Written by Lorna Lyle, Founder of Solar Power Education  and mother of 3 girls aged 4, 3 and 16 months.

This week is National Insect Week run by the  Royal Entomological Society.    Entomology is the study of insects and they want us all to learn more about insects.

We LOVE insects at Solar Power Education and feel we never know enough about them.  On every  bug hunt or biodiversity study  an enthusiastic child presents us with an insect wanting to know what they have found. Identifying insects can be no easy task so we are here to help!   

We hope the ideas below will help you learn about insects, these ideas and resources can be used with the children you support to learn and have fun.

1. Do a Bug Hunt

This can be so simple.  Gather your group or children.  Find a container (if you would like to have a closer look at what you find) and go and explore. 

You can look under rocks, on tree trunks, in the grass, in building nooks and crannies.  Alternatively you can make it a bigger project with planning, predicting and investigating.

We have put together a Bug Hunt pdf which includes a tally chart of the most common bugs and links to video clips and further learning resources.

3. Take a Photograph of an Insect

Whilst you are exploring insects have a go at taking some photographs of them.    If you take a fantastic photograph you an enter it into the National Insect Week's Photography Competition .  
 
You can use the photo to help you identify exactly what you have found.   ​Please share any photographs with us too!  ​

4.  Design and Make a Model Insect

Insects are phenomenal to look at. 

Okay this one isn't easy but if you are looking for a longer, more challenging project for older children  making a 3D insect from tights, newspaper, wire and papier mache is amazing!  Or more simply with play doh/plasticine/clay/junk modelling. We have pinned the instructions to our Pinterest board as well as several other bug themed ideas.

5. Read a Story or Watch a Film
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I watched Charlotte's Web on the weekend with my 3 and 4 year old.  They have asked so many questions about spiders since then.   

For EYFS, 'The  Very Hungry Caterpillar,'  'Superworm' and, 'What the Ladybird Heard' by Julia Donaldson will help spark interest.  

For older children, 'A Bugs Life', 'James and the Giant Peach', 'Insect Soup: Bug Poems', and, 'Alice in Wonderland' will all provide inspiration. Looking at non-fiction, information books on insects will help enthuse as well. ​

This blog was written for Community Energy Fortnight 2020, by Mary Yates, Solar Power Education Officer 

What power?

As a teacher, working part-time in school and as an SPE Education officer, I feel privileged to strike a balance between the formality of a National Curriculum and the freedom of outdoor learning.

I provide school workshops and visits to solar and wind farms for Plymouth Energy Community and soon for Yealm Community Energy. Their objectives are to empower their community to create a fair, affordable, zero carbon energy system with people at its heart. 

The ‘feel’ of joining up with an energy community is the excitement and enthusiasm of what we can deliver to local people. Finding ways to showcase the solar site in their midst, how we all have a vested interest in what goes on there and sharing the benefits. Particularly now, as we find new ways to be together, the importance of neighbourhood and our place in a locality seems more significant.

The power of a group.

It's a Farm?  Where are the Animals?

Typically, we take children on the journey of power from the sun to their homes, following as it moves through the stages on a solar farm. The chance to get close to this invisible force, to hear it humming through the transformers, to look at the data on the inverters and to make sense of how nature is creating something so important to us.

The surprise of how a panel feels – smooth, not hot and no shock! The delight of meeting a site engineer and asking him about his job or looking at the gadgets he carries – a multi meter to show us how much power is in that cable or a thermal imaging camera to take the temperature of the panel (or us!). A sense that some of the power from the experience passes through to the children to carry forward perhaps?

Aspirations are so easy to build in this setting – explaining about the number of people involved in a community solar site at all stages. Children can see how their interests could lead to a job in the future in this industry. Hands fly up when I ask who likes nature, Maths, Science … then they see the link to the careers of the people we discuss.

The power of an aspiration.

