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SNEAK PEEKPRIMARYACTIVITY PACK11-20 March 2022britishscienceweek.orgA range of activities to be runwith pupils under the age of 11Delivered bySupported by

2022When developing this pack,we looked for activitieswhich promote crosscurricular learning and break downthe stereotypes surrounding science,technology, engineering and maths(STEM). We therefore encourage youto use British Science Week as anopportunity to link STEM to othercurriculum subjects and to yourpupils’ own backgrounds, lives andinterests.EnteroThis teaser pack includes an exciting mixof activities and ideas to help teachers,parents or guardians prepare for BritishScience Week. It is designed to give youa taste of our full Primary activity pack,which will be released in January 2022.Feel free to adapt or extend any of theactivities to suit your pupils’ needs or thecurriculum you are delivering.poster competirutionWhy not ask pupils to design a poster basedon any of the activities in this pack andenter it into our poster competition? Simplylook out for the activities marked with thepaintbrush symbol shown opposite!The theme for this year’s poster competitionis ‘Growth’, and you can find more informationon how to enter on page 12 and r-competition .This year, we have included activitiesfor pupils to complete in any setting,whether that’s their school, a club, anorganisation or at home with theirfamilies.BRITISH SCIENCE WEEK 2022 SNEAK PEEK2

2022CONTENTS456789101112Introducing the themeMaking the most of volunteersBritish Science Week at homeGathering resourcesBeyond the WeekUnlocking skillsTree troubleTake it home: Outdoor gymPoster competitionBRITISH SCIENCE WEEK 2022 SNEAK PEEK3

2022INTRODUCINGTHE THEMEThe theme this year for BritishScience Week is ‘Growth’!Introduce the theme to pupils in afun, imaginative way to get them excitedabout the week ahead. Check outsome ideas on how to do this below.Share your brilliant activities,vlogs or images on social media!Join the conversation or seewhat’s happening during the Weekby tagging the British ScienceAssociation (@ScienceWeekUK )and using the hashtag #BSW22.Try a game, give an audio-visualpresentation, explore a mystery orspecial object, or create a pop-updisplay which communicates thetheme of ‘Growth’. These are greatto use as fun warm-up activitiesand are a fantastic way to startBritish Science Week.Get pupils to dress up to personify‘Growth’. They could come toschool as their favourite scientist(and feel free to think outside thebox – the costume can be morethan a white laboratory coat!),or perhaps as an innovation thatBRITISH SCIENCE WEEK 2022 SNEAK PEEKdrove growth. Invite them toshare the story behind theircostume with the class.Encourage pupils to comeup with an acrostic poem forGROWTH by asking them whatcomes to mind when they hear it.You can even turn their acrosticpoem into a jingle which you cansing with them throughout theWeek to help them remembertheir ideas.Engage pupils by discussing howgrowth is part of people, plants,animals, materials, countries andother things in their everydaylives. What are good examples ofgrowth?Invite a special guest or someonefrom the school communityto share with pupils their ownexperience of growth (forexample, how they started theircareer and gained their expertise),showing how great things canstart from small beginnings.See page 5 for information onhow to get volunteers.Here are some other ideas to includeat the beginning of British ScienceWeek.Tell pupils about the plan forthe Week and give them achallenge related to the theme.If you are sending home a familyexperiment, maybe you couldintroduce or demo it at yoursetting first.Growth is all around us. Whatare examples of good and badgrowth? Is there any way you canencourage conversations aboutthis with pupils?Launch the poster competitionand let parents know about this.See page 12of this pack formore details.4

