e-Newsletter
Discover Science Centres Visit
Discover Science Centres Visit: Organic Centre, Co. Leitrim
In our latest video children from Ballylanders national school visit Ballyhoura Outdoor Classroom, Griston Bog, Co. Limerick, for a DPSM workshop.
Watch as the children find out about the lifespan of the bog from 20,000 years ago to present day and measure the height of the bog to investigate how tall the it should have been. They also examine the sphagnum moss in the bog and go bird watching!
To find out more visit http://www.ballyhouraoutdoorclassroom.com/
Discover Science Centres News
Discover Centres News Round-up
Below you'll find the latest news from our Discover Centres. You can also sign up directly with your local centres for regular updates by visiting their page on the DPSM website.
Click on a province below to find out what's going on near you.
Connacht | Leinster | Munster | Ulster
CONNACHT
Brigit's Garden
Brigit’s Garden in Roscahill, Co. Galway offers innovative DPSM programmes for infants to 6th class.
- Exploring Nature and Celtic Heritage - hands-on, age-appropriate activities relating to the seasons, mini-beasts, trees, rocks and fossils, and habitat explorations; also the Celtic seasonal festivals. Visits end with an interactive musical parade in the Celtic Gardens.
- New for 2015: Nature’s Power - Renewable Energy in Action - an exciting, hands-on experience for 3rd - 6th class. Children engage with onsite installations and interactive activities with solar, hydro, wind and biomass; learn about generating their own energy with hand-cranks and pumps; and understand insulation, energy conservation, the carbon cycle & climate change.
The all-weather, 3 hour programmes are facilitated by experienced guides and cost just €9.50 per child.
Brigit’s Garden also provides free ‘Schools Energy Workshops’ in schools for children and CPD ‘Exploring our Energy’ workshops for teachers in association with SEAI.
See www.brigitsgarden.ie to book contact 091 550905 or email info@brigitsgarden.ie
Contact
Email: info@brigitsgarden.ie
Phone: 091 550905
Web: http://www.brigitsgarden.ie
Galway Atlantaquaria
Make June your Marine Month of Madness
With only 3 weeks to go till Summer Holidays, now is the perfect time to bring the Ocean into your classroom. With thousands of marine animals living around Ireland, and a marine territory ten times the size of the island of Ireland, there is a topic or subject to suit every classroom and student. Check out www.nationalaquarium.ie for our wildlife database, or www.explorers.ie for presentations, lesson plans and workbooks all based on Marine themes. If you’re a true explorer and want to head to the shore, here are some things to consider:
- When is low tide?
- Student : adult ratio
- What type of shore are you going to?
- Have you been there before?
- Do the students all have protective footwear?
- Seashore Conservation
We hope you and your students have a whale of a time exploring!
And finally, WELL DONE to all the Schools who took part in the DPSM Programme this year, it was a pleasure being part of this group of fantastic scientists. We hope you all have a great summer, from all the staff at Galway Atlantaquaria.
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LEINSTER
Castlecomer Discovery Park
Fun, adventure and learning at castlecomer discovery park
School Tour Season
We are fully booked for the School Tour Season with thousands of students taking part in our wide range of fun, action-packed activities! New to this year’s School Tours are boating activities. Set on our picturesque Upper Lake, students choose from our Pedal Boats and Canadian Canoes for a fun water-based activity! Other exciting activities include searching for water or woodland creatures, Tree-Top Adventure Walk, Nature Trails, Climbing Wall, Fishing, Orienteering and more. Also coming soon is a new outdoor play area in the woodland with a Low-Ropes Obstacle Course challenge! We are now taking Primary School bookings for September 2015 onwards so if you are looking for a fun day out or want to complete science-based activities as part of your Awards of Science & Maths Excellence (AoSME), consider us.
Discovery Activity Camps
In other news, following a successful Easter Activity Camp at Castlecomer Discovery Park, plans are underway for another Discovery Camp during the Summer holidays which will include elements of play, craft, learning and above all discovery!
See www.discoverypark.ie/education-tours, email: educationofficer@discoverypark.ie or call 056-4440707.
