February 2010 Newsletter

Dear Charles Darwin,

Welcome to the second newsletter from The Charles Darwin Trust February 2010.

'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:

•    International Year of Biodiversity Launch
•    Discover Darwin launch
•    Darwin-inspired primary science
•    Young Experimental Scientists with Swindon Academy
•    Darwin Guide to Recording Wildlife

The Worm Experiment on a Darwin Explore! day at King Henry's Walk Garden. Copyright The Charles Darwin Trust

‘He did more work than composing the Theory of Evolution.'
16 year old at a Darwin Investigates day, March 2009, Down House

‘Listening to my children discussing Darwin's experiments gave me a real opportunity to assess what they knew and understood about planning investigations.’
Teacher of Year 5 after a Darwin Explore! day, October 2009, at King Henry’s Walk Garden.

International Year of Biodiversity Launch

The International Year of Biodiversity was launched in Berlin on 11th January. Randal Keynes, trustee of The Charles Darwin Trust, spoke at the launch about Darwin's foresight in recognising the importance of biodiversity. His article can be found in the Convention for Biological Diversity's PDF newsletter, Gincana 7. See pages 7 and 30-32.

Discover Darwin launch

Student observes carnivorous plants during a Darwin Investigates Day at Down House. Copyright IntoUniversityThe London Borough of Bromley launches its Discover Darwin teacher's packs in mid March. These will provide teaching ideas in science, maths, literacy and art at Key Stages 2 and 3 based on themes from On the Origin of Species. Primary and secondary schools in Bromley will receive free hard copies of the packs, which will also be downloadable for free from the London Borough of Bromley's Darwin's Landscape Laboratory website. This pack was written by several of The Charles Darwin Trust educators.

Darwin-inspired primary science

If you are a primary teacher in London you can now book a trainer from Science Learning Centre London to come to your school and show you how you can use Darwin's ideas to inspire your classes to ask questions, investigate, measure, record and, above all, think in science. You will also explore how Darwin can be studied through Victorian history topics. This session was developed with The Charles Darwin Trust, see the Science Learning Centre London website for more details.

Young Experimental Scientists (YES) at the Swindon Academy

The Charles Darwin Trust is working with the Swindon Academy in this innovative new Key Stage 2-3 transition project. Swindon Academy teaches children from 0-19 and wants to explore how to make the transition from Key Stage 2 to 3 smoother.

The Charles Darwin Trust is working with the school to set up a long-term ecology project for Years 6 and 7, inspired by Darwin's observations and experiments. The Trust is providing Continuing Professional Development for teachers in March who will then run the project in school. Trust educators will return to the school for a follow-up in the summer. The Trust will report the outcomes of the YES project in later newsletters.

Darwin Guide to Recording Wildlife

Randal Keynes, a trustee of The Charles Darwin Trust, has co-authored the Darwin Guide to Recording Wildlife. This is a free publication available from the National Biodiversity Network. The guide explains how Darwin himself observed wildlife and used his own and others’ records in his work as well as explaining how to become involved, what to look for and the basics of how to record. You can download a free PDF version or order a hard copy of the guide from the National Biodiversity Network website.

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