] Awards [13] Educhange [5] Music [2] Social Media [8] experiments [6] middle school [2] Inquiry-based learning [5] digital technologies [5] Earth science [1] Big History [1] Environment [37] NASA [6] Soils [1] seasonal [1] Artificial Intelligence [3] List [1] Games [1] Medicine [1] Load More Topics
Primary science rooms are awesome! Engaging kids in science can be a breeze if you prepare the right environment. Last week I was at Lane Cove Public School to run an after-school science club and noticed the fantastic effort the teachers had put into their dedicated primary science room. Normally in most primary schools there just isn’t enough space for a room like this but in this case, the school had definitely done a great job in making the most of it! Primary science classroom exploratory materials at Lane Cove Public School Across all the side benches was a variety of interesting collections taken, all supported by bright and inviting signage that would grab your attention as you walk through the door. Arranging science stimulus materials in such a way certainly would help school’s students be aware of the world around them; especially as a number of the displays were created by the students themselves as ongoing experiments (eg. a soil sedimentation longitudinal experiment and a plant growth experiment that also combined a little art too). Soil sedimentation experiment jars along a windowsill Art & science at Lane Cove Public School Looking around the room there were a variety of ideas that primary teachers could use in their own rooms; definitely a source of inspiration for student blogging or getting out those digital microscopes! Pen chromatography by primary students. This is simple chromatography displays done by allowing water to spread through the paper to reveal the pigments used. Rock collection by a primary student. Rock collections by students can depict where the sample was collected and the date Biological photography by primary students. Students can create close up digital photographs of insects with descriptions written in the student’s own words \ Fact sheets on planets done by primary students in their own words … and much more… It was great to see that the school displays had been created mainly by the students themselves and that the displays were clearly woven into the normal curriculum. Having a dedicated science room in your primary school certainly makes sense if you make it happen. Considering that students are required to do science in primary school and that most schools have at least 1-2 classes of students per year group means that somewhere within your school science would be being run at most times anyway… why not consolidate this work into a functional primary science room? Yes some time would be lost moving between rooms and yes there would be some budget required up front, however, an efficiency would be gained in having all your experiment support materials in the one spot (no more searching for plastic beakers!). Plus it could be inspiring for your students! If you can get this going in your school the room would naturally become a fantastic resource to bring parents through for a school science fair! Find out about STEM PD programs by Fizzics Education Even if you can’t go to the full length of a dedicated primary science classroom you could still setup a science corner in your classroom. Here students could showcase their work, run an ongoing experiment or read & research more about the science topic you’re currently teaching. A science corner is quite common in preschools and early learning centres, why not make a start on your primary version today? The kids will love it and you might get more attention from the kids as a result! Happy teaching, Ben Newsome. NEW Primary science teaching book! “Be Amazing! How to teach science, the way primary kids love” Want more ideas for teaching science? Subscribe to the FizzicsEd Podcast!
This website uses cookies to improve user experience. By using our website you consent to all cookies in accordance with our Cookie Policy.
Thank you for looking to subscribing to our newsletter 🙂 Through this service you’ll be first to know about the newest free experiments, science news and special offers. PLUS: Get a free Kitchen Chemistry Booklet with >20 experiments, how to use variables plus a handy template!
Please fill out the details below and an email will be sent to you. Once you get that just click on the link to confirm your subscription and you're all done!