Light 'Em Up!

BBC Science in Primary Schools 1967



The beginning of a rare 60's BBC Schools Programme entitled "Science in the Primary School", with the subtitles of "A New Direction". The main interest this serves, although a short clip, but long enough to surmise the difference of schools today - becoming increasingly active with the internet and computers - to school back in the late-60's, no computers, only the tools in you're hand, whether that be chalk or pencil. The children are crowding round experiments, measuring temperature and the wind direction & speed and rainfall. Remember, schools were improving back, but still did not have the sort of luxuries, an average comprehensive would have, in more modern times. Taking a good guess this is an all boys' school, and not just natural selection at work here.

In the middle of the clip, what looks like a rocket or firework being lit. Let's hope those hands are the teacher's! Definitely not in practice now, due to safety concerns. I think the modern alternative to this, is firing a plastic bottle, where air is somehow launched into the bottle, and it goes as high as a kite. And oh, there are girls in this school class after all. However, they seemed to be off-camera or in the background, in this very short scene. Then we go to a four member panel of adults, overly-dressed (seems rather a sudden edit, perhaps highlights of the episode provided by the Youtube user), making way for a poem read by a female class member voiceover, and then we go to the rolling tranparent credits, on a drawing of kids in a playground getting high. Oh joy.