This year’s theme for British Science Week was ‘Connections’. Nearly all innovations in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths are built on connections between people. Therefore, throughout this week, Year 2 participated in a range of activities to explore this theme.
As timing may have it, Neurodiversity Celebration Week fell at the same time as science week; it seemed very fitting to put this into our celebration of science week. The children learnt the meaning behind neurodiversity and that everybody on earth is neurodiverse in some way. We discussed the differences between humans, including the differences in how our brains operate. Year 2 thoroughly enjoyed finding out about famous people who have neurological differences such as Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock who was diagnosed with Dyslexia at the age of 8 and grew up to become a pioneer in Space Science and an trailblazer for neurodiversity and women and black people in Science – a truly influential and important person, I’m sure you’ll agree.
We had some wonderful conversations in class where the children in Year 2 demonstrated great maturity and tolerance to those around them. Some children decided to talk about their own differences whilst others welcomed discussions about their families and friends. Together, Year 2 came up with some top tips to support people who might find learning and social awareness difficult. Here are some below:
- Always allow your friends time to think and speak.
- Understand that not everybody will view your actions the same way.
- Try to involve everybody at play time but give others space if they need it.
- Be kind and encouraging.
- Never let anything stop you from chasing your dreams.
As we came to the close of Science Week, Year 1 joined us for a technology afternoon where we undertook two activities. Our first activity involved exploring coding using circuit boards called ‘Makey Makey’. From this, the children created and coded their own interactive rock band. Later in the afternoon, we combined sustainability and innovation with technology as the children were presented with the following problem:
“Almost 7 MILLION debit cards are lost each year.
Debit cards are made of plastic which means that they can damage the environment at a fast rate.”
From this, the children explored the effects that plastic has on the environment and used their creative skills to design a technological solution to this problem. We had some excellent inventions including one robot that trails the world to find lost credit cards!
Overall, it is fair to say that Science Week was a success for another year; even for the younger children in our school. Well done, Year 2 for being a wonderfully engaged and enthusiastic class yet again!
