Chemistry Week - Laboratory Experience

We attended a series of laboratory sessions at the Singapore Science Centre during their Chemistry Week. Most of the workshops used concepts in Chemistry learnt at the Secondary 3/4 level. Of course, my 8 year-olds don't get it all! But they had fun just "playing" with the apparatus. ;-)

For the sake of future reference, I will go ahead with noting down the specifics of what was done.

Workshop 1 - Sulfur Dioxide and its Role in Preserving Food

What we did :- We tested for the presences of SO2. Hydrogen peroxide was added to food samples (preserved mango, dried sour plum, preserved papaya, raisins, potato chips, fruit juice). This causes SO2 to be oxidised to form sulphates. This sulphate will precipitate out as barium sulphate when barium chloride is added.

My observation :- Boys got the droppers all mixed up and in the process contaminated the solutions!



Workshop 2 - Recycle Paper - Transform Newspaper to New Paper

What we did :- We blended newspaper shreds in a blender with some water. The resultant pulp was gently laid on a mesh that is submerged in a tray of water. The pulp is spread evenly to dry.


Some dried flowers were sprinkled throughout.

We had some leftover pulp, so we made a smaller circular shaped paper.


My observation :- This is the most straight forward of all the workshops. The boys needed to learn that "more doesn't mean better"... I had to remove most of the dried flower they "dumped" onto the paper.



Workshop 3 - Hydrogen Fuel Cell

What we did :- We produced hydrogen gas by reacting magnesium with hydrochloric acid. Hydrogen gas was tested using a glowing splinter.

Too slow in preparing the glowing splint. Ops... fingers too small to stopper over test-tube opening, so most of the hydrogen escaped! ... Managed to get a soft "pop"sound (positive test for hydrogen). Phew!


The set up here was used to electrolyse water.


Green solution of Universal Indicator was added into the water. We observe that the colours at the two graphite electrodes were different. The indicator cahnged to orange (acidic) on the anode (left arm) and violet on the cathode (right arm).

The electrode reactions are as follows:
at the anode:
2H2O(l) → O2(g) + 4H+(aq) + 4e–
at the cathode:
4H2O(l) + 4e– → 2H2(g) + 4OH–(aq)
Overall:
2H2O(l) → O2(g) + 2H2(g)

The aim of showing the children the electrolysis of water is to show the working principles of a hydrogen fuel cell. The electron gradient produced can be be channelled through an electrical circuit.



Workshop 4 - Green Chemistry - Balance with Nature

What we did :- We investigated the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide. Two identical set up like this was set up.


Carbon dioxide was put in one of the boxes. The thermometer poked into the box allowed temperature in there to be taken over a period of 8 minutes after the lamp above it has been switched on. The temperature gradient was significantly higher in the box with carbon dioxide.


This was another experiment where we investigated on the effects of various solution on shells. You can see that there is a hole in the middle of the shell on the left. That is the result of submerging it in hydrochloric acid. This experiment aims to show the effect of acid rain.



Conclusion : I realized that my boys had a lot to learn about basic laboratory skills! These include measuring, planning and general apparatus handling. I found a simple lab sheet on Laboratory Safety and Measurement that we can work through at home. Alright, more hands-on session at home from now on...

Learning the Constellations

We made it to the Singapore Science Centre Star gazing night on the night of Good Friday (10 April). The brief talk on constellations highlighted those that were visible this month and the next. Orion is in the middle of our field of view about 9ish at night. Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky(belonging to the constellation Big Dog) can also be seen. We were told of the rising of the Southern Cross later at about 10ish and subsequently shown on a simulator how it would look like (more like a kite than a cross).

We had to queue to see Saturn on the big telescope. The ring appeared just to be a line across the planet because this year, Earth and Saturn happened to be on the same plane. We were told that next year, a more distinct ring can be seen because we would be viewing Saturn somewhat "from above". I must admit, Saturn was disappointingly small.

The moon through the smaller free-standing telescopes that were set up looked more impressive in comparison. We were amazed at how fast the moon was moving across the sky; so fast that it kept going out of view on the telescope. Through the telescope, I could actually see the moon creeping!

The overcast sky that night did not allow us to see much more. Even Orion was hidden.

Volunteers at the centre were armed with a green laser pointer to show where the stars were. I made a mental note to try out my red laser pointer I have at home. (I later found out that red ones don't show up well in the sky - read more here) I have seen nature guides use this dandy tool to point at far off points of interest when I go for guided walks and have always wanted to bring it along with me when we go for our nature walks. (But there just seem to be so many things to bring I always forget.:-1

A few nights later as I was enjoying our aquarium in the balcony, I looked up at the sky and saw the distinct kite shape of the Southern Cross! I wasn't sure I identified it correctly so I pulled out our book Stars: A New Way to See Them by Rey (my favourite book on the constellations) to check. True enough, it really was the Southern Cross! I verified by checking the other stars around that constellation. Two other bright stars Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri , belonging to the constellation Centaur, could be seen a little south-east of the Cross. That led me to find more of the stars belonging to Centaur.

I could not contain my excitement any longer. So off I went to dig my boys up from their beds to show them my "discovery"!

Rock Climbing

Two Fridays ago, D and B had a 4 hour session of rock climbing at Safra, Toa Payoh with their homeschool friends. I initially thought they wouldn't be able to last for more that 2 hours. They proved me wrong! The children were all still wanting to scale the walls even after the safety ropes were removed at the end of the session! Needless to say, they enjoyed themselves thoroughly! (Thanks J for organizing!)

Here are their triumphant moments...


