scientifically speaking | Pad Patter 20 Aug

Discussion in 'Chatty Pad' started by bellbird, Aug 20, 2021.

  1. bellbird

    bellbird Pollywog

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    It's been national science week here (i can only assume that it is sometime during the school year in the US) but since we're locked down and long story short, one of DD's attempts at cooking blew the element in our oven rendering it useless this week & we don't have exactly have a lab in the house, the only 'let's do some science in the kitchen experiment' i could convince the kids to attempt was sugar crystallisation (otherwise known as making rock candy - there's steps in this youtube link if you want to use about a month's worth of sugar in one go)

    So for today's topic:
    • tell me if you enjoyed or disliked science at school and about any memorable experiments or science fair projects.

    And because it's still national joke day apparently, i feel like i have to cross the streams, here's a bonus joke
    [​IMG]
     
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  2. michelepixels

    michelepixels A pun is not fully matured until it is full groan.

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    About all I can remember from elementary school science is being fascinated by this book cover that had a human body shape filling it top to bottom, but it only showed, I think, the circulatory system.

    I can't think of anything from junior high science. But I have lots of memories from high school science. My 9th grade science teacher was like a comedian and appealed to young kids' enjoyment of gross stories. I loved biology just for the topic. And my chemistry teacher was hilarious, lab was fun, and we did fun projects like create a periodic table out of whatever we wanted. Someone frosted and arranged brownies into a periodic table.
     
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  3. HavaDrPepper

    HavaDrPepper Space. The final frontier

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    You really want me to try to remember something from over 47 years ago about a subject I hated??? LOL

    I only have 2 memories of my 1 biology and my 1 chemistry class taken and neither of them had anything to do with experiments.
     
  4. StefanieS

    StefanieS Think it over, think it under

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    I loved Biology, was less good at Physical Science, but passed it at Uni level so I must have been able to do it to some extent. I can't think of memorable experiments, except when we tested Vienna sausages for protein and they were more carbs than protein - go figure. We didn't have science fairs like I have seen in the movies.
     
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  5. tanteva

    tanteva Even the professionals are bewildered

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    I remember when me and a friend mixed two chemicals ... and it started to smell ... Our teacher came running and snapped the flask and run for the fume cupboard.

    Lesson learned - you are not supposed to mix hydrochloric acid & nitric acid just like that ...
     
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  6. IntenseMagic

    IntenseMagic Some grannies cuss a lot. I'm some grannies.

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    Science was not a favorite subject of mine at all. The only experiment I really remember is making a volcano in elementary school lol. I disliked it even more in high school and college.
    When I entered college, I was thinking of becoming a pharmacist and majored in chemistry. One semester is all I lasted. I don't know what made me think I would actually want to do all that science. I went to class sick to my stomach every day. Later on, as part of my education major, I had to take botany and not only was that my least favorite class in the history of ever, it was my worst grade.
    When my kids were growing up, I despised Science Fair time! But, we did do one that was fairly easy and kind of interesting. The scales on a pine cone will open and close depending on the humidity in the air, so we put a needle in one of the scales, stuck it on a board with paper behind it, and marked the needle's position from day to day. Then we compared it to the local weather's humidity report.
     
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  7. Angela Toucan

    Angela Toucan I keep looking for THAT wardrobe

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    I loved science in school. My science teachers loved me, but the school head didn't after I was identified as the primary constant in lab incidents. Only two of them resulted in school evacuations.
     
  8. gonewiththewind

    gonewiththewind I choose joy.

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    :compcoffee
     
  9. gonewiththewind

    gonewiththewind I choose joy.

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    I was not a huge fan of science classes. I did enjoy Anatomy & Physiology as well as Botany.

    For a Science Fair in middle school, I had a hypothesis that if a mirror was placed underneath a plant, the refracted light would make it grow more than the unmirrored. I had two African violets in my room, with a mirror underneath one. Sure enough, the mirrored violet grew twice as big as the unmirrored. I believe I got a ribbon for that one. It sounds so pedestrian now, especially since you can simply search my hypothesis and find many articles. But back then, I'm thinking this was 1982(???), you couldn't just find all the information as easily.
     
  10. Memaw2Wm

    Memaw2Wm Well-Known Member

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    Not a fan of science class. I can't remember any specific experiments ... I graduated 50 years ago. That said, I do remember my biology teacher having two frogs in an aquarium. The larger frog for some reason kept trying to eat the smaller frog ... so seeing the little frog's legs hanging out of the larger frog's mouth was a near daily event. The teacher at some point would pull the little frog out of the other frog's mouth, but he apparently thought it was funny b/c he never separated them.
     
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  11. Cherylndesigns

    Cherylndesigns All glasses should be bigger than 1.5 oz

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  12. LivyBug

    LivyBug I should be considered yarned and dangerous.

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    I wasn't a big fan of science classes. Much preferred math. Why add all that extra stuff in science? I probably liked chemistry or physics best because they're more math-based.

    I don't remember ever doing a science fair. Oh boy did I hate dissection days in biology though. Blech.
     
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  13. littlekiwi

    littlekiwi I charge by the hour for anything before noon

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    I had to do one high school level of physics twice…..failed my health science paper at college to try and enter nursing school. Think it kind of tells you my relationship with science….social sciences are more my jam these days!
     
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  14. Scrapping with Liz

    Scrapping with Liz Crafts for days.

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    Not really a fan and now that I homeschool our science projects always fail miserably. We usually end up watching a youtube videos to see how it was supposed to work. HAHA!

    I do remember doing a science fair in 5th grade and mine was something about clouds. Most of my comments were on how well I drew my clouds...not really on the science info behind it. At least it looked pretty.
     
  15. bellbird

    bellbird Pollywog

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    i can't imagine how much precision piping that would need! making DIY cell models for a project in year 7, my DD was amazed and grossed out by how many people brought in jello (we call it jelly) with bits floating in it to represent the parts of the cell -the only real advantage to that in my eyes was it did stop her eating jelly for a while!
     
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  16. bellbird

    bellbird Pollywog

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    lol ok i get it, not that i'm tallying but 1 vote for 'dislike'! :giggle
     
  17. bellbird

    bellbird Pollywog

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    lol gotta love bread crumb filler for sausages! i thought science fairs were just a movie or US thing until my kids primary school started doing them but they're thankfully small scale stuff compared to what i've seen from the odd scrapbook page!
     
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  18. bellbird

    bellbird Pollywog

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    lol mistakes often give the most valuable learning outcomes and unforgettable lessons! i remember the sound of alarms and that fume cupboard too!
     
  19. bellbird

    bellbird Pollywog

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    so much to unpack here! i can't imagine anyone wanting to do pharmacy if they didn't have some affinity for science so i'm glad you figured that out. i feel about Geology and 'rocks' the same way you feel about Botany i think!

    And i love that pinecone project! they're not something we see much of in our area but we have something called a Banksia that has a kind of pinecone thing that might be similar, a children's author turned them into a villain (they were Big Bad Banksia Men in the GumNut Babies books that were like the fairies in a Eucalytpus/Gum tree) but i have no idea on how humidity affects them, i think the seed pods open because of heat & fire but they aren't exactly pretty like your pinecones to me but they're 'flowers' are nice and an iconic native here
    [​IMG]
    ( sorry that was probably too much botany! ignore me thinking out loud!)
     
  20. bellbird

    bellbird Pollywog

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    bwahaha! i think your school experience must be representative of every school, everywhere!
     
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