Creative Science Workshops / Big Science - Primary Schools in Northern Ireland

Rooted in real and concrete science and taking their lead from the Northern Ireland Curriculum, our Science Workshops for schools provide an excellent way of engaging students with science and supporting them in understanding the world (and worlds) around them.

Delivered by practitioners who are passionate about science, these exciting programmes provide an amazing way of promoting science, cementing pupils’ subject knowledge, explaining difficult concepts and introducing new content.

We know how complex delivering whole-school approaches to science can be, so you can now book a Big Science Day for a number of year groups (P1 - P7), comprising either different workshops exploring a number of topics - or a range of age-differentiated activities on a single scientific theme!

Find out more about at www.ascreatives.com/science-primary-ireland/

Science Assemblies

Assemblies are a great way, of course, of both generating a buzz around school and sowing the seeds for a shared experience. So while our Big Science Days come complete with their own assemblies, we're happy to lead interactive and entertaining whole-school assemblies at the start of a day of any of our science programmes - and all at no extra cost! You can choose from Speedy Light ... Life on Mars? ... Feeling the Force ... and Missing Links - and all at no extra cost!

Science Skills  - Creating a “buzz” about Science Investigation – through drama!

What skills does a Science Investigator need – and how can the natural world help us identify and understand them? This quick-fired workshop, suitable for up to 60 children at a time, answers these questions through a high energy drama activity that incorporates both team working and problem solving too. And longer workshops can also include a game designed to cement key content from topics classes are currently exploring!

Suitable For: P1 – P7 (up to 60 pupils at a time)

Big Science Day 

Whole-school celebrations of Science can be challenging if different year groups are all exploring different areas of the curriculum - which is where our Big Science Days can help! We’ll start the day with a whole-school assembly exploring the wonder, importance and relevance of science - then deliver workshops for each year group, using drama techniques to crystallise Five Key Facts related to their area of scientific investigation. And as each workshop can accommodate up to 60 children, a Big Science Day can cater for up to 420 pupils!

Alternatively, if you have a whole-school, thematic approach, you can select a Big Science Day from Amazing Animals (and Hair-Raising Humans!), Looking at Light and Eclectic Electricity – just ask for more details!

Expect the Unexpected! - How can Science Investigation save lives? Learning from the past!

Which great Science Investigators of the past capitalised on “happy accidents” to create amazing science? You’d be surprised how many there are, resulting in inventions that have fed the world, made life easier – and saved millions of lives! This busy and engaging workshop introduces children to some of these, from Post-its to penicillin to pacemakers, then supports them as they make connections to imagine and market some amazing new inventions of their own.

Suitable For: P6 - P7 (up to 30 pupils at a time)

New - Time Travel Tourist - the Apollo Adventurers - Celebrating 50 years since the first humans walked on the moon

It was in July 1969 that Neil Armstrong stepped onto the lunar landscape and uttered the famous words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Since then, only another eleven astronauts have walked on the moon - and none since 1972. This unique programme, though, gives your pupils an opportunity to meet and work with one of the people behind Apollo 11 - Margaret Hamilton (who led the team designing the mission's software) or Astronaut Armstrong himself. Your Tourist will be more than happy to meet the school at an assembly - then visit a number of classes during the day in workshops using drama techniques to bring to life the Apollo 11 adventure, and her/his role in its success. 

Suitable For: up to 30 pupils at a time, P1 - P7 (and beyond!)

Exploring (according to age): preparations for the mission; history, characteristics and composition of the moon; the Apollo 11 astronauts; the role of the moon in future space exploration.

New! Journeys into Space

This year marks an astonishing fifty years since the first humans walked on the moon – and Journeys into Space allows up to 420 pupils to celebrate this extraordinary milestone in a single day. Following an assembly looking at ways that light allows us to look at the history of the stars, pupils work a year group at a time, using a range of age-appropriate drama techniques to explore the wonders of the cosmos …

Nursery: the characteristics of stars, planets and moons ...

P1 / P2: the life cycles of stars

P3 / P4: The Perils of Space Travel

P5 / P6: the moon - and the Apollo 11 landing

Suitable for: Nursery - P6 (up to 60 pupils at a time!)

Exploring (according to age): the characteristics of stars, planets and moons, the life cycles of stars, the scientific challenges posed by space travel, the moon, the Apollo 11 programme.

The Story of Flight  - Looking at ways that Science Investigators have helped humankind fulfil its dream of taking to the skies!

Discover how Science Investigators helped humankind left the earth’s surface for the skies and then space – and ultimately the stars – in this thrilling and action-packed drama-based workshop. Starting with the Icarus myth, pupils will explore, learn about and teach each other some of the scientific and technological landmarks in The Story of Flight, including Leonardo’s musings on helicopters, the Montgolfier brothers’ experiments with balloons, Orville and Wilbur Wright’s development of the aeroplane, Frank Whittle’s work on the jet engine and Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon.

Suitable For: P4 - P7 (up to 30 pupils at a time)

Interplanetary Tours - A fast-paced exploration of our solar system in which children learn and teach each other key facts

 From Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon to the photographs sent back by Juno on its historic and ongoing mission to Jupiter, we’re all entranced by our neighbours in the solar system. And we’ll know even more when Bruno, the UK-built rover, lands on Mars in 2018. Taking things one step further, this intriguing workshop asks pupils to imagine the day when interplanetary tours are possible. Informed by the endeavours of such new space actors as Virgin Galactic and Space X, they’ll plan, prepare and present short plays exploring the problems posed by visiting the sulphurous volcanoes of Venus, the gaseous storms of Saturn or the icy plains of Pluto. Just remember one thing: “In space, no-one can hear you scream …”

Suitable For: P1 - P7

Space Pirates! - Navigating the stars – a beginner’s guide to black holes and supernova!

Our travelling pirate, Captain Richard Morgan, has a new ship – but the Solar Surfer sails through the stars, not the seas! And as the Solar Surfer is powered by solar waves, of course, it’s vital that the Captain understands the differences between Red Giants, White Dwarves and Black Holes. But that’s the problem: he doesn’t. So he’ll arrive at your school in search of help.

After working in small groups on an age-differentiated independent carousel of activities, pupils will have all the information they need to solve his problems for him. And they’ll do that by performing dramatic representations of a range of different possible life cycles for stars – and alerting the Captain as to exactly what he needs to look out for!

Suitable For: P1 - P3

CSI: Forces - How do different forces operate – and what do they actually do?

CSI: Forces sets your pupils a problem – to use their knowledge and understanding of forces in identifying which of six suspects sabotaged the new Jupiter VII space rocket. They’ll take part in a number of activities, each releasing a force-related clue eliminating one of the possible criminals – until the Police Force becomes the most important force, as the miscreant is hauled before justice …

And we now have two new variants on this popular workshop, exploring how forces operate in two specific contexts: CSI: Rollercoaster and CSI: MoonShot!

Suitable For: P4 - P7 (up to 30 pupils at a time)

Get in touch:

To find out more about our Creative Science Workshops please contact us on 0151 708 8886, email us at info@ascreatives.com or visit our website www.ascreatives.com/science-primary-ireland/ 

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