School Workshop: Darwin’s Doodles – An Amazonian Odyssey (year 5 and 6)

This workshop enables students to:

• use dichotomous keys and practise classifying living things
• investigate and explain the adaptations of animals and plants in the rainforest
• consider how living things within an ecosystem are interdependent
• explain how the characteristics of living things change over time – evolution

We've designed the workshop to help teachers cover the following subject areas:

In Science, pupils should be taught to describe how living things are classified into broad groups and give reasons for classifying plants and animals based on specific characteristics. Pupils should recognise that living things have changed over time and that fossils provide information about living things that inhabited the Earth millions of years ago. They should identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways and that adaptation may lead to evolution. Pupils might find out about the work of palaeontologists such as Mary Anning and about how Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace developed their ideas on evolution.

In Geography, pupils should be taught to locate the world’s countries, using maps to focus on Europe and North and South America, concentrating on their environmental regions and key physical and human characteristics. They should be taught to identify the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn.

This takes place in The Core workshop room and Rainforest Biome.

The workshop costs £8.75 per pupil, with a minimum charge of £175 per group (includes VAT). Maximum group size is 35. The cost includes:

• a facilitated workshop with our Education Team
• free access to the Eden site for the day
• all equipment needed for the workshop
• free teaching resources enabling your class to prepare for the workshop and to follow up on the activity (download a sample copy)
• a personal welcome from the Education Team at the entrance
• a base for your bags in our purpose-built education centre, The Core
• a space to eat your own lunch

The price includes free entry for accompanying adult helpers, whose participation is essential to the success of the day (please note our suggested adult/pupil ratios are as follows: Early Years Foundation Stage, 1:3; Key Stage 1, 1:6; Key Stage 2 and 3, 1:10; Key Stage 4, 1:15; Key Stage 5, 1:20). You’re welcome to bring more helpers if you’d like. Additional helpers are charged at our group booking rate.

We also offer a free preparatory visit to Eden for teachers wanting to plan their school trip, which should be booked in advance.

Find out the steps we’ve taken to ensure that all participants on Eden Project school visits are safe, with our health and safety guidelines.