Paradise Pastures: Work Scientifically to Investigate the Incredible Biodiversity Hidden in your School Grounds

Overview of the lesson series

At Eden we use stories as starting points (hooks) and play on children’s natural curiosity to engage our learners. The human brain is hardwired for engaging with storytelling. The ‘Paradise Pastures’ lesson series demonstrate how we take this playful, narrative-led approach and apply this to scientific enquiry. This series of immersive sessions would be best delivered during the summer term. The sessions begin with a period of exploration where the children touch on a range of enquiry types, skills and areas of science knowledge and understanding, and have a range of science experiences outdoors. These experiences act to spark their curiosity.

Key to this lesson series is the idea that science enquiry is about much more than carrying out a ‘fair test’. There are actually 6 types of scientific enquiry: Observation over time, Researching, Identifying, Classifying and Grouping, Pattern Seeking, Problem Solving and Fair/Comparative testing. Once we come to realise and become practised in these different and equally valid ways of ‘finding out’, beyond trying to shoehorn everything into a ‘fair test’, then teachers and their children have more freedom to enjoy the nature of science.

To find out further information about the types of scientific enquiry and the enquiry skills we recommend visiting the Primary Science Teaching Trust website.

After these initial exploratory sessions, the students are encouraged to draw on their experiences and to develop their own scientific question: something which they themselves have become curious about. They are then supported to choose the most suitable enquiry type to investigate their question and complete an investigation before reporting back their findings.

The investigations take place within your school grounds in an area which will come to be known as ‘Paradise Pastures’. It’s likely that the children will already be familiar with the place, however, this series of lessons invites them to take another look at that place and explore it with a fresh focus.

Year 5 student

“ Science is the figuring out of the unknown and learning from mistakes. ”

Rationale Behind the Lesson Series

Research increasingly shows the importance of connection to nature in terms of developing pro environmental behaviours. The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review states that ‘Creating an environment from an early age where we are able to connect to nature is essential for self-enforcement in protecting and valuing nature’. Connection to Nature represents a golden thread running through all of our learning programmes at Eden and this lesson series provides a means to that end within your own school grounds.

At the Eden Project we see science as an active process, whereby curiosity is harnessed and children are encouraged to develop their own authentic questions about the world around them. This series of lessons aims to help guide children and their teachers on that journey through the process of scientific enquiry.

Carrying out scientific enquiries brings a whole host of benefits to the learner. The ASE (Association for Science Education) states that scientific enquiry increases children capacity to: problem-solve and answer questions, work with independence, ‘Be a scientist’ and communicate effectively. In addition, scientific enquiry develops and deepens conceptual understanding, nurtures thinking, reasoning, resilience, determination and confidence and develops a toolkit of practical skills which is added to over time.

Year 5 student

“ Before I thought science was just germs and antibodies and the body but now I think it’s also the living nature and the world itself. ”

Why do this series of lessons with your class?

It’s tried and tested! We developed this project with a year 5 class in a Cornish school during summer 2021.

A group of children crouched on the floor examining the grass

In the feedback from the children showed several key trends:

The realisation that science is a ‘doing type of thing’ – it’s active and is about finding out how the world around you works.
Development of scientific skills and practical know how (use of equipment).
Excitement about the living things in their local environment (biodiversity) that they don’t normally notice and the connection between our actions and the environment.
They enjoyed taking a playful approach to science - blending a narrative with the scientific enquiry.
They simply enjoyed being outside, getting wet, getting muddy and looking at nature.

Further information

KS2 Science – Working Scientifically, Plants, Living things in their Habitats, Animals including Humans, Evolution and Inheritance
KS2 Geography - use fieldwork to observe, measure, record and present the human and physical features in the local area
KS2 English – Writing across the curriculum
KS2 Maths – Data collection and statistics

Development of scientific enquiry skills and confidence when completing practical work.
Development of contextual knowledge and understanding of topics from the KS2 science curriculum.
An appreciation of the nature and purpose of science as an active process, driven by curiosity and a desire to better understand how the world works.
Discover the biodiversity in their local area and connecting with nature.

Experience of how to apply a ‘story-inspired learning’ approach to scientific enquiry to spark curiosity and engage the learners.
Experience of replicable ideas for taking primary science outside which can be used for future classes across the 5 types of Enquiry.
As well as science, participation in ‘Paradise Pastures’ provided several cross curricular opportunities. For example, giving the children authentic experiences to draw upon in their writing.

Lesson overview and downloadable resources

Overview

The children are introduced to the ‘Whatifs’, the fictional characters, who make Paradise Pastures their home. The Whatifs set the children a challenge which gives their scientific enquiry work over the next few lessons a clear purpose and narrative.

The children begin their practical work outside by completing a Microhike - investigating the vegetation and creatures found living on the ground in Paradise Pastures. The types of enquiry that they predominantly focus on are ‘Observation’ and ‘Identification and Classification’ as well as beginning to think about ‘Pattern Seeking’. They also begin to develop their scientific skills such as ‘observing’, ‘measuring’ and ‘recording data’.

Downloadable resources

Overview

The children delve into the ‘Invisible Underworld’ - the world of soil. They do this by collecting soil samples from Paradise Pastures and investigating them using hand lenses, microscopes and other equipment.

The types of enquiry that they predominantly focus on are ‘Identification and Classification’ as well as ‘Pattern Seeking’. They also continue to develop their scientific skills such as ‘observing’, ‘measuring’ and ‘recording data’.

Downloadable resources

Overview

In this session is based inside. The children use the internet to research the benefits of growing wildflower meadows and how to go about creating one in Paradise Pastures. The type of enquiry that they predominantly focus on is ‘Researching Using Secondary Sources’.

Downloadable resources

Overview

At this stage in the project the children will have completed 3 challenges set by the Whatifs and built up a picture of Paradise Pastures. It is the perfect moment for them to practise their persuasive writing skills in the context of Science Enquiry. The children will have a very clear purpose for their writing and a wealth of direct and recent experience to draw upon.

Extension Activity: Pollinator Pathmaker

Schools can apply to take part in the Pollinator Pathmaker project and plant their own pollinator friendly artwork and garden on their own school grounds.

Downloadable resources

Lesson 4 Plan (PDF)

Overview

This lesson describes how to work with the children in order to draw upon the learning from previous sessions and develop a suitable and authentic Scientific Enquiry of their own. There is guidance for the teacher in terms of how to develop a question to investigate, choose the most suitable enquiry type to investigate their question, plan their investigation and carry it out.

Downloadable resources

Paradise Pastures: Work Scientifically to Investigate the Incredible Biodiversity Hidden in your School Grounds

Overview of the lesson series

Rationale Behind the Lesson Series

Why do this series of lessons with your class?

Further information

Lesson overview and downloadable resources

Share the page

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Paradise Pastures: Work Scientifically to Investigate the Incredible Biodiversity Hidden in your School Grounds

Overview of the lesson series

Quote 1

Rationale Behind the Lesson Series

Quote 2

Why do this series of lessons with your class?

Further information

Lesson overview and downloadable resources

Share the page

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Teacher training and school development

Bespoke teacher training and consultancy for schools: outdoor learning

Leaders in Outdoor Learning CPD

Eden Project Changemakers CPD

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