We are delighted to tell you about an exciting event taking place in Mearns Primary from 9 – 23 March. STEM Fortnight (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) is an excellent way of raising the profile of these subjects and promoting them as future careers. This session our STEM Fortnight has a sustainability theme so as part of Learning for Sustainability pupils will explore what ‘sustainability’ means as well as learning more about the Global Goals for Sustainable Development with a particular focus on number 14 – Life Below Water.
Pupils will take part in experiences over the fortnight such as a Virtual Reality (VR) headset experience, watching a science show, listening to parents talking about their STEM careers. Each year group will take part in a STEM challenge from designing boats to cross rivers, building bridges, rockets or designing crafts to land on the Moon. We welcome many visitors to the school and nursery such as Dams to Darnley Rangers, SSPCA, Think Science Planetarium, The Science Centre, Computer Xplorers and many more. During the fortnight Primary 4 and Primary 5 will be taking part in The Scottish Engineering Leaders Award where they will interview several engineers and take part in a day challenge to build bridges using K’Nex materials or create a solution to pollution in our seas. Primary 5 pupils will also be competing to take part in a cluster K’Nex tournament.
This session Mearns Primary is working towards becoming a Plastic Clever School. Throughout the fortnight pupils will lead learning; P4 – P7 Eco reps and P6 pupils will lead Plastic Clever workshops where all pupils will learn more about single use and reusable plastic as well as plastic pollution in our seas. Some of our Rights Respecting Steering Committee reps as well as Eco reps and our Lab Technicians will visit The Avenue Shopping Centre to talk to shoppers about plastic pollution.
On the evening of Wednesday 21 March from 6.00pm – 7.30pm the school will be showcasing teaching and learning in STEM subjects. Come along and try out some investigations in our Exploration Zone, find out more about STEM careers in our Career Zone or learn about plastic pollution in our Discovery Zone. There will also be an opportunity to watch an exciting science show led by Jon Davies, think science.
To open the event this year, we are delighted to welcome Heather Reid, OBE who will jointly lead an assembly with the Eco reps and Lab Technicians. Thank you to the PTA who kindly funded some of the exciting activities which will take place during the fortnight. Many of our families like to support Earth Hour and we hope to encourage even more families to get involved in this worldwide event on Saturday, 24 March at 8.30pm.
Activities for the fortnight can be viewed below. Please click on the image to enlarge. We would appreciate you taking time to talk to your child about the events they have been involved in during the day. Our talking homework can be completed as a family each week.
