Sparking STEM

Learning all about stomata, trichomes and xylem! Lots of lovely plant biology in 8-12s Outdoor STEM! 🌱 👏🔬☀️

https://www.sparkingstem.org/outdoorstem.html

The 4-8s Outdoor STEM group did brilliantly today using microscopes to learn all about these hair-like structures on plants called ‘trichomes’ and how they help plants to survive! 👏 🌱 🔬

We’ll be making art with centripetal force next week and there are a couple of places available if your child would like to join us and give Outdoor STEM a try!

https://www.sparkingstem.org/outdoorstem.html

Find out more here! 👇😀

https://www.sparkingstem.org/outdoorstem.html

We examined all sorts of weird and wonderful plants in 6-10s Outdoor STEM today. We examined their trichomes and worked out how they help the plants to survive! 🌱 🔬☺️

https://www.sparkingstem.org/outdoorstem.html

So true! This is why in all my sessions I offer choices, and a zero pressure approach. Children choose the activities they want to explore and I fit the science tuition to them, rather than trying to pressure them to fit the tuition.

Some children need to know they can say No before they can really say Yes.

They need to know that they aren’t being forced to be here, that they are free to go, and therefore, they are also free to stay. Knowing that they can leave makes it possible for them to join in.

Unfortunately this isn’t how we raise children in mainstream parenting culture. In fact, a lot of mainstream parenting is predicated on the assumption that we shouldn’t let them say no, because they might take up the opportunity to do so.

‘We just don’t give them the option!’ say parents breezily, apparently without hearing the controlling overtones. We tell children what is going to happen without giving them the option of it not happening. We put them in places where they have no escape. We pressure them to make sure they join in, come with us, have a go – and we shame them if they don’t. We worry that they will be sad that they missed out later, and so we push them to make sure that that won’t happen.

We put such value on saying Yes, and very little on the skill of saying No. Children who say No a lot are called oppositional, pathological, defiant, resistant or difficult. Their very No’s are seen as a problem, and sometimes more pressure is put on, which just makes it even less likely that they will say Yes.

For children learn by trying things out, which includes saying both No and Yes. They learn their limits by experimenting with them. They learn what they can manage by getting it wrong. They learn to make decisions by making decisions, both good and bad. They can’t do this if we restrict their choices to joining in, because we don't like the idea of them choosing not to.

They can’t risk saying Yes, if they know that once they have done so, they won’t be able to say No.

Illustration by Eliza Fricker (Missing The Mark )

(this is a post from my Substack newsletter. It's free and easy to share with those not on social media. Subscribe here. www.naomicfisher.substack.com.)

Almost made up for the endless rain! 🌧️ 🌈 ☀️

The smell of rain is pure chemistry.

You can sign up to join these free events here👇

https://www.sparkingstem.org/meet-scientists.html

It’s a beautiful morning for Outdoor STEM at the Flying Horse Lawn site! 😀

What an amazing job our scientists did yesterday inspiring and engaging children aged 5 to 16 in their research topics at the end of our ‘Effective Outreach with Children course! It was wonderful to see them all using the skills we’d been practising and knowledge they’d gained as well as having a brilliant time! 😊

https://www.sparkingstem.org/effective-outreach-with-children-training.html

Wow! What an amazing afternoon introducing 15 home-educated students to scientists from the University of Sheffield. The children held rocks older than dinosaurs from the underground mine where dark matter is being researched, tried pipetting techniques used in cancer research, identified the differences in nerve cells damaged by motor neurone disease, discovered what alternative fuels in steel making are made from, saw Gallium Nitride buffer layers, analysed the psychosocial impacts of oral health, saw how light and matter can interact to identify cancer bio markers in saliva, and so much more!! We had so much fun and it was hard for everyone to leave at the end! 😀

🧬You can sign up to join these FREE events here👇

https://www.sparkingstem.org/meet-scientists.html

What a privilege and a joy it’s been to get to know these fantastic science researchers from the University of Sheffield this week!
I’m completely buzzing from the joy of seeing them all do an amazing job sharing their science research with fifteen home-educated students today! Lots more photos to follow when I can sort through them all. 👏 😃

Looking forward to welcoming lots of students to meet our science researchers today at the University of Sheffield, in the final day of the Effective Outreach with Children course! 😀

https://www.sparkingstem.org/meet-scientists.html

A day packed full of interesting discussions and idea sharing as our scientists learned how to work effectively a range of education settings on day 2 of the ‘Effective Outreach with Children’ course today! 😀

https://www.sparkingstem.org/effective-outreach-with-children-training.html

What a fantastic first day meeting science researchers at the University of Sheffield, and supporting them to turn their complex research into engaging and inspirational activities for outreach with children! Looking forward to the next two days of our ‘Effective Outreach with Children course’!

Excited to meet more research scientists from the University of Sheffield this week and to introduce them to fifteen Home-educated students on Friday! We had an amazing time last year and I can’t wait to see what excitements this year’s ’meeting scientists’ event will bring! 😀

You can sign up to join these FREE home-ed events here👇

https://www.sparkingstem.org/meet-scientists.html

At the Eden Project and loving it! Wonderful to see a site of habitat destruction (an old quarry) transformed into one of inspiration, education, conservation and biodiversity. Feeling very inspired for our upcoming Outdoor STEM session on Plant Biology too! 🌱 😃

We’ll be back at our Summer site for 4-8s Outdoor STEM next half term! Book your place here! 👇

https://www.sparkingstem.org/outdoorstem.html

Small group, active and engaging, child-led, outdoor science tuition for 4-8 year olds, where you can choose and vary how much you accompany your child. 😊