Schools rocket into spring with the Tim Peake Primary Project
We are only just in March, and yet primary schools up and down the country have launched themselves into the Tim Peake Primary Project.
From Sunderland to the South West, pupils are getting to grips with designs for a new space station, extra-terrestrial eating and Alka-Seltzer rockets and models of the moon. Here’s a round-up of the year so far…
Sunshine Science
Year 5 pupils from Cedars Park Primary have been inspired after our Space Ambassador's visit to learn more about the light from the Sun. They enjoyed the 'mission' style approach to the UV bead experiment and came up with some great ideas relating to fair testing. The difference in results that existed between groups gave rise to some high-quality discussion about the purpose of a 'control.'
Immersed in Space Science
Park Primary School in Bristol welcomed the new term with a Space Science Week. The children participated in eight workshops, which included: building a vehicle to help an Eggnaut survive a fall from space, designing a space meal for Tim Peake and learning about how astronauts keep fit and healthy. All children were completely engaged right from the beginning of the week and were fully immersed in their learning. In one workshop they enjoyed learning about how space travel affects hydration levels of astronauts and creating fake urine samples showing levels of hydration. They even visited an ‘ISS Supermarket’ to try and make sensible choices of drinks to keep well hydrated.
DIY Space Stations
Children at Hudson Road School in Sunderland spent a day learning about the ISS and designing their own space stations. Children developed their drawing and designing skills, whilst learning more about what was required in the design of a space station and the challenges of living on board.
Mission to Mars
Heyes Lane Primary School in Trafford learnt about Mars landers, with children building their own lander models. The ultimate test came later on in the day, when pupils’ models were used to protect an egg dropped from a height. Thankfully, the parachutes were successful!
Marbling Planets
St Paul's Nursery School in York have been learning about the Solar System. They’ve created colourful pictures of the solar system and an astronaut, to support learning about the planets. This has included lots of art and modelling activities and enjoying playing with rockets, astronauts and aliens on a smallworld moonbase.
Collaborative Space Training
In Derbyshire, as part of the Tim Peake Primary Project, two New Mills primary schools (Newtown and Thornsett) collaborated for a joint space training afternoon. Hosted in New Mills High School, children from Years 2, 3 and 4, teachers, trainees, volunteers and parents got together to experience a selection of astronaut training activities. All through the afternoon, the children participated enthusiastically, working alongside each other whilst developing their skills of manipulation, problem solving and memory training.
Martian Egg Landers
In Stockport, Cheshire, the year 5s at Great Moor Junior School built some super Mars Landers that could safely deposit an egg on the surface of Mars. In their groups, they talked about gravity, opposite and opposing forces and how to slow a moving object down. Space Ambassador Bill Roffey reports that after many successful launches of the Mars Landers, he left with almost all of the eggs he came with.
The Life of an Astronaut
Litton Primary School in Derbyshire and Rose Hill Primary School in Stockport have been learning about life as an astronaut. This has encouraged children to think about how hard life in space can be and how important teamwork can be. Children watched videos of astronauts performing normal, everyday tasks in micro-gravity. They then tried out tasks with ‘astronaut gloves’ such as building a jigsaw together and assembling some nuts, bolts and washers underwater. They were more difficult than they expected! The day was overwhelmingly positive, here’s what two children said:
I had a lot of fun and now I know what it feels like to be in space - SophieI learnt that you can do anything no matter if you are a girl/woman or a boy/man - Kate
We look forward to hearing about other schools’ activities as the year progresses.