Many solar farms focus on improving the biodiversity on their sites and we use this as an opportunity to give children hands on experiences of nature.  In groups, the children are given a range of equipment, binoculars, magnifying glasses and spotter’s guides and freedom to explore an area of the site.

The amazement at the creatures they discover.  The feeling of them on their hand.

The power of nature.

Harnessing the power?

Working at Solar Power Education provides me with a unique insight … a snapshot of a group, a moment captured and questions that cause me to stop and think. The power of those questions often surprises me.

Why don’t they make camouflage solar panels? Do they recycle all parts of the panels? Who says it should cost so much? Why isn’t the energy free when the sun shines and the wind blows for free? Can’t we change the national grid? Why don’t people realise there is so much nature under the panels?

What follows are their solutions, fresh, uncomplicated: We could design a battery in school and make a million pounds. We could ask people to share ideas. I could ask my Dad – he’s an electrician. Potatoes can store power. You could have holiday tours around your site.

The power of an open mind.

The key is to listen to these questions, to question ourselves, to think whether it is time to do things differently, to find different places and people to get new answers from. To challenge at all levels.

Perhaps that is the power we can harness – that of a child’s uncomplicated thoughts…
Follow Solar Power Education on Facebook, Instagram and our website.
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https://www.solarpowereducation.com/resources.html
https://plymouthenergycommunity.com/
https://www.yealmenergy.co.uk/
https://www.communityenergyengland.org/pages/community-energy-fortnight

Never has a question felt so difficult to answer! As a primary school teacher and Education Officer for SPE, I have no idea. The only thing I hold onto is that as we approach a ‘new normal’, we will do as we have always done. We will do everything we can for the children, families and communities that we work with.

I do know though that school and education will look very different in the coming weeks and months.  Could now be the time to focus on what you feel is important?

Have you noticed how loud the birds seem?  In the madness of everything what have you seen, heard, smelt, felt, noticed?  Has it helped you to feel grounded?  Now more than ever, children and adults need to feel connected, both to people and the world around them.

Your School
Each school is going to be unique and individual now. How you make it work in your school is going to be very personal.

Time to make it yours: how could a whole school topic help? How can outdoor space be used? How can children work together on something whilst maintaining some sort of distance? What resources can be used?

Your Classroom
You may or may not be back in school. You may be with your class or with a different year group. However it looks in your school, you are the link between children and their lives during and post Coronavirus. That link needs to be nourished so that it can be as strong, supportive and nurturing as possible.

We watched School of Rock last weekend; not quite real life but the values are there.  Now is the time to create whole group projects.  It will bring you together and provide each child a job to make them feel valued. 

What topic would they like to work on?  Can you develop an outdoor area with planting, painting rocks, pond in a pot, insect and hedgehog hotels, a zero waste challenge, an alternative sports day or an event for September? Follow Solar Power Education on Facebook or go to our website for lots of ideas and resources.

Your Home Learning
This has been a huge learning curve for both schools and home and there isn’t the perfect answer or solution.

We are trying to support and provide for children who may or may not have access to devices and internet, adults who are trying to juggle working from home and home learning and those that enjoy different activities and levels of independence.

In our school, we have found that whole key stage or school topics are well received as children can work on activities together and contribute their own ideas which helps them feel a part of school life. ‘What a Wonderful World’ speaks volumes at the minute and links directly to many of the resources we have.

Would you Rather .... ?
In our current situation, these can be the opening that children need to explore how they are feeling when sometimes they don’t know themselves or don’t have the words to express themselves, especially when you ask them why.

Here’s a few to start you off:

• Would you rather be a butterfly or a bee?
• Would you rather be a bird of prey or a garden bird?
• Would you rather be nocturnal or not?

These are great to talk about in class, in virtual meetings if you do them or for households to talk about at home.

What Could our Future Look Like?
Now is the time to realise the potential of this ‘new normal’; to give families experiences that are unique to this time. Help them to stop, notice, connect, experience and live. If we can do that, imagine what our future could look like.