13 tips for using visualisers to enhance the sciences

Chris Deeley

Chris Deeley is Managing Director of Elementary. He has nearly 20 years' experience in the Audio Visual (AV) Industry servicing schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions with AV solutions. In 2009, recognising the potential educational benefits of Visualisers, Chris launched thevisualisershop.com (a division of Elementary) the only dedicated comparison website to sell Visualisers to customers across the UK and Eire. Since it launch, the business has fast developed a high level of expertise and knowledge in advising a wide range of education sector customers on Visualisers and document camera solutions, with free demonstrations available for educational establishments.

Follow @visualisershop

Website: www.thevisualisershop.com Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Here is the third article in our series on maximising the use of visualisers across different curriculum areas. Below you will find practical tips on using visualisers to help pupils retain scientific concepts.

Use visualisers at key stages 1 and 2 to introduce material properties and spark pupils’ imagination:

  • Compare a variety of seeds and discuss the differences
  • Display a vegetable, photograph it, and repeat each day for a week to record the process of decay
  • Show different types of plants and flowers and label the parts
  • Safely show living things such as fish in a tank or insects and pond creatures
  • Display tiny items in magnified detail and annotate different parts
  • Demonstrate how a magnet works. Ask children to bring up items to see if they are magnetic or not

Use visualisers at key stages 3 and 4 to demonstrate more complex scientific principles:

  • Record a live science experiment and freeze frame at crucial stages to discuss what is happening
  • Show the detail of a dissection and then record the procedure for revision purposes or for other classes to use
  • Demonstrate the uses and properties of a visible light spectrum
  • Use a split screen function to always keep lab safety rules up while using for other purposes
  • Examine the differences between different metals
  • Video experiments showing colour changes in chemistry e.g. iodine clock / thiosulphate experiments
  • Examine the elements of a circuit

Of course, this list is not exhaustive and we would be delighted to hear of other ways that teachers have used a visualiser to enhance the teaching of any area of science. If you know of any more innovative techniques that you might have applied in your classroom or other learning spaces, please share it with us in the comments section below.

 

Read More

Sign up to our newsletter

Get the best of Innovate My School, straight to your inbox.

What are you interested in?

By signing up you agree to our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

1,300+ guest writers.
2,500+
ideas & stories. 
Share yours.

In order to make our website better for you, we use cookies!

Some firefox users may experience missing content, to fix this, click the shield in the top left and "disable tracking protection"