British Science Week

Science Week has been very busy at All Saints, with two parent visitors, live lessons, daily wonder questions and every class taking part in a practical action project linked to a world problem. 

Dr Leach talked to Year 3 and 5 about his job as a pharmaceutical scientist. It was really interesting to discover that curiosity and asking questions are a key part of his work, especially as this year's science week theme is 'Curiosity - what's your question?' The children learnt all about how medicines are developed and the importance of testing ideas.

Ms Nightingale visited Year 4 and 6 to talk about her job in behavioural science.  She told children about the different parts of the brain and wowed them with the fact that only primates, rats and mice have a frontal lobe, meaning that they can manage their emotions and personality. The children loved completing a quiz to determine their 'Brain Colours' and this helped them to think about their personalities.

We are very grateful to both Dr Leach and Ms Nightingale for taking the time to come into school and sharing their expertise.  There were fabulous questions for the children and many have been inspired to explore the possibilities of a future in STEM.  We hope to have some famous scientists linked to All Saints Datchworth in the future!  

Willow and Oak class took part in a live lesson about curiosity and pets.  They had to guess pets from clues about their characteristics and then considered animal classification thinking about similarities and differences and focusing on the Canidae (dog family) and Felidae (cat family).  The children also guessed pets from their habitats and found out about some famous scientists: David Attenborough, Jane Goodall and Chris Packham.

Over the week, the whole school considered the problem of flooding (particularly in Bangladesh) linked to climate change.  The children were challenged to design and build a model of a structure that people can grow their crops on, even when their land becomes flooded.  In our sharing assembly on Thursday afternoon, we came together and tested the best models to see if they would float. 

Thank you Mrs Cox for organising the week and well done everyone for your curiosity and problem-solving.