Written by Lyn Simons from Tannery Drift School
Everyone at Tannery Drift School had a break from normal lessons recently to actively engage in a Science Week focused on ‘Change’. Workshops, demonstrations and experiments were undertaken with a large focus on recycling, and with special reference to Ethiopia and Global Learning.
Initially we planned to dedicate one day of the week to our Link with Ethiopia and Selam Elementary, but we found that the resources provided were so thought-provoking that they impacted on the whole week’s curriculum. With the kind help of Laurence from Link Ethiopia we were able to see a number of videos that showed us how to value resources and find other uses for many items we would normally throw away.
Some of the activities our school got involved in:
- With the World Cup taking place, we tried our hand at making a plastic bag football. It was great fun and it worked! http://www.sendacow.org.uk/lessonsfromafrica/resources/plastic-bag-football
- We realised how important the supply of clean water is around the world, including Ethiopia. We tried our own method of changing dirty water to clean. http://www.sodis.ch/methode/index_EN
- We used filters of bark, gravel, sand and paper to remove some of the dirt.
- Paper recycling took a long, long, time.
- UNDP Millennium Development in Ethiopia: http://www.et.undp.org/content/ethiopia/en/home/mdgoverview/
- ‘Birhan’s Story: The girl from the Live Aid famine films on how her life has changed since’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjUtbK1H34E