Student Ambassador Training Pack
A Day in the Life of a Vet Session Description •
This workshop is an outreach visit which is offered to Year 3s. It was developed in October 2013 and therefore is in a development phase; feedback about modifying games is welcome.
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The workshop requires two RVC staff to take place.
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Students should arrive at the school a minimum of half and hour in advance of the session to set up, and allow half an hour following the session for pack up. Therefore, allow three hours for the session.
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The recommended format for the workshop is an introduction for two classes, followed by 2 x 50 mins working with 5x 6 pupils groups, rotating round activities which take ten minutes each. You need to be able to watch the time carefully and move children on rapidly.
Resources • • • • • • • •
Introduction to RVC video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXbPcL2cGtQ Surgical gown Cuddly toy (pupils may also bring in their own toys) Activity 1: X Ray Zone: Skeleton onesie for ages 8‐11 and bone labels Activity 2: Animal X Ray Mystery: Laminated x rays and animal images Activity 3: Heart rate: stethoscopes Activity 4: Cure your pet: bandages , cuddly toy from above Activity 5: Pet images and laminated images/ real pet food
Set up • Make sure activity bags contain required resources for each activity. • The introduction involves running through each activity. After the introduction, 30 pupils will return to class and you will work with one class , in groups of 6, for 50 mins. • When classes swap over, check all resources have been replaced. • At the end of each session, hold up the post‐visit activity ‘Me as a Vet’ and say you would like to see pupils drawings (remind teachers to email the best ones to us. The following pages show the teacher pre visit info, annotated to explain their rationale
Pre‐ Visit Information A Day in the Life of a Vet Location Outreach session‐ we visit your school Session duration 2 hours Session times 0930‐1130 or 1300‐ 1500 Year group 3 Group size 60 pupils
2014 Curriculum aims
Currently, many schools are using a ‘Creative Curriculum’ in the wake of lack of clarity following governmental change. They will be asked to use a new curriculum from 2014. It is seen to be ambitious in terms of knowledge content.
Y3 Science Pupils will • identify that animals, including humans, need the right types and amount of nutrition • identify that humans and some other animals have skeletons and muscles for support, protection and movement. RVC’s Wellbeing aim • understand that animals need to be looked after responsibly
Pre‐ Visit Information The aim of the introduction is to run through each game, so that children could facilitate the games themselves if they do not have adult support. This is called modelling; you are showing them how to run the activity with a volunteer.
Time
Activity
0
Whole group introduction session., ideally in Hall Pupils will see a video of the Royal Veterinary College. Volunteers will be called to the front for activity demonstrations.
20‐70 mins
Work with one class of 30. Pupils will undertake games in 5 groups of 6. 1. X Ray zone One pupil will wear skeleton suit. Others will pick laminated bones names out of RVC bag and attach using clips. Repeat if time. 2. Animal X Ray mystery The X Rays have got mixed up! Can you match the animals and their x rays? Group activity 3. Heart rate Take turns listening to your heart beat . Then run on the spot for a minute. Listen again. What has happened to your heart beat? 4. Cure your pet The cuddly toys have broken legs! Make a bandage to make them better 5. What do they eat? Pets need the right food to eat. Can you match the food choices and water dishes with the right animals?
20‐ 120
Repeat with class 2
Pre‐visit preparation Please ask pupils to make mind maps using the attached photocopiable sheet; model on whiteboard with who, where, what, when, why and how questions. The Student Amabassadors would like to see these on arrival, to understand the class better.
Pupils should be familiar with human bone names. Post‐ visit activity Please see attached for a post‐visit activity ‘A Day in the Life of a Vet’
Since this is a new workshop, it is important to understand pupils prior experiences about vets. Widening Participation will analyse these responses as a research method to better understand children’s conceptions of vets. This is known as grounded theory; when you analyse open responses like this it takes a long time but you learn a lot. Once you have grouped similar responses into categories you can plan a more focussed pre visit activity to assess where pupils are on a spectrum of understanding. Please ask to look through these when you arrive at the school. It will help you to understand the level which pupils are working at.
A Day in the Life of a Vet
Me as a vet! Identity is a current theme in science education research which is attracting a lot of attention. People think that it is important for pupils to see themselves in different roles if they might want to pursue that role in future. Please hold up a copy of this sheet at the end of the session and ask for pupil suggestions to the questions below. Remind teachers that we would like to see examples if they can email in images.
Draw yourself as a vet! Here are some questions to help you think: • What animal are you helping? • What are you wearing? • What tools do you need?
Notes