What if it Rains?

 

TEACHER’S NOTES

 

What if it Rains? is a musical comedy, written in association with Travelwise, which looks at the health and environmental issues of walking to school from a scientific angle and is based on the appropriate sections of the National Curr­iculum for Science whilst promoting the idea of walking to school.  The story centres around Mason who, whilst walking to school, finds his computer game seems to be taking over in real life and in order to make it to the school gates he enlists the help of the audience to answer a number of environmental and scientific questions.

 

 

THE PROBLEMS OF TOO MANY CARS ON THE ROAD

 

The problems associated with large numbers of vehicles on the roads are introduced and briefly discussed.  We meet our hero, Mason, and his friend Tilly at the start of their journey to school in National Walking to School Week.  Tilly has been counting cars to show how many are being used to ferry children to school and she discusses with Mason how walking to school is much better for you and how it would help cut traffic on the roads.

 

She has prepared an assembly on the subject and sings a song she has written specially for it:

 

SONG

 

                   Walk to your school

                   Don’t be a fool

                   Give up the car

                   It’s not very far

                   Cos outside is best

                   If it’s cold wear a vest

                   You’ve got the drift

                   Give up your lift

                   And walk to your school

 

Mason is not impressed!  However, this song is repeated throughout the play and the audience get to know it well and join in.

 

 

 

AEROBIC EXERCISE AND PULSE RATE

 

The fitness benefits of walking to school are shown and we discuss how this happens.  Tilly tells Mason he will get fitter from walking to school because he is exercising his body.  She introduces the idea of aerobic exercise and explains that it is any exercise where the muscles in your arms and legs move rhythmically over a period of time – something you can keep up for 20 mins or more.  The audience are asked to suggest different forms of aerobic exercise ie. Running, cycling, brisk walking or more unusual exercise like skiing.

 

Tilly then explains that you can tell how fit you are from how fast your heart beats after exercise and shows how you can take your pulse rate.  She counts her heart beats over 10 seconds and with the help of the audience works out her pulse rate per minute.  The average adult has a pulse rate of 70 beats/minute.  Tilly makes Mason run on the spot and works out his new pulse rate.  She explains that the more exercise you do the lower your pulse rate becomes and the fitter you are.

 

 

ECOMON

 

Here the first question and answer section occurs.  We meet Ecomon, Mason’s computer game character, who sets Mason and the audience a series of questions covering what percentage of children walk to school now and 30 years ago, what aerobic exercise is and what would be a good example of the same.  The children help Mason choose his answers and any questions answered incorrectly are given a time penalty which affects the final journey time.

 

WALKING BUS AND CIRCULATORY SYSTEM

 

The Head Teacher appears.  He is in charge of the walking bus and sings a song on the subject.  He then explains what a walking bus is and discusses with Tilly how walking makes you fit.

 

We demonstrate how the blood circulates round the body with the help of a member of the audience.

Starting with oxygen, we trace its journey through the mouth and nose, down the windpipe and into the lungs.  We follow it into the blood and on to the heart.  We see the oxygenated blood pumped round the body and introduce the arteries as the tubes carrying the blood from the heart.  Once the oxygen has been used up we are left with carbon dioxide and explain that it is carried back to the heart in veins.  We follow the blood as it is pumped to the lungs and see the carbon dioxide pass back into the lungs, up the windpipe and back out through the nose and mouth.

 

 

ECOMON

 

Tilly is an asthma sufferer and finds herself in a thick smog.  She worries about the air quality and suddenly she too encounters Ecomon who poses her more questions, this time on the biggest cause of air pollution, what is the most energy efficient way of travelling to school apart from walking and what percentage of rush hour traffic is made up of cars going to school.  Again, a time penalty is given for each wrong answer.

 

 

THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT

 

We demonstrate how the greenhouse effect works using three volunteers from the audience.  Mason finds the climate has suddenly become unbelievably hot and decides to work out why.  A child is chosen to represent the sun and another the earth.  Mason, with the help of the audience, works out that the earth absorbs some of the suns rays and reflects the rest back into space.  He uses another audience member to be a cloud of greenhouse gases and again with the audience’s help he discovers that the sun’s rays are partly absorbed by the gases and partly reflected back to earth.  With the right amount of gases the earth stays at the right temperature, but too many in the atmosphere will cause too great a proportion of the sun’s rays to be reflected back to earth and the temperature will rise.

 

ECOMON

 

For the last time we encounter Ecomon.  This time his questions are about global warming, the rise in sea levels and the main causes behind them.  The time penalties are given as before.

 

 

These are the topics covered in the production.   At the end of the play the actors will answer any questions the audience may have about the show and, as a brief revision of the topics, will ask a few questions of their own about the science covered.  We hope you all enjoy the show and welcome your comments and suggestions.

 

Show Requirements

 

The actors will be arriving approximately forty minutes prior to the start time in order to set up and will need to have access to the school hall from then. They bring the set, lighting and sound equipment with them so only need access to a plug socket.  They’ll need a space approximately 15’ wide by 10’ deep with the children sitting in front, either seated or on the floor.  The show works well ‘on the flat’ but if it’s more convenient for them to use your stage, please let them know on arrival.  What if it Rains? lasts one hour with a two minute q & a session at the end.