After a few days , D very excitedly told me that he knew how it must have felt for Dudwin, a character in a book he was reading called Little Giant - Big Trouble by Kate McMullan (Dragon Slayers' Academy). According to D, Dudwin likes to climb things and pick up stones wherever he goes. Once, he had to climb a giant stair that was made of small rocks packed together. He had to find holes to put his feet in and pull himself up. That was exactly like what they had to do when they rock climbed!

Wednesdays in March

March has turned out to be an activity-packed month. So much so I am finding myself not being able to keep up with updating my blog!

We don't normally head out on Wednesdays but in the month of March, we have been out consistently every Wednesday.

First Wed

An NTU lunch time concert gave the boys the opportunity to listen to an ancient instrument, the lute. This instrument is quite frequently used in the medieval period. Now, it is more often associated with middle eastern music.


Second Wed

We were at the Singapore Science Centre more often than usual this pass month to maximize on our membership which was soon expiring. (We did that for our Zoo membership too... in Feb.) Here is a picture of my boys attempting for the nth time to beat the record for the longest distance flown by a paper airplane. Their maximum distance was about 12 m.



Third Wed

Our homeschool group organized a trip to the Road Safety Park. It was more a fun time for the children to ride on the go-karts rather than learning traffic regulations. :-b


After that was playtime at East Coast beach; beach soccer, water polo, shell-picking... for the boys. I enjoyed the glaring sun and warm sea breeze...


Forth Wed

The last Wednesday in March, we participated in the Homeschool Curriculum Fair. This is an annual event where homschool mothers set up tables to share their resources and expertise with other homeschoolers. I benefited from the talks and sharing of the other homeschooling mothers in the fairs that I have attended in previous years. I am glad to be able to "give back" to the homeschool community this year. I set a table to "show-and-tell" what I do for our homeschool for Mathematics, History, Science and Art.

Despite being busy with my sharing, I caught glimpses of what my other friends were doing. I wished I had more time to look around. I am now inspired to try my hands on some bookbinding and making. (Thanks Y! for your detailed explanation!) Y's children authored their very own books and these were "professionally" bound up (they sewed the pages up themselves) to look like a regular hardcover book. (I should have taken a picture of her books!) I am sure my boys will be thrilled to make one because they have always asked me how they can make a "real" book that others can read from... Hmmm... time to think of what to put in the book. Haha...

Horse Riding Lessons - Our First!!!

Our kind friends invited us to join them in their day trip to Kulai Riders Lodge for some horse riding. It was a timely trip as we are currently in the medieval mood and horse riding is certainly an activity popular during that period. What's more?! That day happened to be my boys' birthday! I decided the horse riding lessons will be my birthday present to them.

We each took up horse riding lessons! Yes, I joined in the fun too. Horse riding has been one of those things on my "To-do" list so I wouldn't want to miss this opportunity.

We tried to read up as much as we could about horses and horse riding in general. We were thankful for the chapter on ungulates in our Apologia Zoology 3 book. We especially appreciated the section on the different gaits of the horses. In fact, we have gathered quite a lot of information thus far and might just make a lapbook on horses later, just for fun.

In the horse riding lessons, we learned to get the horse to walk, turn and stop. We were also taught the sit/stand position that is required during a trot. Trotting is challenging. Initially, I could not feel the rhythm of the horse's trot and just got bumped up and down. Ouch!!! I did get a better feel for it nearing the end of the exercise.

My boys loved the whole experience so much they immediately asked if they could have more lessons. Ops! Did I just asked for trouble?! :-b These lessons were expensive and is certainly not something we could do on a regular basis. I told them to pray about it and we will see if God opens up any doors...

Science : Robotics Workshops at SSC

Last week the boys, together with about 38 other homeschoolers, attended 2 robotics workshops at the Singapore Science Centre. The specific workshops were RoboSports and Dr. Heartbeat & the NXT-bots.

I was hoping I could learn a thing or two as well but unfortunately, parents were LOCKED out (literally!) of the classroom :-(

All I could do was peek through the glass doors.


The children were all-eared during the briefing session and very focused when they were given tasks to do. It was a good opportunity for them to do some group work as they had to work in groups of three. I could see their faces light up with excitement when they saw their robots performing what they were programmed to do.

The robotic set that was used in the workshop was Lego Mindstorm NXT. The programming was done purely by clicking, dragging and dropping icons; simple enough for a 7 year old.

Obviously, they had a wild time in there.

"Can we buy that Lego set?" was the question I know will be asked. And true enough. It was.

Fun at Rumphius : Forest Adventure

While most school-going children are hibernating at home, preparing for their year-end examinations, we homeschoolers were in the great outdoors, tightrope walking at 5 meters above the ground!

Here are the proofs of our feat.


You would have thought this is a circus training right? ;-)


This multiple swings (according to my boys) was the most challenging of them all.


Whizzing down the Flying Fox was the grand finale...


The boys enjoyed themselves so much. It was a unanimous "Can we come again?"!

It was especially fun because they got to do all that with their friends.

Fun at Rumphius : Flag Day

We participated in the Flag Day for Focus on the Family, a Christian organization. We volunteered to sell flags at the Woodlands MRT stations. It was interesting to hypothesize who would or would not donate. We have come to our own conclusions about this but won't tell you because it is so much more fun to discover it yourself!

Well, we clocked two CIP hours... haha...

Science : Kids Science Fest at SSC

Our homeschool group made a school booking at the recent Kids Science Festival at the Singapore Science Centre.

Among the highlights of the day was assembling a mini circuit that is connected both in series and in parallel.Last year, the boys had a similar experience with soldering. However, they needed lots of help then because their little hands were not steady enough to do it. This year, they were able to solder all on their own! I was impressed.


Boys had a chance to play around with the stuff that bullet-proof vest are made of. Can you guess what it is?...


Some interative high-tech fun with the Nintendo Wii here...



Visit Rumphius Science Webpage to learn more about how we approach Science in our homeschool.