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Scientists in the NC

by Paul Hopkins

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Scientists
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Scientists
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in the English National Curriculum
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Paul HOPKINS
Scientists in the NC
The English NC (DfE, 2013) states that, "A high-quality science education provides the foundations for understanding the world through the specific disciplines of biology, chemistry and physics. Science has changed our lives and is vital to the world’s future prosperity, and all pupils should be taught essential aspects of the knowledge, methods, processes and uses of science. Through building up a body of key foundational knowledge and concepts, pupils should be encouraged to recognise the power of rational explanation and develop a sense of excitement and curiosity about natural phenomena. They should be encouraged to understand how science can be used to explain what is occurring, predict how things will behave, and analyse causes."
The NC mentions in the guidance a number of scientists and inventors. In Y2 in says, "Pupils might find out about people who have developed useful new materials, for example John Dunlop, Charles Macintosh or John McAdam". In Y5 it mentions looking at the work of David Attenborough, Jane Goodall, Spencer Silver, Ruth Benerito, Ptolemy, Alhazen, Copernicus, Galileo and Isaac Newton and in Year 6, Carl Linnaeus, Mary Anning, Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace.
You can of course look beyond these people and should be looking to talk to and contact living scientists in your community but this is a starting place to explore some important and famous scientists.
Click on me - can you be a scientist?
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John Dunlop
The pneumatic tyre
John Boyd Dunlop (5th February, 1840 –
23rd October, 1921) was a Scottish inventor
and veterinary surgeon who spent most of his career in Ireland. Familiar with making rubber devices, he re-invented pneumatic tyres for his child's tricycle and developed them for use in cycle racing.

He sold his rights to the pneumatic tyres to a company he formed with the president of the Irish Cyclists' Association, Harvey Du Cros, for a small cash sum and a small shareholding in their pneumatic tyre business. Dunlop withdrew in 1896.
The science they are famous for
Activities
The pneumatic tyre is a hollow rubber type filed with compressed air which gives a much smoother and faster ride for originally bicycles and later other vehicles
Exploring materials [Research from secondary sources]
Further Links
Where can you find pneumatic types? What vehicles have these? Are they all the same or are they different? What are the advantages of the pneumatic tyre over the solid tyre? What are the disadvantages? Can you find any solid tyres? Explore the properties of the pneumatic tyre.
Rounded Rectangle
How high do they bounce? [Pattern Seeking]
Start with a bicycle tyre with a pneumatic tyre. If you can get one get a pump with a pressure mode. Pump the tyre up until it feels soft but inflated. Drop the tyre from about 30cm (a ruler) and see how high it bounces. Now pump the tyre up a little more and repeat. Can you find a pattern?
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Activities
Exploring materials [Research from secondary sources]
Where can you find pneumatic types? What vehicles have these? Are they all the same or are they different? What are the advantages of the pneumatic tyre over the solid tyre? What are the disadvantages? Can you find any solid tyres? Explore the properties of the pneumatic tyre.
How high do they bounce? [Pattern Seeking]
Start with a bicycle tyre with a pneumatic tyre. If you can get one get a pump with a pressure mode. Pump the tyre up until it feels soft but inflated. Drop the tyre from about 30cm (a ruler) and see how high it bounces. Now pump the tyre up a little more and repeat. Can you find a pattern?
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Charles Mackintosh
Indiarubber
Charles Macintosh (29th Dec., 1766 – 25th July,
1843) was born in Glasgow, Scotland. His father originally came from the Highlands, moving to Glasgow to set up a factory in Dennistoun in 1777 to manufacture a violet-red dying powder made from lichens (cudbear). Macintosh had a strong interest in chemistry.

Macintosh founded his own waterproofing company in Glasgow in 1834 - mainly because to the opposition he faced from tailors, who wanted nothing to do with his new cloth - but moved to Manchester in 1840 to exploit the material further. The factory is now owned by the Dunlop Rubber Company.

Although Charles Macintosh is primarily remembered for his waterproof material, he made a series of important contributions to the field of industrial chemistry in the early 1800s. He died in 1843 at Dunchattan, near Glasgow, and was buried in the churchyard of Glasgow Cathedral.
Activities
The science they are famous for
What makes the best raincoat? [Pattern Seeking]
In 1818, while analysing the by-products of a works making coal gas, he discovered dissolved indiarubber. He joined two sheets of fabric together with this solution, allowed them to dry, and discovered that the new material could not be penetrated by water - the first rainproof cloth! Together with chemist George Hancock, Macintosh solved many of the problems involved in reliably producing waterproofed sheets and coat.
You need to have a bear and a range of materials that you can test to see which one repels the rain water best. Try these out with some tissue or something else
that will show the water under the materials to be tested. Sprinkle some water onto the material to see which one would be best for teddy's raincoat.
Further Links
What else is waterproof? [Research from Secondary Sources]
Rounded Rectangle
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