Science Life Cycles Event
A local primary school was provided a link to an incubator at St George's School containing duckling eggs. Pupils were allowed to watch the hatching over a week before attending St George's School to meet the ducklings and have a Q&A session.
Aims
The aim of the event was to share the hatching experience with the primary school children to help them understand Life Cycles as part of KS2 and to engage the children positively with Science. The event arose following discussions between the Head of St Michael's and St George's partnerships and Outreach Coordinator; both were keen to work on STEM promotion. The event also involved the collaboration and support of St George's Head of Science and science technicians and some Year 12 St George's A Level pupils and a Year-12 A-Level photography student who took photos of the children as a memory of the event.
Background
St Michael's Head was keen to collaborate on projects to promote STEM, which was pursued by St George's Head of Partnerships and Outreach, who met the Head of Science to discuss possibilities.
Resources
St George's acquired duckling eggs, incubator and the IT department set up a live stream to be shared with St Michael's. The incubation was streamed for a week prior to the visit. The visit consisted of the whole of Year 4 (30 pupils) and St Michael's Science Lead plus support staff. The visit to St George's lasted 90 minutes and included one hour of contact time with the ducklings, which the children could hold, and a juice and biscuit after the event. St George's covered the cost of transport (St George's staff collected the children) and refreshments.
Impact
The Science Lead said that the event had got all the children engaged and excited and helped them understand Life Cycles. St George's pupils also benefited as they were able to engage with the children and provide answers to questions they had, as well as being given a role of responsibility in helping the children handle the ducklings. The A-Level photography pupil said she thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of documenting the event and it gave her ideas for her own work.
Pupil Involvement
30 Year-4 pupils attended and were supported by 6 A Level Science pupils.
Frequency
This was a one-off event that will be repeated next year based on the level of enthusiasm from the pupils and the Science Lead, who stressed that this was a one-off and significant event for many of the children and gives a positive introduction to Science and the natural environment.