April 2010 Newsletter

Dear Charles Darwin,

Welcome to the April 2010 newsletter from The Charles Darwin Trust.

'Darwin’s ways of working can be offered to pupils now as an inspiration for an imaginative, creative and exciting approach to the life sciences in school classrooms and the world outside.'
Randal Keynes great-great grandson of Charles Darwin, author of Creation: Darwin, his daughter and human evolution and trustee of The Charles Darwin Trust

This newsletter will be delivered to your inbox regularly to let you know about forthcoming events and share our ideas on how Darwin can inspire learning about science and the natural world. In this newsletter you will find:

Students observing wildlife in King Henry's Walk Garden on a Darwin Explore! day Copyright The Charles Darwin Trust

'Giving them a chance to see where and how Darwin worked and lived would inspire the students and give them an idea of how scientists think.'
Year 13 teacher on a visit to Down House on 9 October 2009

‘Getting in the shoes of Darwin has made me understand his theories.’
A level student on How Darwin Worked at Down House on 23 March 2010

‘The best bit of the day was when I knew that Darwin cared about the environment.’
10 year-old on a Darwin Explore! day with Wigmore Hall Education at King Henry's Walk Garden, Nov 2009

The Garden Classroom and the Edible Islington Local Food Project

The Charles Darwin Trust is working with The Garden Classroom to deliver high quality outdoor education to London school communities. As part of the Edible Islington local food project, students from three Islington primary schools will visit Down House in April, May and June to cultivate in them awe, wonder, enjoyment and understanding in the simplicity of growing their own food. The children and teachers will find out about Charles Darwin's kitchen garden and why it is important to grow food locally, as Darwin did. The programme will show the crucial link between nature and growing food, and will include Darwin's work on the role of insects in pollination and of worms in the soil.

Discover Darwin for Key Stages 2 and 3

Discover Darwin education packs written by Trust educators introduce Darwin's experiments through exploring subjects and chapters from On the Origin of Species. Units and powerpoints can now be downloaded from the London Borough of Bromley's Darwin's Landscape Laboratory website.

How Darwin Worked for AS and A2 level students at Down House

Teachers on a Darwin-Inspired Gardening day for the Edible Islington project. Copyright The Charles Darwin TrustTwenty AS level students were introduced in March to Darwin's ways of working and his big ideas through personal observation and enquiry within the house itself, in Darwin's greenhouse and on his Sandwalk. Study of Darwin's experiments on climbing and carnivorous plants helped students understand the questions Darwin asked and how he attempted to answer them.

International Day of Biodiversity

The International Day of Biodiversity is coming up on 22nd May. The theme this year is Biodiversity, Development and Poverty Alleviation. Go to the Biodiversity is Life website for some ideas of what you can do to celebrate this day.

Discovery Visits at Down House

With the summer term ahead, now is a good time to take your class to Down House, Charles Darwin's home of 40 years, to experience one of English Heritage's Discovery Visits. Three Discovery Visits were developed in partnership with The Charles Darwin Trust. They cover Darwin's science, life and his place in Victorian history for Key Stages 2 and 3. Look on English Heritage's website for more details.

We hope you have found this newsletter informative.  Please contact us if you have any questions about the work of the Trust.

The Charles Darwin Trust
info@charlesdarwintrust.org
www.charlesdarwintrust.org

The Charles Darwin Trust – Registered Company Number: 3694613; Registered Charity Number: 1074914
Registered Office: 14 Canonbury Park South, London N1 2JJ, UK