Science Fun with PZ Cussons
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On Friday 6th September 2013, Year 7 students joining Salford City Academy and had a fantastic introduction to the school with the help of one of our strongest business links, PZ Cussons Ltd.
On Friday 6th September 2013, Year 7 students joining Salford City Academy and had a fantastic introduction to the school with the help of one of our strongest business links, PZ Cussons Ltd.
PZ Cussons organised the activities and their staff volunteered to deliver interactive workshops across the day. All the workshops were science-based and hands-on, so the students could take part in the fun activities. Several Year 10 and 11 students were on hand to assist and demonstrate in the experiments.
At the end of the day, the students said what a great time they had. One student commented, "I had the best day ever and can't wait to tell my friends about it", while others said, "It was an excellent day and I really enjoyed the science" and "PZ Cussons were so kind coming in and teaching us new skills.".
The workshops included:
Volcano - The students donned lab coats, goggles and surgical gloves before being shown how to make a volcano. Working in groups, the students measured the chemical, hydrogen peroxide, which they poured into a plastic bottle, before adding water, washing up liquid and yeast to set off the volcanic reaction.
Lava Lamp - This was a simple workshop, but amazing to watch! Working in groups the students filled plastic bottles with vegetable oil and water, and then picked a food colouring. Finally, the students were given a small piece of an Alka-Seltzer tablet to add to the bottle, which dissolved at the bottom of the bottle and produced small coloured bubbles to give the effect of a lava lamp.
Square Bubbles - Learning about bubble science, the students had the opportunity to use plastic straw structures and washing up liquid to create square bubbles within another square bubble!
Colour and Salt - Thinking about consumer products, students learnt about describing emotions using smell, colours and pictures. They also did some hands-on guess work activities involving being blind folded and dipping their hands in to buckets which could contain anything from a scouring pad to a banana!
The day ended with half of the students forming a mini production line and creating their own shower gel. Students first mixed the shower gel, and then added the colour and fragrance, before labelling and filling the bottles. The other half of the group worked on marketing and sales strategies for the shower gels, designing packaging, identifying target markets and calculating potential profit margins.
Finally, students presented their packaging designs and marketing ideas to a panel of Year 11s in a Dragons Den-style event. The products were all of a very high standard so all the ideas were accepted by the Dragons.
PZ Cussons delivered a fantastic first day for new Salford City Academy students; they had the opportunity to meet and work with their peers and personal mentors, grow their confidence and learn whilst having lots of fun!