Not all scientists are alike
With funding from The Ogden Trust, pupils at John Donne Primary School in London explored physics and space, and the fact that not all scientists are alike.
Published: 22 November 2021
With funding from The Ogden Trust, pupils at John Donne Primary School in London explored physics and space, and the fact that not all scientists are alike.
The school is very multi-cultural, with children from a range of different backgrounds and beliefs and they wanted to celebrate these differences by exploring the differences between scientists (both past and present), especially those that have had to overcome barriers to achieve success.
The school ran a poster competition around the theme of diversity, with every child entering a poster. The pupils were encouraged to research and represent inspirational scientists under the heading: Not all scientists are alike. Winners were selected from across the year group and presented with science prizes.
In the school’s inspiring celebration of science, the pupils also took part in a Wonder Dome astronomy visit with students enjoying a ‘journey’ into outer space, looking at constellations and planets.
“The Wonder Dome was an incredible and unique learning experience for our Year 2 students. They were captivated by the immersive experience which allowed them to really feel close to Space. The Science expert who presented the performance was fantastic in his explanation of why our Earth is so unique which linked perfectly with our science topic. It was inclusive and went through both a scientific and historical journey of how our perspective of Space has changed through time. Our children were captivated and excited and would not stop speaking about what they had learned!”
Mr Abdulmajid (Year 2)
Years 5 and 6 also took part in a physics workshop, run by The Fresh Water Company. The children got to show off their scientific knowledge and enthusiasm to save a ‘science machine’ that was in grave danger and needed knowledge to rebuild its power. Building upon their resilience and collaboration skills, whilst learning interactively, the children really enjoyed the workshop and that challenge that it bought.
“The [Freshwater Theatre Company] workshop was imaginative and engaging. The children were captivated by the story and the resources used during the session. The workshop was creative and built on the children’s previous knowledge. Due to constantly checking the children’s understanding of the topic, the ‘professor’ ensured that learning was reinforced. The experience was memorable and through it the children were able to retain information. I would certainly like to work with the Freshwater company again and will be trying to use the drama approach to teach Science moving forward.”
Miss De Carvalho (Year 5)