Contact
Email: educationofficer@discoverypark.ie
Phone: 056-4440707
Web: http://www.discoverypark.ie/education-tours
ECO UNESCO
Pupils at St Paul’s JNS investigate the bug life of their school yard
ECO UNESCO have several exciting workshops available for schools to book for Discovery Primary Science & Maths: Our ECO Action and ECO Watchers series, which incorporates Climate Change, Biodiversity, Waste and Energy and more, and our Junior Urban Ecology days. All Eco workshops are interactive, fun ways of learning that are youth friendly and engaging. Dates are still available before summer arrives, enquiries and bookings at youth@ecounesco.ie or 01662 5491. In April two schools had great fun with their Biodiversity DPSM workshops – St Paul’s JNS Dublin and Ballinlough NS, Meath.
Contact
Email: youth@ecounesco.ie
Phone: 01662 5491
Global Action Plan Ireland
Global Action Plan (GAP) Ireland is delighted to offer three DPSM accredited workshops to primary schools for 2015. In all our workshops, expert facilitators will guide children through a range of age appropriate games and experiments, which open up the exciting world of science and their environment. These workshops are a hands-on and fun way of supporting SESE curriculum by learning through exploration and discovery.
Students unearth the natural environment in GAP’s 'Garden Biodiversity' workshop through games, planting activities and a bug hunt! This workshop is delivered in our beautiful community gardens in Ballymun, is 2 hours long, and suitable for 2nd to 5th class.
'The Colour of Science' illuminates the science behind colour and light through interactive science experiments such as chromatography. This 1.5 hour long workshop can be delivered in the school classroom, is suitable for 4th to 6th class students, and three workshops can be delivered per day.
'Water Wise' immerses children in the theme of water, using experiential activities that will engage students on the topics of the water cycle, water use and conservation. This 1.5 hour long classroom-based workshop is suitable for 3rd and 4th class, and three workshops can be delivered per day.
For more information, or to make a booking, please contact GAP’s Education Officer, Dr Sophie Nicol, at sophie@actionplan.ie or phone (01) 891 6798.
Contact
Email: sophie@actionplan.ie
Phone: (01) 891 6798
Imaginosity
Imaginosity presents two creative, engaging and lively summer camps designed for children aged 4-8 years. The aim of the camps is to engage children in “hands-on” real world engineering and science.
The camps have been designed to complement the National Curriculum in Science for Primary Schools.
Children will gain valuable skills in working scientifically, designing and making, enabling exploration of energy and forces as well as materials. The camps are 3.5 hours long over five days and are a mixture of demonstration and active participation. Below is a brief outline of the camps.
Super Science Camp: 13th July- 17th July
This Super Science Camp is all about fizzing, foaming and exploding! With a jam-packed schedule of scientific fun, children won’t want to take their white coats off!
Mini Makers Engineering Camp: 27th July-31st July
Calling all Mini-Makers for this hands-on week of engineering at Imaginosity! This week will involve lots of make and do activities as well as fun, educational challenges for all involved!
See www.imaginosity.ie for details about prices and how to book.
The Rediscovery Centre
The Rediscovery Centre is an accredited DPSM centre and offers a wide range of primary school workshops for Junior Infants to 6th class. Our workshop topics include: Waste, Energy, Biodiversity, Litter, Circuits, Water, Forces, Sustainable Transport, Weather and Space. All of our workshops are linked to the SESE curriculum and are based on hands-on enquiry and experiential learning.
We are still have a limited number of workshop dates available in June, so please book soon to avoid disappointment.
Library summer workshops
The Rediscovery Centre will be running a series of Bee workshops and Heritage Week workshops in libraries in the Leinster area during July and August. Please contact us for more details.
'To Bee or not to Bee' (our Bee workshop) introduces the bees of Ireland, and their importance for plants, biodiversity and humans, and was developed for the library Summer Reading Buzz programme.
Our Heritage Week workshop – 'Biodiversity and the City' introduces biodiversity in urban and industrial areas, the importance of natural heritage, what we can do to protect our wildlife in cities and towns.
2015/2016 School Year
Get ahead of the pack and book your workshops for the new school year!
