Scientific Play

Scientific Play can be easily summed up in one word that everybody knows: Techniquest. Techniquest is the one place that has managed over the last 30 years to successfully combine learning science and playing in a way that entices children into wanting to learn science.

When Techniquest came to visit our University despite the fact that some of us are past our twenties, we still got excited for what Techniquest was doing as it was something that was taught to us straight from a book, however Techniquest made it so much more exciting.

Here are two different groups trying to identify which cell is an animal, plant, red/white blood cell or a virus. They are calling on knowledge back from when they were in Comprehensive school and managed to do it successfully.

Techniquest gave everyone some water that had some solution inside of it and we then went around sharing and taking the solution and afterwards we found out that the darker your water and solution went, it was because you had contracted a virus.

Here the pictures show everybody wandering around spreading their solution and then it show the employee from Techniquest adding PH Solution in to the water to see what colour it changed. After this was completed, we were handed some strands of DNA and told to find the matching strand and we would have caught a  murderer.

Techniquest makes everything so much more interesting as I found that I enjoyed learning about the DNA from Techniquest, far more interesting that listen to a teacher drone on and on at you.

This is what teachers need to do for their science lessons. 'Scientific processes (exploration, observation, asking question, trying things out) are very important aspects of early years science' (Howe & Davies 2005 P158). By encouraging this in all subjects, it will come naturally in science.


Reference List
About Techniquest. (2012) http://www.techniquest.org/20120315131/about-us/about-techniquest.html [Accessed 28/04/2016]
Moyles, J. (2005) The Excellence of Play. 2nd ed. Maidenhead. OU Press