This post originally appeared on the STEM Discovery Week blog. We are republishing it with slight changes because of the direct connection to Scientix resources.

For this year’s STEM Discovery Week, as headmaster of Ano Syros Primary School, I – along with the students of the fourth grade – decided to organize a peer learning activity about day and night for the students of the Special Primary School of Hermoupolis.

Firstly, all the pupils, (10 boys and 6 girls) studied a Scientix resource (http://bit.ly/2Y1Xtb3) related to our topic. Then they visited the Special Primary School of Hermoupolis where students living with disabilities attend lessons. For one day, the pupils became teachers and tried to explain to the pupils of the special primary school how the day becomes night and vice versa using a Scientix resource.

This was followed by a peer teaching activity where half of the group of students involved were pupils with severe disabilities.

On the first day of the task, sixteen fourth graders of Ano Syros Primary School studied Scientix resources about day and night (light and darkness) at their school. They became familiarized with the activities and they asked for any extra information they needed (about the Sun, the orbit of the Earth etc). Also, they had the opportunity to discuss the content of the workshop and decide how they were going to work in order to achieve the best results, that is, to teach what they had learnt. The students and the teacher decided that the best method would be to be work in small groups, each group consisting of two students from our school and one student from the Special Primary School of Hermoupolis.

The second day we visited the Special Primary School of Hermoupolis where students living with disabilities attend lessons. The chosen resources are often used with very young students (4-8 years old), thus it is appropriate for students with disabilities. For a day the pupils of Ano Syros Primary School became teachers and tried to help their peers understand how the day becomes night and vice versa using a Scientix resource. After a small presentation, the students of both schools divided into smaller mixed groups and implemented the activities of the workshop. In each group, the pupils of Ano Syros guided pupils of the SPS to colour the sheets provided for the regions with light and darkness. After that, they talked about what we do when there is light (e.g. go to school, cycle, play, etc.) and what we do when there is darkness (e.g. switch on the lights, sleep, etc.). Then, the students living with disabilities painted some of these ideas on the sheets of paper. Each group created a paper full of actions happening in light and darkness.

In the end, all the groups together drew and colored a big planet with day and night activities. This big piece of paper full of light and darkness will decorate the central corridor of the Special Education School this year!

Author: Nektarios Farassopoulos

Pictures are the author’s own.

Special Thanks to:
Sofia Perisorati, Teacher in Ano Syros Primary School
Maria Nevrokopli, Headmaster of Special Primary School of Hermoupolis
Maria Athanasiou, Teacher in Special Primary School of Hermoupolis
Maria Markou, Teacher in Special Primary School of Hermoupolis
Eleni Totta, Teacher in Special Primary School of Hermoupolis

Tags: astronomy, inclusion, peer-learning, primary education, special education