Our Favourite Hands-On Science Incursions
Getting hands-on is hands-down the best way to engage students and encourage them to get involved with science! Whether you’re teaching prep or high school aged students, a hands-on lesson helps make a lasting impression and ensures the lesson sticks.
These days there’s no shortage of options available. You can design your own lesson plans, purchase pre-made classroom kits or you can even book a science incursion. Science incursions take the hard work out of planning hands-on lessons. Instead, you can rely on experienced science educators to provide experiments, explanations and engaging lessons that let your students really sink their teeth into the material.
Street Science offers a huge range of science incursions for students of all ages! In this article we’re going to take a look at some of our favourites and what you can expect from a hands-on science incursion with our team.
Our Favourite Hands-On Science Incursions for Younger Students
Hands-on experiments are the best way to engage younger students and help them understand the material. Getting involved with simple experiments helps students build stronger neural networks that reinforces the information they are learning. Seeing, hearing, touching and doing are a huge part of our science incursions for Prep to Year 6 students, and some of our favourite workshops include:
Cheeky Changes (Bouncy Balls)
For year 1 students
This energetic science incursion is designed to get the ball rolling for younger students. During the lesson we’ll lead your students through a simple chemical reaction and the process of making bouncy balls from PVA glue!
This experiment involves making PVA glue balls that bounce just like the bouncy balls you can buy from the shops. Our science communicators lead the lesson and help students understand, describe and compare the changes to the PVA bouncy balls as the reaction takes place. It’s a fun, messy and a slightly sticky lesson, and the best part is students get to keep the bouncy balls and take them home to play with!
Rocket Science – Push/Pull Power
For year 2 students
Our rocket science workshop is always a hit! During the lesson we’ll explore Newton’s laws of physics and how they apply to the forces of flight. We then use those principles to guide students through the basics of rocket science as they build and launch their very own rockets.
As part of the experiment students also get to mix their own CO2 rocket fuel. This fuel is super effective and perfectly safe, and it’s a great way to encourage students to record the results of their experiment. The workshop culminates with a big launch event where students get to see whose rockets can fly the highest!
See the Light
For year 5 students
See the Light is an immersive workshop that’s designed to expand Year 5 students’ understanding of the world around them. Throughout the workshop we’ll take a journey through the concepts of light absorption, reflection and refraction, as well as how shadows are formed. This is all tied back to common concepts of vision and visible light to help students apply the concepts they’re learning.
The workshop culminates in a hands-on experiment where learners get to make their own UV light-sensing bands. Students are welcome to keep the bands they make so that the adventure can continue in the classroom or at home.
Energy & Electrical Circuits
For year 6 students
Charge up the bright sparks in your class as we take students through the nuts and volts of electrical energy! Electricity powers our modern world, and helping students understand the flow of energy is a great way to build their understanding of the technology they use every day.
We make the lesson simple with snap-together electrical circuits that allow students to build their very own electrical devices. These snap together circuits include components like FM transmitters, bulbs, insulators, conductors and batteries, giving students the chance to build all sorts of devices!
Our Favourite Hands-On Science Incursion for Older Students
Older students already have a great foundation that allows us to branch out and conduct more complex science experiments. The more they understand, the easier it is to get hands-on with advanced concepts that students see throughout their everyday lives. Our favourite science incursions for older students include:
Forensic Science – Who Dyed?
For year 7-10 students
The mystery of who dyed remains unsolved – until now!
In this workshop, students join the Street Science Forensics Unit to investigate a curious mystery. During the lesson students have the chance to sharpen their detective skills as they gather and analyse the evidence they’ll need to solve the crime.
We pull out all the stops in this 90-minute session. Students use ink chromatography, soil density testing, shoeprint analysis and much more. And these techniques aren’t just fun – they’re also real world forensics techniques that students will likely encounter on TV and in movies, which ensures the lesson really sinks in.
The fun doesn’t end once the mystery is solved either! We also offer a range of STEAM extension activities so students can continue the investigation in class at a later date.
Get Your Students Involved with a Hands-On Science Incursion from Street Science!
Creating fun science experiments that really engage your students is always a challenge. Balancing curriculum requirements with students’ needs means it’s often easier to work with the team from Street Science!
Street Science are experienced science communicators, and we’ve created a range of science incursions for students of every age. We use our signature blend of FUN and HUMOUR to create workshops that are engaging, informative and very hands-on.
That ensures our lessons really sink in and that your students are always excited to learn more! You can explore our hands-on science incursion programs online, or get in touch with us to book a Street Science show for your students.
