British Science Week, run by the British Science Association runs from the 9th - 18th March 2018 and is a ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths. The theme this year is 'exploration and discovery encouraging young people to think about everyday discoveries and how they affect their lives by exploring science in the world all around us; from their home and schools, to their local area and wider environment. It is also a chance for young people to consider how exploration and discovery can have a positive impact on the future.
The British Science Week website has activity packs for Early Years, Primary and Secondary students, the packs are designed to be your one stop shop for supporting teachers during the week. The activities include both lesson plans and assemblies. There is also a poster competition, students can make their poster about anything involving exploration and discovery. The five best posters from your school can be entered into a UK-wide competition with the chance for students to win an array of prizes.
There are several resources that LGfL schools can use during this time.
The first one is Polar Exploration which fits in perfectly with this years theme. LGfL worked with the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge University in creating this comprehensive resource, which provides a unique insight into the 'Heroic Age of Scientific Discovery'.
Featuring exclusive access to the historic archive of the most famous polar expeditions of the 20th Century, the resource includes:
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- Video footage of equipment and artefacts from the most famous expeditions, complete with text transcripts of the expert explanations
- High-resolution photographs of objects featured in the video footage
- Journal extracts read by a descendant of a member of Captain Scott's Discovery expedition
- Interactive map of the Polar Regions with plotted locations of the multimedia assets
- The opportunity to meet a modern-day polar explorer and hear of his experiences living for extended periods of time in some of the world's most extreme environments.
- A wide range of learning materials to support KS2, KS3 and KS4
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The entire Primary ‘Switched on Science’ scheme, offering full coverage across Key Stage 1 and 2 is available to all LGfL-connected schools. Switched on Science is a flexible and creative investigation-based programme with a clear focus on working scientifically – a core assessable element of the new science curriculum. It is packed with best-practice CPD videos and supportive lessons to ensure every teacher can deliver the science curriculum with confidence.The package comes with all the additional resources teachers need to teach the entire Science curriculum, ranging from a video for each unit, teacher guide, interactive exercises, pupil workbooks, ideas for differentiation, and much more.
Virtual Experiments for Years 1 - 6, these ever popular online resources are ideal for demonstrating difficult scientific concepts - with the added benefit of:
- Minimising the time, mess and fuss involved in experiments
- Allowing you to repeat, slow down or vary the conditions of experiments
- Being useful for revisiting key work pupils may have missed or forgotten
Busy Things has a wide range of resources and games for use in Early years, KS1 and KS2 there are over 100 activities that are linked to the science curriculum that could be used during your science week.
Widgit Symbols are simply drawn, colourful symbols designed to illustrate a single concept in a clear and concise way. They cover a range of topics (including science) wide enough to make them suitable for symbol users of all ages and abilities. Already used by many SEND departments and schools, the entire symbol database of over 15,000 images is now available to all LGfL TRUSTnet schools to search and download. The use of these symbols increases the accessibility of written text by giving readers of all literacy levels greater access to information. As they are designed specifically for written information,Widgit Symbol users can develop a real independence in reading and writing
The ever popular j2etool suite can also be used during Science Week, pupils can use the data tools to collect their data and use j2e5, JIT and the j2office tools to write up their experiments or complete a fact file on a famous explorer.
What ever you are doing for British Science Week we would love you to share your work on our twitter or Facebook pages #BSW18