Sherington celebrated British Science Week on the 9th – 13th March 2020. This year’s national theme was ‘Our Diverse Planet’. This topic offered a wide range of learning opportunities for students to explore the vast diversities of the planet. Each year group explored the variety of one continent for the week. The continent that each year group studied was allocated purposefully, based on students’ prior learning, the curriculum and consideration for where learning is heading in the future planning. Teachers were also able to make cross-curricular links to geography throughout the week including time zones, reference to the equator, topography and map skills.
The beginning of the week launched with a whole school assembly that revealed each year group’s continent and discussed the definition of ‘diversity’ in science. After, classes started with an enquiry lesson where students developed questions that would guide the learning throughout the rest of the week. As the week progressed, each class used a range of authentic resources to explore and engage with their learning. Across the school, the resources included; first and second hand documents, concrete materials, Q & A interviews, video conferences, artefacts, traditional materials and clothing, and technology (ICT).
At the end of the week, students’ learning was displayed collectively in the Creation Station so that each continent could be viewed around the room. This effectively conveyed the diversity between each continent; as well as some similarities. After viewing the creation station, students engaged in rich conversations about our planet and discussed the diversities they observed based on the learning they had seen.
