With the implementation of the Creative Curriculum in the UK, which gives teachers and administrators the opportunity to be more flexible in the delivery of core teaching programmes, new opportunities have emerged to motivate and excite young people, particularly in terms of regarding scientific subjects. . After all, one of the key objectives of this new development is to help young people, indeed students of all ages from reception/base to key stage four, to acquire the capacity for original ideas and actions. Indeed, to help students learn about science, the environment, and other related science subjects, such as math; through personal exploration and inquiry.
The creative curriculum and the teaching of scientific subjects
In our experience, as teachers, the creative curriculum has allowed us to act as learning facilitators. We have found that the greater flexibility to be able to teach the basic subjects and the principles of the national curriculum has been a very positive experience for both the teachers who teach the lessons and also for students.
Being more creative has led to the abandonment of many of the older lesson plans and frameworks we had. Others have been modified and adapted to work in the context of greater teacher freedoms. In particular, being able to introduce new topics such as the study of dinosaurs has brought real benefits to the delivery of teaching programmes.
While we accept that modifying existing lesson plans, topics and frameworks was more work at the start of this new style of teaching, the results have more than made up for it with a more motivated and enthusiastic group of students, who really seem to be able to apply key skills and demonstrate learning.
Why choose dinosaurs?
In our opinion, the choice of a study on dinosaurs and indeed other prehistoric animals as part of a theme theme for a term or part of a school term is a very good idea. Firstly, most children go through a fascination phase with these prehistoric creatures, this will ensure their willingness to participate in the lessons and activities. Second, dinosaurs these days are rarely out of the mainstream media, with TV shows, cartoons, and movies, so most kids are familiar with them and already have some knowledge. Perhaps most important of all, the subject of dinosaurs, or to be more precise, a study of the Order of reptiles known as the Dinosauria, provides enormous scope for developing a variety of exciting lesson plans in a variety of areas. themes.
Subject areas that can be covered include science, mathematics and geography, but with some creative thinking, teaching areas as diverse as music, physical education and dance. For example, using the theme of dinosaurs for a term topic gives teachers an opportunity to explore topics like changing environments and extinction. In delivering such a framework, we have incorporated many different subject areas, all loosely based on the mass extinction event that occurred sixty-five million years ago and led to the death of the dinosaurs. Science areas can be covered by exploring possible reasons for the extinction event, the breakdown of food webs, the impact of volcanoes, and climate changes. This can allow teachers to explore current issues and issues related to subject areas such as global warming and the impact of human population growth on the planet. By being creative, the extinction motif can be applied in other subject areas, such as composing a piece of music to reflect the change and death of an entire group of prehistoric animals. This allows teachers to take advantage of other students’ learning styles. With music and movement in mind, we have helped create dance classes where students try to interpret the death of dinosaurs through creative dance and other stage works.
Most of the children have some knowledge about dinosaurs; in fact, in our experience, there is usually at least one very knowledgeable person in the class, perhaps a budding young paleontologist who can be trusted to help excite and inform the subject. When we wanted to encourage independent learning, we hung a clothesline complete with pegs in the classroom. Next, we asked the students (in this case, key stage two students) to think of questions about dinosaurs and write them on a piece of paper with their names on them. We then went through the questions that had come up and grouped them together (another useful exercise involving word association and spatial awareness). Once the question areas were grouped, teams were selected and each team was assigned the task of investigating a question and reporting their findings to the rest of the class. This independent research and problem solving used a variety of resources and then encouraged each team to make a presentation to their classmates and write their findings to display on the “resource wall” we had created to help create a topic on the room for the theme of dinosaurs. .
As teachers, we found the delivery of a topic associated with dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals a joy to teach and found our own curiosity and interest kindled. No doubt there were many key benefits to putting dinosaurs in the classroom, a summary of the benefits we found are listed below:
1). Students were more involved in their learning and took more responsibility for their learning. There was a real sense of ownership when they were taught this subject. For example, the sense of pride in designing your own prehistoric animal, finding out where it lived, what it ate and what it should be called.
2). The students were more enthusiastic about the subject areas and there was a higher motivation. For example, explore the concept of averages with a key class from stage 3 using some dinosaur tracks to make a path and measure the average distance between steps.
3). As teachers, we too were more motivated and enthusiastic about the topic of dinosaurs. It was a “fun” aspect of the curriculum and it was more rewarding and personally satisfying to see how the children responded to the more creative teaching methods employed.
4). Increased parental involvement. One unanticipated benefit of teaching dinosaurs was the increased interest shown by parents and guardians. Adults also seem to have a fascination with dinosaurs, we encouraged children to talk about dinosaurs with their parents and guardians when they were at home and we saw a marked improvement in many parents’ attitudes towards teaching when they began to see how creative we were. . in the execution of educational plans and programs. One thing we would recommend is to have an ‘open afternoon’ that allows students to display their dinosaur related work and studies. We set up a “mini-museum” showing the work and experiments the children had done. This was very well received by the parents and guardians who attended.
It is certainly recommended to bring dinosaurs to schools. It enables teachers and educators to tap into students’ enthusiasm, motivates learning, and provides a rich environment for developing lessons and learning. We even learned a few things ourselves, would definitely recommend.