School Workshop: Brilliant Botanists

Workshop overview

Students must demonstrate a series of scientific enquiry skills as part of a ‘pattern seeking’ investigation into leaves from both the Rainforest Biome and Mediterranean Biome. Can they use scientific knowledge to explain their findings, and secure an invite to join the global community of Brilliant Botanists?

What happens in the workshop

Your pupils are challenged to complete an investigation on behalf of a global community of scientists known as the Brilliant Botanists. The Brilliant Botanists, led by Dr Lucy Rowland from Exeter University, patch in via video link to share the details of the challenge. They want the pupils to investigate what a changing climate might mean for plants in the Tropical Rainforest. Lucy suggests doing this by comparing the plants from both the Tropical Rainforest Biome and the Mediterranean Biome.

After a quick refresher about the importance of leaves for plants the pupils familiarise themselves with the methods they need to use as well as various pieces of equipment. They then set off to visit both biomes and collect data about leaves. They also collect data about the physical conditions in the biomes, such as humidity and soil moisture.

Upon returning to the classroom, the pupils analyse their data and draw comparisons between the plants from both biomes. They use ideas about plant processes to explain their findings and share them with the group. Finally, they make predictions about what a changing climate might mean for Tropical Rainforest plants and Lucy patches back in to let them know if they’ve demonstrated the skills and knowledge necessary to join the Brilliant Botanists.

Visiting teacher

“ One of the most educationally rich venues to have taken groups to visit. I would hope all pupils at our school could visit on a rite of passage. ”

Unforgettable school trips

Practical information

This workshop enables students to:

Decide how to conduct a ‘pattern seeking’ scientific enquiry in order to answer a given question.
Practise their scientific enquiry skills - making predictions, following a method, taking measurements, presenting data, using data to answer a given question, drawing conclusions using scientific knowledge.
Describe the physical conditions in the Rainforest Biome and Mediterranean Biome.
Make predictions about the ways in which plants can be affected by changes in the environment.

We've designed the workshop to help teachers cover the following subject areas:

In Science pupils should be taught about working scientifically. This involves using different types of scientific enquiry in order to answer a given question and using a variety of different scientific enquiry skills. These skills include taking measurements, recording data, drawing conclusions based on data and observations, using scientific knowledge and understanding to explain findings and reporting and presenting findings from enquiries.

Pupils should be taught to identify how animals and plants are adapted to suit their environment in different ways (evolution and inheritance)

Pupils should be taught to recognise that environments can change and that this can sometimes pose dangers to living things.

In Geography, pupils should be taught to locate the position and significance of latitude, longitude, Equator, Northern Hemisphere, Southern Hemisphere, the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. They should be able to describe and understand key aspects of physical geography such as climate zones and biomes.

In Maths, pupils should be taught to calculate and interpret the mean as an average.

The workshop costs £8.25 per pupil, with a minimum charge of £165 per group (includes VAT). Maximum group size is 35. The cost includes:

a facilitated workshop with our Education Team
free access to the Eden site for the day
all equipment needed for the workshop
free teaching resources enabling your class to prepare for the workshop and to follow up on the activity (download a sample copy)
a personal welcome from the Education Team at the entrance
a base for your bags in our purpose-built education centre, The Core
a space to eat your own lunch

The price includes free entry for accompanying adult helpers, whose participation is essential to the success of the day (please note our suggested adult/pupil ratios are as follows: Early Years Foundation Stage, 1:3; Key Stage 1, 1:6; Key Stage 2 and 3, 1:10; Key Stage 4, 1:15; Key Stage 5, 1:20).

You’re welcome to bring more helpers if you’d like; for a charge of £15 per adult. We also offer a free preparatory visit to Eden for teachers wanting to plan their school trip, which should be booked in advance.

Accredited workshops at Eden

This workshop is accredited under the British Science Association’s CREST Awards scheme. Completion of the workshop enables the student to gain one sticker towards the SuperStar Award.