This is an outline of a Rubbish Science workshop following a ‘Beach Clean Up’ activity or similar activity that a school may have done. It could be done as a scenario that they have been stranded on a desert island and have to create water, food and health security using only what they find. Some…

Imagine you are an orphan, own virtually nothing and live in an area where you have a very difficult life. You find a bean seed (a Climbing French Bean ) How valuable would this be? What would you do in order to grow your bean as effectively as possible? Upload ideas and photos and tag…

We were asked to deliver a session to 75 Le Rosey students as part of their Festival of Education 2019.) If you want us to deliver a session at your school please get in contact.) As usual many students expressed their fear of failure, particularly public failure and so we got one who expressed this…

Sierra Leone is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. Stunning beaches and truly wonderful people, up there with the friendliest in the World. However, when I tell people I am going to Sierra Leone they always worry about my safety. They think of civil war, Ebola and terrorism, conflating all West Africas problems…

Sierra Leone is probably my favourite country. You will not find friendlier, more welcoming and lovely people anywhere. There are no beaches more beautiful than the ones in Sierra Leone and none with fewer tourists When I tell people I am going to Sierra Leone they worry about my safety. They talk of civil war…

Rubbish Science was chosen by Google as a vehicle to showcase some of its products to large groups of Nordic Educators as part of its Anywhere Classroom Project. One of the rooms at Google Offices in Victoria was converted into a makeshift Rubbish Dump complete with a pond and compost heap. Though I was disappointed…

The UN have 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This blog aims to show how Rubbish Science can support them   Aim 1: No Poverty:  What is poverty the UN has these; Absolute poverty was defined as: a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and…

Rubbish Science in collaboration with CollaboratEd won a contract with the British Council and the British Embassy. The aim of this was to increase the participation of girls/women in STEM. These are the impressions gained from six days in Vietnam talking to many stakeholders.  To try and determine the barriers and a way forward to…

Sierra Leone is a beautiful country in West Africa, home to some of the genuinely friendliest and nicest people on the planet. It has beautiful beaches, but tourism is very underdeveloped. The country has a long history of being a hub for slavery. The capital, Freetown, was founded as a home for repatriated slaves in…

Before you start feeding birds it is important to know what to feed them, when to and how to. The RSPB provides excellent information here  The aim of this Rubbish Science investigation is to optimise the design of a bird feeder made from a plastic bottle. This could be focussed on specific bird species and…

As part of the Rubbish Science Use Rubbish – Create Something Useful – Learn Scientific Thinking this challenge is to create the bounciest ball possible just using newspaper, plastic bags and string. Before we start though we need to consider why things bounce. Explain what happens here Before we explain why the cat doesn’t bounce we…

We can teach very little literacy or numeracy in two days, but Rubbish Science workshops aim to have a significant impact on students scientific literacy in that time. We are all natural born scientists. From our earliest days, we explore the World, making connections, looking for patterns and finding out “what happens if…?” Whilst working…

We have some great news. Rubbish Science is going to operate under the umbrella of the charity Operation Orphan . This means that we can share resources and work on joint projects. The only difference to Rubbish Science is that we will now be primarily working with orphans and their communities. You can donate here  http://www.operation-orphan.org/…

Rubbish Science is a non-profit CIC (Community Interest Company)  that aims to empower communities through the development of scientific literacy. There are three principles involved: Use discarded materials (ie rubbish) Create something useful (a fly trap from a plastic bottle) Learn Scientific approaches to problem-solving  ( You can make a fly trap in 20 seconds,…

The principle behind Rubbish Science is using rubbish as a resource to create something useful. Then using scientific thinking to improve the outcomes. The materials are discarded bottles and bags, So are mostly free and easy to source. The experiments are outwardly simple – anyone can set them up and achieve successful results. But most have complex outcomes…

Rubbish Science is a new initiative aimed at creating scientific thinkers the world over. There are three broad aims Remove rubbish from the environment – mainly plastic and learn why we need to remove it Create something useful with it – A fly trap from a plastic bottle or a hydroponics micro garden Learn scientific thinking…

The old Masaai man was standing on the dirt road waving his hand. I stopped and he jumped in the car. It soon became clear he could speak no English but was an enthusiastic pointer! He travelled with us a long way with lots of happy non-verbal communication, but we had no idea where he…

Rubbish Science is about creating things that serve a purpose in a community from rubbish that is locally sourced. In creating, these people learn about scientific thinking and environmental issues The idea for Rubbish Science was born a long time ago but only really crystallised from doing voluntary work in a rural school in a…

Plastic bottles are a good place to start – Why do these need to be removed from the environment? Plastic bottles and bags are one of the scourges of our planet causing huge problems in ecosystems. The physical unsightly nature of plastic bottles and bags washing up on beaches is just the start. There are…

Rubbish Science is about taking rubbish from the environment, turning it into something useful and learning scientific principles. Our activities are all simple to do but have complex outcomes with many variables. Please can you help us to make this project big enough to be effective. The challenge is very simple. Can you grow a…

For activities week at Sturminster Newton School Chris Brown set up a micro gardening event. Students were to use plastic bottles in stacks to grow salads. She was inspired by what she had seen in Thailand on an organic farm in Thailand – island organics. Students used various sizes bottles zip tied to a fence…