Whatever happened to kids’ chemistry sets?

Interesting article from the BBC about the history of children’s chemistry sets.

“The first chemistry sets for children included dangerous substances like uranium dust and sodium cyanide, but all that has changed.

Talk to people of a certain age about chemistry sets and a nostalgic glaze comes over their eyes.

Stories of creating explosions in garden sheds and burning holes in tables are told and childhood is remembered as a mischievous adventure.”

Check out the Radio 4 documentary with Dr Kat Arney on Wednesday 1st Aug at 9pm, or listen to it later on iPlayer. Dr Arney looks at the declining popularity of chemistry sets in recent years and the parallel decline in practical chemistry experiments in the classroom. Has this made chemistry less appealing to pupils as a subject?

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Government publications from February

Here are some recent publications from the Holyrood and Westminster governments, which may be useful:

Sports Studies

Preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Progress report February 2011 [PDF file]

Department for Culture, Media and Sport report, which “examines progress across the Olympic Delivery Authority’s construction programme, progress with how the Government is coordinating the Olympics programme, progress with the legacy from the Games and the cost of the Games.”

Environmental and Waste Management

Demographic Change and the Environment [PDF file]

Useful report from The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, giving independent predictions of the impact of UK population change on the environment.  The Commission believes “[t]here is a relationship between the size of the population and certain basic environmental services, such as water supply and quality, energy use and waste generation”.

International Review of Behaviour Change Initiatives

 “This report, commissioned as part of the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Behaviours Research Programme, reviews a range of behaviour change initiatives that have attempted to reduce the carbon intensity of consumption practices. It aims to enhance understandings of different approaches to behaviour change, and to explore the transferability of initiatives to the Scottish context.”

Scottish Government consultation documents: 

Consultation report on The Environmental Impact Assessment (Scotland) Regulations 2010

Regulations to Deliver Zero Waste: A Consultation on the proposed Zero Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2011

Public Bodies Climate Change Duties: Putting them into Practice: Consultation on Draft Guidance Required by Part 4 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009: Scottish Government Response

 Health Sciences

Health Promotion Guidance: Nutritional Guidance for Children and Young People in Residential Care Settings

Children and Young People’s Views and Experiences of Food and Nutrition in Residential Care

 You can find lots more useful government publications on the UWS Government Publications blog.

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