The show is available in South and South West England including Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Avon, Wiltshire, Bristol, Bath,  Blandford, Dorchester, Exeter, Poole, Salisbury, Taunton, Yeovil, and Everywhere in between

Now Available in parts of Berkshire and Surrey including Bracknell, Camberley, Farnborough, Aldershot and Guildford.

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Science shows for schools come in many forms, but most are science demonstrations or science lessons that attempt to teach science. Footprints in the Sky is different form most science shows because it isn't a science demonstration, but is instead a performance devised to engage the interest of children in the natural world so that they become more curious and learn to ask questions. The idea is that rather than trying to do the teachers job of teaching science, it stimulates interest through slapstick and interactive comedy.

There is a current fashion for spectacular science demonstrations with lots of bangs and impressive effects, and although they are useful for engaging interest, they can also give a false impression of the reality of scientific enquiry. The reality of scientific research is that it involves a lot of tedious and repetitive work, painstaking attention to detail, and an obsession with accuracy, often over many years or decades, before any meaningful results are obtained - it is not for those who become bored or distracted easily! Science is fascinating, and it requires more than brief moments of excitement.

it would not be within the scope of any science show to try to put this across, but it is something worth remembering...

How to get Primary School Children Interested in Science

 Science is like any other subject – make it interesting, and preferably funny and children will love it. So how can science be taught to primary school children in an interesting way so that they will ask questions and want to know more? The secret is simply to find something they are interested in, and bend the subject to fit their interest so that even young children with no interest at all in science become engaged and curious, and wanting to learn more.

 Any subject will do from medieval knights, to fairy stories, it really doesn't matter as long as children are interested in it. How about Pirates? What have Pirates got to do with the science curriculum key stage 1 and 2 (KS & KS2)? Well, as it happens, pirates have everything to do with science. First you don't tell the children that they are about to study science, you tell them you are going to learn about pirates!

 Pirates of course sailed the seas plundering and pillaging, stealing treasure and generally being bad. It's hard to know where to start, but let's start with sailing a wooden ship on water – what's scientifically interesting about that? Well most of the water on the planet is in the oceans and that water evaporates due to heat from the sun, and falls as rain somewhere else, eventually ending up back in the sea again where those pirate ships are still floating along looking for some treasure to purloin. So now we can teach the water cycle, along with all the other interesting stuff that goes with water like life processes, and how plants live and what animals drink and why and how we are all drinking recycled dinosaur pee (and worse). Water is the perfect example of phase changes from solid to liquid to ice, and we could certainly make a start on properties of materials at this point.

 Pirates need to navigate and know their north from their south and which way the wind is blowing and so they use a compass that is magnetic and that takes us into the science of magnetism. During the day they track the movement of the sun, and at night they use the movement of stars in the night sky. Here we have an opportunity to look at light and dark, the sun and the solar system, which is a wonderful way to introduce the solar system, space, and the universe – all good science topics.

 Now it's interesting that ships float on water – something to do with buoyancy, but why do they sink when they get holes in them and what makes them fall all the way to Davey Jones Locker? It's our old friend gravity pulling down on everything from ships and the water they float on, to planes and birds that defy it by floating on the buoyancy of the atmosphere.

 And talking of atmosphere, there is a whole lot of science involving gasses and the composition of the air and why we need to breathe it, and of course it is the air that moves ships around so then we have the great and not always popular subject – the science of forces. We can set up experiments to show how wind will apply a force to move an object, and then there is the force applied to cannon balls by expanding gasses from gunpowder that subsequently applies a force to the side of an enemy ship and makes a hole in it.

 Now pirates are reputed to be a smelly lot and they probably were, but cleanliness aboard ship is vital to prevent the spread of disease and we have more on life forces and hygiene, not to mention diet and healthy eating, and the need for plenty of vegetables to avoid scurvy.

 All the objects in a pirate's life, from sea sponges to swords, can be used to scientifically demonstrate properties of materials, and the environment of a tropical island is an ideal demonstration of life cycles and food chains.

 Electrical circuits are a little more difficult, but with a bit of imagination, just about the whole of the science curriculum can be demonstrated with a fairy tale (most of what we 'know' about pirates is of course fiction!)

 Now this particular science show for schools isn't about pirates, it's about curiosity, but this example demonstrates how science can be taught in a creative way without ever mentioning the word science!

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