An explosive reaction in Jersey

A group of sixth form students at Jersey College for Girls (JCG) prepared and delivered a series of thrilling science shows at primary schools across the island of Jersey.

By Hannah Esnouf, Year 13 student, Jersey College for Girls

Six year 12 students ventured out to nine Jersey primary schools as part of our 'Activities Week'. Not all of us take science as an A-level but there was an all-round enthusiasm for teaching young people about science and sharing our passion. Together, we pre-planned, trialled, tested and rehearsed for the shows with various experiments that were thrilling and occasionally quite loud!

As this was the first time this activity has ever been run at JCG, none of us really knew what to expect in terms of the reactions of the Year 5 and 6 pupils we were visiting. However, the reactions we did receive were so much more than what we hoped for and these children really seemed to get some form of enjoyment from these science shows. Even the teachers were taken aback by these experiments and seemed to enjoy the experience as much as the students!

We based our show on the behaviour of particles in solids, liquids and gases. This concept underpins many of the foundations of all of the sciences and many of the students would have already covered some elements of this in their primary science lessons. We demonstrated with various chemicals such as dry ice, ethanol as a fuel, hydrogen peroxide and potassium iodide foam monster to name a few experiments that awakened the senses of the audience. We used these demonstrations to explain to the students how the particles behave when they transition from a solid state to a liquid or even a gas.

Experiments with the loud bangs – like our unanimously well-received 'methane rockets' –demonstrated how, when energy (heat) is added to a vessel containing the gas particles, the particles all want to escape very quickly. This caused the plastic bottle rockets to propel a good 10 metres into the air and obviously gained a fantastic reaction from our audiences. We included volunteers from each of the schools, which created an extra buzz. We made sure that we considered health and safety – using plastic shields and ear defenders when necessary.

As the week progressed, we learned how to improve our explanations to the students, which in turn enabled them to gain a better understanding. Occasionally, our explanations were too complex, as some of us are A-level scientists. We wanted to make the show fun, engaging and accessible for all of the students regardless of age and ability.

We finished the show with an interactive question and answer session to see what the students had learned and taken from the demonstrations; "What gases did we mention today?" and "what is the name of the process when a solid becomes a liquid?" The answers, (some being very complex!) were all fantastic and demonstrated that the students had learned as well as enjoyed the show!

Overall we all had a fantastic time producing this science show and can only hope that we inspired some future scientists in from the nine primary schools.