Busy time on the Isle of Bute

The 20th February saw our mobile team meeting up on the Isle of Bute for two hectic days at our largest schools so far. We started at Rothesay Primary school and in the morning, we delivered a varied programme about the Earth, Sun and Moon and the Solar System to a selection of age groups. With two team members, we were able to split up in order to keep the numbers below 50 in each session. We even snuck in a number of older Pre-5’s (around Age 4) to one of the Earth/Sun/Moon sessions. The afternoon ended in a huge school hall (pictured above), where around 170 primary pupils and their teachers were introduced to the subject of space exploration, which imvolved a potted history of previous endeavours, and an overview of current and future planned missions. From chatting to some of the older pupils, it became clear that many didn’t appreciate quite how much was going on in science, and seemed excited that they could possibly get involved in future missions after leaving school.

Our second day on Bute was spent at the academy, and saw us working with the P7, S1 and S2 year groups (age 11 to 14) … some 162 students in all. The Nature of Light and Solar System was the main focus of the morning, whilst in the afternoon we introduced students to robotic telescopes, and how they can be used to hunt for potentially dangerous asteroids.The afternoon also saw a large group learning more about some of the current space missions on the go, which was part of our Space Exploration module.

On both days we were very looked after by the school, and kept supplied with tea and food. It must have been a huge undertaking to organise classrooms and transport for so many students, so a huge thank you must go out to the staff at Rothesay Primary and Academy for their efforts and support. We hope the students gained something from our visit.