BSW 25: Home educators evolution day

Unlock the Secrets of Evolution!

Join us for an engaging and educational afternoon designed for home-educators. This interactive event dives into the fascinating story of evolution, showcasing how life on Earth has changed over millions of years.

What to Expect:

• Guided Tour of Fossil Stories: Explore the museum’s incredible fossil collection and uncover the stories they tell about Earth’s past.
• Interactive Natural selection Game: Participate in a hands-on activity that demonstrates how evolution shapes the natural world.
• Meet the Scientists: Chat with researchers and learn how they study evolution and its impact on biodiversity.
• Planetarium Session: Discover cells, the building blocks of life with a captivating look at cells and their role in evolution, brought to life under the 3D dome.

Who’s Invited?

This event is tailored for home-educators. It’s a perfect way to enrich your science learning with engaging, real-world learning experiences. Many activities at the museum work well for approximately 7-14 year olds; the content level for this session is upper Key Stage 2 to Key Stage 3 (Years 5-9, ages 9-14), for those interested in National Curriculum links (we understand not all will be). We'll look at evolution with a big picture approach, including concepts like adaptation, inheritance, competition and variation. There will be some brief opportunities to consider evolution and inheritance at a cellular level (e.g. DNA and mutations) but this is not a major focus of the session this time around (we'd love to know if you'd like more of this in the future!) 

Why Attend?

• Dive into one of Biology’s most important concepts in a fun and interactive way.
• Meet passionate scientists and hear about their work.
• Inspire curiosity with hands-on activities and immersive experiences.

• A packed lunch space will be available from 11:45am should you want to arrive early and eat your lunch. You can also go to the cafe.
• If you are noise-sensitive we would recommend bringing ear defenders (or asking to borrow ours) for the workshop, or opting to do just the gallery activities instead. 
• The natural selection game workshop demonstrates the process by children acting as 'birds' and collecting 'food' with pretend 'beaks'. They may need to work in pairs so please prepare them for working with someone new. It is essential for the demonstration that not all children will collect the same amount of 'food', and it will be reinforced in the workshop that this isn't a reflection on them or their abilities. If your child(ren) experience any specific barriers around motor skills and co-ordination, or pretending to be something else, please talk to us in advance so we can work together on any adaptations for them.
• We will provide a quiet space if you need to take a break.
• There is the option to see Cell Cell Cell in the planetarium at 3pm if you are interested.