Outreach Report: Wheldrake Ward (2/3)
During the period of July to November 2019 we delivered a total of 9 educational workshops across three primary schools in the Wheldrake Ward.
Naburn Church of England Primary School
Naburn has a dual intake class consisting of both Year 5 and Year 6 pupils. During our Importance of Biodiversity workshop pupils learnt about the huge variety of living organisms that inhabit our planet and the contributions they make to our everyday lives. Our Life Cycles and Classification workshop introduced them to asking basic questions in order to categorise different groups of animals, with pupils eventually making an invertebrate identification key – a tool used to separate different types of minibeasts based on size, structure, and colour.
Insect identification keyWith winter approaching, the time of year meant that a field trip to look for wildlife wasn’t practical, and so Naburn chose to have their third workshop as classroom-based. We selected a topic from the Year 6 programme of study: Evolution and Inheritance. Pupils learnt how certain characteristics can be passed on from parents to offspring, and how over time, environmental conditions can influence the survival of creatures with such characteristics.
The topic was best illustrated with our evolution role-playing game, which simulates evolution of different species of finch on the Galapagos Islands. Our simple game illustrated how birds on wet islands prone to flooding tended to evolve longer legs than their colonising ancestors.
“We would also definitely be interested in doing more workshops next year – myself and the children love them! Thanks.”
Laura Brett, Year 5 & 6 teacher, Naburn Church of England Primary School.