Science Enrichment Day

African millipedes, tarantulas, snakes, lizards, a giant cockroaches and a fairy toad. You would be forgiven for thinking we had been on a round the world rain forest expedition; it was certainly not your average day at school!

Hoath Primary School, Canterbury, kindly invited us to join them for a Science Enrichment Day. They had organised for qualified teacher, writer and documentary film maker Andrew Smith to talk to the children about evolution. Andrew (Andy to his friends) had brought in a host of ‘special friends’ to help him explain to the children the processes of adaptation. A fan of Charles Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’ Andy has spent his life travelling the world collecting small creatures from the rain forest. His engaging talk was pitched at a high level and the four St Faith’s children who participated in the session were spell bound by his hands on artefacts. Have you ever wondered why snails leave a trail of slime? The slime acts as a lubricant to stop them getting friction burn. In the second half of the session he brought out a collection of rare amphibians who have adapted to be able to survive in the harshest of climates. The Pixie frog lives in Africa and survives the climate by burying themselves underground when their river they live in dries up. When the rain comes and fills the river again they re-emerge. They can wait for up to 5 years for the water to come back. The children loved the hands on experience and array of small creatures brought their learning to life. One of our girls made quite the impact on the Pixie Frog, in fact I had to check her pocket to ensure she did not try and smuggle it home! What an excellent experience.