| Interactive Primary Bulletin 46 Reebop a lula she's my baby... |
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February 12th 2009 marks 200 years since the birth of one of Britain’s most influential scientists, Charles Darwin. His book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection [1] caused controversy on its publication but is still the basis of our understanding of evolution. Many events are being held throughout the coming year to mark this anniversary. See the special website at the Natural History Museum (NHM) for details [2]. If your school or authority is holding an event the Advocacy Panel for Darwin 200 would love to know [3], and can help publicise it via the Darwin 200 website. As part of the Darwin 200 celebrations, primary schools are
being invited to take part in The Great Plant Hunt, a project which has been
commissioned and funded by the Wellcome Trust in association with the Royal
Botanic Garden, Kew (RBG Kew). |
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The project has been inspired by Darwin’s scientific approach. Dr Steven
Sinkins, Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow at Oxford University,
comments: "Charles Darwin, perhaps the most influential scientist of all
time, made meticulous observations of nature and maintained an open mind in
interpreting what he found. His methods were low-tech, but his science has
revolutionised our understanding of the world and of our place in it.
Children in schools across the country can readily follow his inspiring
example." This innovative project aims to get primary school children out and about and excited by nature. It promises to give children aged 5-11 hands-on experience of what it's like to be a plant hunter, working with Kew’s scientists who play a vital role in saving our natural world heritage. |
 Free
resourcesIn Spring 2009, all the UK’s 22,000 state primary schools will be sent a Treasure Chest full of free resources to be used in the classroom, online and in the great outdoors. The free resources are clearly mapped to the primary curriculum. With exciting missions to discover plants in the wild (from the school playing fields to weeds growing in the cracks in the pavement!) the Great Plant Hunt also gives children the chance to be part of the UK's biggest ever school science project. They will be invited to take part in a unique experiment to help scientists at Kew's Millennium Seed Bank. Secondary schools can sign up for their own free resources to support Darwin 200 [4]. See [5] for those who wish to receive advance notification of project developments or who wish to be involved in reviewing the project. Look out for more information about The Great Plant Hunt in future bulletins. References [2] www.darwin200.org/index.html [3] www.darwin200.org/utils/contact.jsp?title=General%20enquiry |
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