Diary Entry - November

November got off to a flying start with a visit from Mike Hales, our Rolls-Royce mentor.  Our Year 6 team captains took him on a tour of the school, after which he and the project team were able to sit down to business – greenhouses!

In the space that’s been given over to the project on the top-floor of the Horizon Block, Mike would certainly have seen one or two of the early prototype greenhouses (mini ones!) that demonstrate many children’s over-reliance on that wonder material: sticky tape.  This is a shame because their designs demonstrate ingenuity in terms of shape, structure and the materials chosen to build them: take away containers being one example.  It seemed that when it came to joining any two materials, as far as the children were concerned, there was just one option: sticky tape!

That single misconception has given us plenty to work on this month.  Teachers have brainstormed with their classes the myriad options for joining things that can be found all around us: from the velcro on a shoe to the stitching that holds together a pair of trousers; from the screw on the door-handle to the staples along the spine of a pamphlet.  In fact, the choices seem endless.  The next thing to do was to disprove the suitability of sticky tape by setting up a test.  Year 3 have placed a frame out-of-doors entirely held together by sticky tape in order to measure the effects of rain, wind, hail and (yes!) snow on this structure.

And speaking of structures, there’s been quite a lot going on in this respect.  Every class has entered a challenge, based on something I’d seen Tom Wujec demonstrate on the inspirational TED site, in which teams of four try to build the tallest freestanding tower possible, with a single marshmallow placed on the top, from 20 sticks of spaghetti, a metre of string and a metre of tape in precisely 18 minutes.  It’s all about collaboration – and quick collaboration at that – TEAMWORK!  What’s been particularly pleasing about the way teachers have run with this idea is how some brought collaboration right to the fore by, for instance, having Year 5 pupils work together with Reception children.  We found that it was worth repeating the challenge for the same groups – after a break – so that children could learn from the lessons of their first attempts.

Having Rodney Battey, our STEM Ambassador, on hand has helped tremendously.  He’s been the perfect person – a scientist with a professional background in materials – to point out what was effective and why.  Furthermore, Rodney has introduced new concepts to the children including different types of joint and the range, suitability and safe use of adhesives.  Year 5 pupils even had a go at writing risk assessments for the use of hot-melt glue guns.  A series of workshops this month, led by Rodney, involved groups of children from the very youngest to the oldest.  One activity in particular, using building blocks rather like in the game Jenga, delighted the children as it had destruction rather than construction as its theme!  The children have certainly learned a great deal from working alongside our STEM Ambassador.

There have also been trips out this month, including to a local organic farm, Highfield at Topsham, where children visited polytunnels, explored their structure and learned how they assist the growth of plants.  Meanwhile, back at school, plastic bottles are piling up in freshly-donated dumpy sacks.  In most classes, the designing and building of mini-greenhouse prototypes is already underway.
 
And, amidst all of the above, I almost forgot to mention the filming, which has continued apace into November, thanks once again to the time generously given by Chris Adams, parent governor and project team member, as well as to his willing team of young helpers!  Our curriculum theme for this half-term has been Lights, Camera, Action! which tied in brilliantly.  As they say in the business, ‘it’s all in the can now’.  And you’ll be able to view the results very soon right here. 

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