Thinking of planning a whole-school science event? Explorify can help.

Getting your idea off the ground

At its simplest, a whole-school science event might mean an hour or an afternoon of hands-on activities for all classes, or you might opt to give your event more time: a whole day or even a week for a science theme like Space or Oceans with plenty of opportunities for cross-curricular as well as science learning. 

At its simplest, a whole-school science event might mean an hour or an afternoon of hands-on activities for all classes, or you might opt to give your event more time: a whole day or even a week for a science theme like Space or Oceans with plenty of opportunities for cross-curricular as well as science learning. 

Start a space theme, for example, with Listen, what can you hear? Prepare for launch. There are paid-for ‘wow’ events like Explorer Dome science shows, but you can also find exciting resources available for free such as Borrow The Moon. On Explorify, your space inspiration could come from a Problem Solver such as Suits you, a Zoom In, Zoom Out like The great red spot or a What’s going on? like this one: Manoeuvring on the Moon.

With your theme or focus decided upon, as well as the amount of time that’s going to be devoted to it, your next step is to get everyone in your team on board. You might choose to introduce and discuss the idea at a staff meeting and follow up by sharing resources on a Padlet.  Here are some other practicalities to consider as you plan your event:

• Which classes will be involved? 
• Will children stay with their own classes throughout, or will you mix it up? 
• What shared events will there be, such as an assembly or a ‘wow’ starter? 
• How much freedom will teachers have to develop the theme for their individual classes/year groups?
• How will you conclude things?  Will time be built in to share achievements or celebrate them? 
• What publicity will there be and who will be responsible for this? 
• Will any resources need to be sourced or purchased ahead of time?  How will you pay for these? 
• How are you going to capture and share the success of your event? 
• Are you going to seek support from parents, STEM Ambassadors, local businesses, university, secondary school, etc?

A classic model for concluding a week-long event is a Friday morning or afternoon ‘share’ where half the class remain as hosts/explainers while the other half tour the school, a class at a time. Halfway through, hosts and visitors swap roles.  The children can even be issued with passports so they can collect a stamp from every class they visit. 

Making it work for you

The activities taking place in each class are likely to be different even though the overall theme or focus is the same. However, you could choose to set all the children the same simple challenge, which they approach at different skill levels depending on their age and ability. An example of such an activity would be Rocket Mice from the Science Museum, in which the aim is to launch a paper cone (the mouse) using a blast of air from a squeezed plastic bottle. 

Image credit: R Ellis PSTT for Explorify

This would give you, as Science Leader, an opportunity to assess the progression of skills across the school.  Check out TAPS (Teacher Assessment in Primary Science) for further guidance on how to use this activity as a Focused Assessment Task with Years 2 and 5.  And don’t forget to set the ball rolling (literally!) with our new Explorify activities What if… we used machines like this? and Scarf shooter which feature a machine that blasts colourful scarves and hollow balls around loops of see-through tubes on a current of air.  Share the Background Science and Take It Further notes from these activities at your staff meeting to generate ideas, enthusiasm, and engagement among your team.

Finding inspiration

The simplest place to start searching for inspiration could be Explorify itself, your school’s locality, or even the current season or weather.  The downloadable PDF produced for our recent Planning Support Session on whole-school events suggests Explorify activities suited to varied locations: near coasts, quarries, meadows, rivers, heathland, lakes and woodland, as well as towns and cities. On a seasonal theme, you could use one of our sound-only Listen, what can you hear? activities Like a flash and get everyone to close their eyes and listen to a storm. Or start a conversation about the changing seasons by comparing Odd One Out images of the same tree across Three seasons. The What’s Going On? film Wonderful weather shows different kinds of weather, which children can relate to their own experiences.

How to run an assembly

If you’re leading an assembly to introduce your theme, Explorify can provide you with a question or activity to capture the interest of both younger and older children. The Have You Ever? questions cover every area of the curriculum, relating science to children’s real experiences – to things they know something about, things that are meaningful to them. For example, the question Have you ever put something in the recycling bin?  is instantly relatable. This could be an engaging starter for an assembly, which you could follow up by tipping out a black bin bag containing aluminium cans, a glass jar, plastic tubs, newspaper, and some fruit peel which volunteers could sort, helped by suggestions from their audience.

Alternatively, you could generate a buzz of anticipation in your whole-school or key stage assembly by kicking off a coastal/weather/building theme with the What’s Going On? film Sandcastle which uses time-lapse to show how wind and tide gradually wear away a magnificent fairy tale sandcastle. Always popular as an attention grabber – as much in an assembly as in the classroom – is a Zoom In, Zoom Out. There are lots to choose from; it really depends on your theme. Here’s one you could use for a theme about butterflies or migration, for instance.  If you’re running an assembly, try to include:

• One Explorify activity with widespread appeal across ages and abilities that ties in with your event.  See our recent Planning Support Session and accompanying  PDF.
• A relatable experience: mention something from the locality or news, an individual’s achievement, or a shared experience (e.g. the rainbow over the school on Monday).
• Responses from children, valuing what they say.  Have volunteers participate too!
• Reflection time in which to make connections, e.g. to your school’s values, or deeper issues such as the Climate Challenge.
• A story, a song, and something to smile about.  You want them to enjoy coming, after all!

Readymade ideas

Still stuck where to start? You could always try the ‘oven-ready’ approach. That assembly with the recycling task might be part of a whole-school event based around Earth Day on the 22nd April, or World Environment Day on 5th June.  There’s a day for almost everything! I started writing this on National Skip the Straw Day, for example, which could lead you nicely towards an investigation of plastic straw alternatives: paper, glass, stainless steel, bamboo…

Here are pointers to some of the events and campaigns, national and international science-themed days and weeks that are available. Related Explorify activities are listed in the PDF.

• Celebrating scientists (any time of year)
• Whistlestop Science Weeks (any time of year)
• The Climate Challenge (any time of year) – Helpful Reads and Planning Support.
• RSPB’s Big Schools’ Birdwatch (January/February)
• International Day of Women and Girls in Science (February)
• British Science Week (March)
• World Water Day (March)
• National Tree Week (March)
• Walk to School Week (May)
• The Great Science Share for Schools(June)
• Healthy Eating Week (June)
• Black History Month (October)
• World Space Week (October)

Finally, a top tip. Involve the children in the publicity drive that leads up to the event.  Get them creating posters or even short videos to share (with permission) on your school’s social page. The key thing is, a whole-school event, big or small in scale, gives everyone involved a buzz. With a little help from Explorify, it will deepen engagement with - and understanding of - your chosen science topic, becoming a memory that children, teachers, and parents refer back to time and time again.