Get excited for the Great Science Share for Schools 2022!
This year’s Great Science Share for Schools is all about Climate Action. It falls on 14th June and we've got a great variety of activities to help you make the most of it!
Children sharing the wonder of science
What is it?
The Great Science Share for Schools (GSSfS) is a national campaign which has been running since 2016 to inspire children to ask their own scientific questions, plan ways to find the answers and share what they find out with new audiences. They simply need to ASK- INVESTIGATE- SHARE. Watch this video to see some of last year’s highlights. It’s all about celebrating children’s natural curiosity and encouraging them to develop their investigative skills, which we at Explorify are passionate about supporting.
Why should you get involved?
The Great Science Share for Schools is a free-to-participate campaign with the key values of being child-focused, inclusive and non-competitive - everyone can take part! The approach is flexible and can be adapted to suit your school. Children can plan science enquiries in class or at home (or both).
“Placing children at the centre of their own learning, giving them the tools, space and encouragement to explore and develop scientific ideas is what is at the heart of the Great Science Share - what’s not to love!” Jayne Quoiani / Science Outreach Officer, University of Edinburgh
How to get started
Your first step is to register your school at The Great Science Share for Schools and then you will be able to access exclusive resources to support your pupils. You will also receive all the latest news and be informed about CPD sessions for teachers.
What’s new this year?
This year’s GSSfS campaign theme, Climate Action, is linked to the issues discussed at the United Nations’ COP26 conference in November 2021. The school community resources will be released from 21st March and culminate on the big celebration day: Tuesday 14th June 2022.
How can Explorify can help?
Explorify has a wealth of activities to help get your pupils thinking about why Climate Action is vital now and how they can take positive action themselves. Try the following suggestions in the build-up to the GSSfS and get your class asking questions, being curious and planning investigations which they can share with others. Giving children these opportunities will springboard into children asking their own questions and being able to come up with their own investigations to use in GSSfS.
Activities
How much electricity do we use? Children can plan how to tackle The Big Question. What questions do they have about energy use in school? What could they investigate? Watch the Great Science Share Skills Starter (7-11) on Planning Enquiries. Can they share their findings and identify what ACTION they can take to reduce your school’s energy consumption. They could even practise communicating their ideas in a school assembly.
What if… We didn’t use transport to get to school? Stimulate a discussion about how our individual decisions can influence the climate. The article in the Take It Further section offers an interesting international perspective too. Watch the Great Science Share Skills Starter (7-11) on Interpreting Data to help children think about how they could present and interpret their data.
Clean up the beach: A fantastic Problem Solver which could be extended by the children taking action to clean up their local beach. If you don’t live near a beach, then perhaps you could organise a litter pick to clean up your local environment? Or you could compare the types of rubbish in different places? The Great Science Share Skills Starter (4-7) on Interpreting Tables and Charts will help you organise your findings. Once they have done this, what questions do they have? What might they like to investigate?
Light up the dark: Learn about, and try to replicate, this fantastic ‘Light in a Bottle’ invention which reuses plastic pollution to make a useful solar light for people living in homes without windows. What else can inspire people to use science? Watch some of the GSSfS People videos and hear from scientists themselves
NEW ACTIVITES: Be one of the first to try these super new activities…
Pollution Everywhere: This Odd One Out will spark a conversation about the more unusual impacts of humans on the environment. This could generate lots of questions about the impact of noise or light on animals around school. Alternatively, you could use the ideas in the Great Science Create-along Exploring Insects to inspire some artwork on any animal you’d like to highlight.
Hungry Snails: After watching this What’s Going on? children could brainstorm their own ‘I wonder’ questions. Watch the Great Science Share Skill Starter (4-7) on Asking Questions or use the Question Wonder resource. Then the class could then pick one or two of these to investigate.
Slowing Evaporation: Another Big Question which encourages children to think about the effect of Climate Change on their local wildlife. The children could raise their own questions about the impact of climate change on living things in the school grounds. This could lead to a range of investigations. Climate change is a complicated problem- listen to Professor Alice Larkin talking about interconnections between science and culture on the Great Science Share People.
Pack it in: A problem solver to transform break times! Children make their own bespoke reusable beeswax wrappers.
What questions could they ask about the properties of this reusable wrapper? Can they plan a comparable test? Can they spread the word to others in the school too? They could use the GSSfS Share Spinner to help them decide how they will share what they have learnt.
What next?
So, now all you have to do is think of an audience to share your learning with… this could simply be another class in the school, or the parents and guardians. Or you could think bigger and run a Great Science Share Fair in the school hall or outdoor area, and maybe invite other schools to visit. There might also be something already organised locally that you can join in with. There is a fantastic GSSfS community who are always willing to share their ideas and offer advice: @GreatSciShare #GreatSciShare #AskAQuestion
Using these activities for the Great Science Share for Schools is a great introduction to the benefits of Explorify. The next step might be to use our fantastic 30 minute videos (with Explorify Engagement Leaders) to help you make the most of Explorify when you plan your next Science topic. You could download the supporting pdfs or register for an upcoming session.
If you want to ask a specific question, join us at the Explorify Classroom.
Image Credits:
BananaStock via Canva
mediaphotos via Canva