CONTRIBUTORS You create your climate


This month, in our ongoing collaboration with the Early Years faculty at Edge Hill University, curated by Education Today columnist Alicia Blanco Bayo, Early Years Lecturer and WTEY Programme Leader, we are delighted to hear from LINZI WILLSON, who graduated from Edge Hill University in 2017 with a PGCE in Early Years education. She is now Foundation Stage One Head of Year at Doha College, Qatar.


A safe and nurturing environment is essential to the success of a child’s learning. Take a minute to reflect on the different environments you have been in, not only your classroom. What made that environment feel calming and safe for you? From the moment a child walks in, the physical environment you have created will help them develop and form emotional connections. As an Early Years practitioner, the first thing I ensure is a safe, calm, accessible, natural and open-ended environment for the children. Children are born with the ability to adapt and learn from the environment. This instinct fosters their social and emotional development as discussed by Johnston and Nahmad-Williams (2009) in relation to Piaget’s theory on how we seek information. I have been on a personal journey this academic year to create an


environment that enables independent, confident and happy learners with well-being at the centre of my practice. The year began with a display of photographs of the children which had been taken during the ‘Stay and Play Day’ we organised before the summer. This was an easy but excellent tool to initiate discussion. It automatically acted as a focal point in the classroom where the children could see themselves, giving them a sense of belonging in the environment immediately. Transitioning the children through a four-week period into school allowed time for the children to explore this new world, get to know each other and the teaching staff gradually. An environment where the children’s well-being would be nurtured to ensure high quality outcomes (Bryce-Clegg, 2015). Beautifully crafted displays are lovely but who are they for? A space on the


wall where the children can display their work independently not only has a purpose but gives the children a sense of pride. This also instils the belief that their teachers are proud of their work and value it, developing their self- esteem and their relationship with the teaching team (Gulbrandson, 2017). Being mindful of the language and tone of our voice also has an impact on the classroom climate as discussed by Greg Bottrill in ‘Can I go and play now?’ (2018). Finding opportunities to model language is imperative, since children learn through the interactions and observations that take place in the environments they are part of. A successful climate for learning should also include a shared vision and


shared ownership. This will develop the physical environment and support positive relationships not only between the teacher and learner but also peer to peer. The children have loved having real plants in the classroom this year and have gained a sense of ownership and responsibility watering them daily, developing their understanding of the world and well-being. The environment must not only foster positive relationships, it should also have resources that are practically engaging. The environment's resources should be natural and open-ended allowing the child to think critically. It is also important to monitor the temperature, lighting and the colours used in the classroom since these can impact children’s ability to concentrate and learn. Relationships are at the centre of everything we do and our influence in


fostering positive ones is essential for the child to feel safe and develop as a unique individual. Enriching the learning climate further through a calm and natural physical space allows the child to take risks and become a critical and independent learner. Ask yourself, “does the climate in my classroom inspire me?” If it inspires you, you will definitely make sure it inspires the children you teach.


18 www.education-today.co.uk Easy STEM activities


Regular Education Today STEM contributor KIRSTY BERTENSHAW this month looks at some of her favourite physics- based STEM activities.


Bowling!


Collect different sized plastic bottles with lids. Set them up in the style of ten pin bowling. Use tennis balls, ping pong balls or whatever ball you have to hand to bowl at the bottles. This can be done indoor or even outdoor.


This activity can demonstrate all of Newton’s Laws of Motion. The bottles will remain stationary until a force is applied to them by the ball. Force = mass multiplied by acceleration – what happens if you throw the ball harder? What happens if you use a heavier ball? What happens if you part-fill the bottles with water? Every action has an equal and opposite action - when the ball and the bottles collide.


Marble runs or Rube Goldberg machines


Collect cardboard from the recycling box - toilet roll tubes are epic for this style of activity. Combine it with cereal boxes, Lego pieces, dominoes, string and small balls or marbles. Set up a chain reaction that starts with a simple push, and continue making parts move or allowing a marble to travel along a track. Don’t just keep them linear - this style of activity can use the wall or door to stick pieces to as well. Show some videos of Rube Goldberg machines to demonstrate what is possible with a little imagination!


This activity combines creativity with knowledge of forces with motion. Gravity moves the marble downwards, but friction resists it. Too much friction and forces will balance, and the marble will stop rolling! Extend the learning by including as many energy transfers as possible e.g. potential energy to kinetic energy.


Balloon-powered Lego cars


Using Lego, build a four wheeled vehicle base and attach bricks to the back of it, leaving a small gap to poke through the neck of a balloon. Inflate the balloon so the body of the inflated balloon rests on the vehicle and the neck sticks out of the back, like an exhaust pipe. Find a smooth surface, inflate the balloon and let go. Measure how far the vehicle travels. Does it make a difference which Lego wheels you choose? What happens if you try it on carpet? What if you inflate the balloon halfway and then let go? What if you inflate the balloon more? Suggest what would happen if the balloon is inflated too far.


This activity helps to explain air pressure, as the more particles in the balloon, the higher the pressure inside the balloon. The size of wheel, type of wheel and surface all change the amount of friction experienced by the vehicle. Friction opposes thrust so demonstrates Newton’s First Law.


Straw rockets


Find a metal or plastic straw. Cut a strip of paper approximately 12cm in length. Fold the strip over the end of the straw, so 6cm covers one side of the straw, an open end and the other side of the straw. Secure the strip of paper to form a tube that fits tightly over the end of the straw, but don’t stick it to the straw. Blow through the straw and watch the paper tube fly. Will it fly further if it is a different length? Does it matter how hard you blow through the straw? Can you change the shape or add fins to make the tube fly further?


This is another activity that investigates air pressure and forces, specifically Newton’s Third Law, and also aerodynamics.


Kirsty is the founder of STEMtastic, an education consultancy with a focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths www.stemtastic.co.uk


May 2020


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