Contact
Email: education@rediscoverycentre.ie
Bookings: (01) 8429811
Web: http://www.rediscoverycentre.ie
WEXFORD WILDFOWL RESERVE
DISCOVER PRIMARY SCIENCE IN WEXFORD WILDFOWL RESERVE SPRING 2015
The Wexford Wildfowl Reserve Education Programme resumed this March. Since then 629 students from DPSM schools in the Wexford area have either visited the Reserve or been visited on Outreach. Another 17 groups including 428 students have booked to come before the Summer holidays. The classes visit our outdoor locations in the Snipe Field on the North Slob, or in the Raven Nature Reserve. Here the students experience invertebrate collecting and identification in ponds and the surrounding vegetation, learn how to recognise and differentiate invertebrates by their physical features, understand adaptations such as gills and air tubes and find how predators catch and are evaded by their prey. They also see how they can find larger animals by tracks and signs, such as pine cones eaten by Red Squirrels, without seeing or disturbing the animals themselves.
In winter, activities are in and around the Visitor Centre Education where the wintering Greenland White-fronted geese are highlighted. Officers also visit the schools on Outreach, with PowerPoint presentations, specimens and literature. This programme is in demand and the schedule is quickly booked out.
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MUNSTER
Blackrock Castle Observatory
ScienceSpace.ie is CIT Blackrock Castle Observatory’s online education site. It hosts Message to Space, where students can send a message to a planet orbiting another star. Teachers can register for free and log on to use the radio dish on the roof of the Observatory. An online walk - through and plenty of resources are available. While you are viewing the radio dish your students can also track the weather at the Castle with our online Weather Station.
If the weather is stopping you enjoying the stars, then book the StarDome to come to your school. This is the school tour without the bus! Our portable planetarium can be set up in an indoor space and we offer star shows for all age students. Contact us at info@bco.ie or 021 432 6120 for more information or to make a booking.
Contact
Email: info@bco.ie
Phone: 021 432 6120
Doneraile Park
Teaching instructors, assistants and primary students from Doneraile Presentation Primary during a recent Discover Science event at Doneraile Park.
Discover Science at Doneraile Park.
Doneraile Park extends to c. 500 acres of woodland, wetlands and deer parks adjacent to the River Awbeg in Doneraile, Co. Cork. It is the formal parkland of the St. Leger family who enclosed this beautiful space for their private use nearly 400 years ago. Today it is a public park run by the Office of Public Works and is open all year round. It contains formal gardens, pleasure grounds, river cascades and lakes, ancient trees, deer herds, Kerry cattle, and beautiful flora and fauna associated with the river and managed woodlands.
The Doneraile Park Education Primary Program allows school groups access to the wonderful world of bugs, animal tales and trails, become woodland warriors or explore water worlds in a safe environment.
So come and take part in a bug treasure hunt to find the weird and wonderful bugs that live under rocks and in trees … search for signs of native Irish animals that live here … learn about the secret senses of trees … investigate the river and wetlands and identify what strange creatures make the park their home!
Oceanics Surf School
Photo from Bealtaine Festival.
Participants of the Oceanics Marine Education programme in conjunction with Bealtaine Living Earth Festival became Rockpool Explorers & Beach Detectives as they peered into the many tidal habitats and natural touch pools of Neptune's Garden. This Oceanics Guided tour & exploration of Tramore's rocky shoreline is hands on Science and Nature where students can enjoy outdoor science in a fun and interactive way.
All of the Oceanics Marine programmes are curriculum linked Schools Tours & Workshops that showcase the natural living environment of the Seashore.
Maths Week and Science Week workshops will be open to be booked by schools from September, phone 051 390944 for more information.
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ULSTER
Glenveagh National Park
Glenveagh National Park Education Centre and programme is exploring how it can expand its impact and better support schools in the North West by developing educational days at two important Nature Reserves in Donegal. The National Park isn’t the only place to learn about nature and living things and isn’t the most accessible place to schools in the far west or east of the county. Inch Wildfowl Reserve near Burt is an internationally important site for wintering waterfowl as well as farmland and woodland birdlife and now has an 8km loop walk that schools can use for visits. Sheskinmore, just outside Ardara is an incredible sand dune area with McGlincheys Field Studies Centre and significant populations of coastal birds, butterflies and dragonflies too. The Education team in Glenvevagh are working on plans to develop access materials and resources for these two sites and hope that in time, these locations can be part of the DPSM network too.
For schools in these two locations, there are opportunities to be part of some trial days in the Autumn - call Clare on 0761 002693 for more information.
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