2022MAKING THE MOSTOF VOLUNTEERSWhile face-to-face engagement withexternal visitors is now possible, don’tforget that there are still opportunitiesto get volunteers and presenters toengage with students online.STEM Ambassadors arevolunteers who offer their timeand enthusiasm to help bringscience and technology subjects tolife, and to demonstrate their valueto young people. It is now possible torequest both in-person and remoteSTEM Ambassador support, meaningthat Ambassadors from across the UKcan inspire young people whereverthey are.Find out more and make a requestfor STEM Ambassador support dor .You can also look for presentersand volunteers via Science Live(sciencelive.net ) or ask parentsif they work in STEM-related jobs todescribe what they do in more detail.You could also try some of thefollowing things.BRITISH SCIENCE WEEK 2022 SNEAK PEEKKick off British Science Weekwith a career talk or demo fromfrom an inspiring volunteer toengage the pupils. The volunteercould highlight how they grew tobe an expert in their field, or whatsignificant contributions theyhave made to bring about thatgrowth.Schedule two or three differentguests for careers talks duringthe Week, if possible, to getpupils anticipating who the nextguest will be and what they do.These sorts of experiences caninspire pupils to think about whatthey want to be in the future.Remember, they are never tooyoung to explore their careeroptions!Where available, choosevolunteers/ambassadorswho challenge stereotypes thepupils might have absorbed andpromote positive attitude towardsscience, like female engineers.Let the volunteers/ambassadorsshare how their job is makinga difference in the world, or ananecdote of what science activitythey loved to do as a child.Book your visitors early (as manyspeakers get booked up duringBritish Science Week). Have aclear idea of what you want themto do and communicate this withthem ahead of time.Volunteers come from a rangeof careers and experiences, fromengineers, designers and architectsto scientists and technicians, soget pupils looking forward toinspirational career talks whichbroaden their choices and developtheir job interests!Visit the Inspiring the Future website(inspiringthefuture.org )for some helpful ideas for usingvolunteers, some of which may betransferable when using remoteengagement.5

2022BRITISH SCIENCEWEEK AT HOMEDo you want to help pupils carry onparticipating in British Science Week at home,but are not sure how? Here are our top tips forengaging parents and carers with the Week.Make the most of parentnewsletters, the Parent-TeacherAssociation (PTA) and chat groupand text messaging services ifyou have them. Let all the parentsknow at least a month in advanceof the Week what you haveplanned, and how you’d like themto be involved. They might beable to collect or donate materialsfor use during the Week, and ifyou want them to get involvedin any experiments at homethey may need time to plan andcollect materials themselves. ThePTA may be able to support youfinancially to run activities duringthe Week or help to drum upparent volunteers.BRITISH SCIENCE WEEK 2022 SNEAK PEEKGet parents thinking abouthow their own jobs might link toSTEM subjects and encouragethem to chat with their childrenabout this. You could do this via anewsletter or send pupils homewith activities they can do withtheir parents, which may thenlead onto further conversations.(See page 11for a greattake-home activity.)Encourage exploring outdoors, inthe community or in local culturalspots. This could be anything fromgoing on a nature walk aroundlocal parks, to spotting STEMin action on the streets aroundpupils’ homes. Many of our CRESTactivities (collectionslibrary.crestawards.org/#5-11 )are quick and easy to do as funoutdoor challenges too.Send an experiment idea homeduring the Week to perhapsspark mealtime discussionsaround science. Try to make itas low-resource as possible. Itcan help if it’s something thepupils have tried or seen atschool first so that they feel likethe ‘experts’ when they do it athome with family, allowing themto lead the learning. We have arange of science-based homeactivities requiring few resourcesin the CREST at home collection(collectionslibrary.crestawards.org/#tab ethICKF5NwsMjQq8 ).In addition to this pack, thereare lots of other useful ideas fortake-home activities from seriessuch as this one from The RoyalInstitution: rigb.org/families/experimental .6

2022GATHERINGRESOURCES FOR THECLASSROOM OR HOMEIf you can, try to collectmaterials all year round that canbe cleaned for use during BritishScience Week. Alternatively, checkto see whether there is a scrapshop/store/club open in yourlocal area. These places are oftenmembership based and can bea brilliant, inexpensive or freeresource for card, fabric and otherbits of material. These thingsBRITISH SCIENCE WEEK 2022 SNEAK PEEKcan be turned into rockets, cars,spaceships and more. You nameit – he pupils will think of it! Lookat childrensscrapstore.co.ukto find a UK directory of scrapstores.Take photographs when out andabout and share these with thepupils to foster discussion andraise their level of understandingabout the growth of plants,building structures and so on. Themore colourful, the better! Youcan also use these photographsfor the guessing game ‘I spy’,where you can describe yourobservation of growth and thepupils can attempt to guess it.Collect story books andreference books around thetheme of ‘Growth’ to create athemed library.7

2022BEYONDTHE WEEKThe exploration and curiosity don’t haveto end once British Science Week is over!Some of the following ideas could help youto expand the learning beyond the Week.Get pupils to take part in aCREST Award. CREST is a schemethat encourages young people tothink and act like scientists andengineers. To achieve a CRESTAward, pupils complete handson projects to suit their abilities,interests and age groups. Takea look at the different primarylevel projects here: primarylibrary.crestawards.org .BRITISH SCIENCE WEEK 2022 SNEAK PEEKIf you have the opportunity,consider running a STEM clubor curiosity lab. You can findsupporting resources atstem.org.uk/stem-clubs .8