Hey, teachers.........fun science experiment

            President Lincoln's birthday, Feb 12th, is approaching.
            He was born in 1809, on the same day as Charles Darwin!!

           Don't forget to clean up his cent coins during your science time.

           The science is fun...................................look below for the full instructions on the science                        activity. It's an experiment I've carried out many times with kids of all ages........it never fails to i              interest and engage them.

             Enjoy!

February 12th. 1809

Clean up President Lincoln pennies for his birthday!

This is a fun experiment! You can clean old and dirty Lincoln pennies on his birthday 
and explore some of the properties of metals! Good, yes?

Pennies get dull over time and look green because the copper in the pennies slowly reacts with
air to form copper oxide. Pure copper metal is bright and shiny, but the oxide is dull and greenish.
When you place the pennies in the salt and vinegar solution, the acetic acid from the vinegar
dissolves the copper oxide, leaving behind shiny clean pennies. 

You need: 

• Dirty Lincoln pennies 

• 1/4 cup white vinegar (dilute acetic acid) and 1 teaspoon salt (NaCl) 
• 1 shallow plastic bowl 
• Water and paper towels 

This is what you do:

1. Pour the salt and vinegar into the bowl and stir until the salt dissolves. 
2. Dip a penny halfway into the liquid and hold it there for 10-20 seconds.
3. Remove the penny from the liquid. What do you see? 
4. Place the rest of the pennies into the liquid. 
5. What happens?
6. Leave the pennies in the liquid for 5 minutes. 

(You should keep the liquid you used to clean the pennies, so don't dump it down the drain!)

• After 5 minutes, take half of the pennies out of the liquid and place them on a paper towel to dry. 
• Remove the rest of the pennies and rinse them well under the tap. 
• Place these pennies on a second paper towel to dry. 
• Wait an hour then take a look at the pennies you have placed on the paper towels.
• Write labels on your paper towels so you will know whichtowel has the rinsed pennies.

• Rinsing the pennies with water stops the reaction between the salt/vinegar and the pennies. 
• They will slowly turn dull again over time, but not quickly enough for you to watch! 
• The salt/vinegar residue on the unrinsed pennies causes a reaction between the copper and the oxygen in the air. 
• The resulting blue-green copper oxide is commonly called 'verdigris'. 

First 2020 blog...........

Still running my class for Senior Scientists

Fifi

January snow

Bertie

Beautiful NM.........

Well, it's past the halfway mark in January, and, even though I've lived up to one of my NY resolutions (keep my diary up-to-date, same with large Filofax journal notebook),
I'd forgotten about my blog - until today!

So, here goes, let's get it going again!

First, I have just spent a couple of days rewriting 'The Day I became a SCIENTIST - July 14th, 1947, thinking I should send it to a publisher...............you never know, someone might be interested. The original version, a long-time ago blog, was written for teachers. This version is for kids..........I've edited the text and now have to put pictures in. (I'll blog it as soon as I've finished this - someone might read it and give me some feedback, please).

Second, I've rediscovered a bird-spotter book which Courtney bought for me years ago and never used. And, as  my 77 year old brain has forgotten the names of birds, I've started that again and now sit and watch the huge variety of birds frequenting my gardens for the delights I put out for them in Johnny Paull's Bird Restaurant.........menu is quite large, and includes a heated water trough which the birds love, and in which the smaller birds love o take a bath.

And, I LOVE WATCHING the family of 12 quail in particular who come at 8 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon. They have such a funny walk!

2019 Christmas...............

CHRISTMAS...............

Just the two of us, Jeannine and me, oops, and our two much loved pussy cats, Bertie and Fifi, and we had the best of times opening presents galore, eating fabulous food and drinking delicious wine................

My senior science January classes......

3rd month into the coronavirus lockdown, three months of no science class with the seniors in Eldorado.....................and it had been running for over a year, each and every Monday.

I did try to set up a virtual class using Google Hangout but there werent enough takers, so I'll just wait until all this is over and start again..........................

Former teacher Linda's presentation on feathers,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,quite brilliant!! Kept everyone engaged for the entire class. Good job, L the P!!

Last but one class before Christmas....................Linda gave a super talk on the science of bird feathers.......and she had so many feathers to show the audience.

Jack, a relatively new member of my Senior Scientist class at the nearby Adams Senior Centre,  held us all in his hand on Monday......telling us about his passion for the study of time. He had obviously spent hours researching the topic and presented his information in a quiet voice, showing us many examples of his watch collection, and providing well crafted handouts.

Jack spoke for just an hour, holding everyone's attention.

 Big audience, too.............20 people came.

'Behavior of mealworms'

December 2019

Barbara Browse very kindly sent me from the UK 31 pages of highly detailed conversation between her late husband, Bill, and his long-time friend and colleague, Tony Kallet.

Apparently it was  a very long and detailed conversation that Tony recorded for a book he was writing before, sadly, he, too, was taken from us.

Part of it describes how and when Bill appointed me (in 1965) to join him at the Education Dept. Advisory branch.

Reading it brought back a flood of memories about my time working with teachers at Foxton Field Study Centre that I opened in the mid 60s, and the countless workshops I held before David Hawkins invited me to join him in Denver, USA, in 1970.

• 
  

Tarantula

Wow!! It's body is as big as the palm of my hand!!                                 Last drink before I take off!!



I saw the most beautiful tarantula crossing the road.....................and, after catching and releasing it in my garden, a hummingbird came to say 'hello" then "goodbye'.

I so hope the spider fella does well in my garden............

As 2020 approaches..........

AS 2020 APPROACHES.................

Thinking back time...................

I started going to school in Newlyn, Cornwall, when I was 4, that is, in 1946.

In 1949, I moved to St. Paul's Junior School for boys, about a mile up a steep hill from my new home, 23 Gwavas Street, in Penzance. School started at 9 o'clock, and everyone went home for dinner every day, and back to school by 1.30. Then, in 1953, I passed the 11+ exam and went to Humphry Davy Grammar School for boys, leaving there when I was 18.

As 2020 approaches, the year will mark 60 years since I left my home in 1960 in Penzance, England, to go to college in Leicester, then, three years later, in 1963, on to become a teacher...................60 years! Wow!

And, after a long and pretty successful 33 year career as teacher, advisor, Headteacher, writer, in 1996, I moved to the city of Denver, USA, to set up an Alternative Teacher Education Program and to teach Master's classes at the University of Denver.

In 2011, I retired and eventually moved south to beautiful tourist city of Santa Fe............................... and what an environmental contrast that is to the seaside touristy town of Penzance.

And, I must say, that I love the wild semi-desert, especially the cacti and the pinon trees,  but I do miss the sound and the smell and the sight of the sea.

60 years! Wow!!

I wonder where I'll be 20 years from now...........................................able to read this, I hope!