Our first Curriculum topic is ‘STEM Sisters’ which celebrates the achievements, discoveries and stories of diverse historical female mathematicians and scientists using the arts to inspire the children. We will explore the many stories of women throughout history who have fought against the odds to pursue their flair for scientific enquiry, but whose pioneering work was so often unrecognised. Throughout the term, we will be developing their history skills alongside Art, Design and Technology. 

So far we have learnt about:

Hypatia:

Hypatia taught about and constructed astrolabes, and worked on ground breaking algebraic equations and the complex mathematics of cone-like shapes as well as the motion of planets. During the lesson we looked at  patterns made by stars and identified different constellations.  We followed instructions to build a model of an inclinometer. Here is an example:

Mae Jemison

Mae Jemison continues to promote science education especially for minority students through many different programmes including in a forum with Michelle Obama. During the lesson, we made our own paper aeroplane and shuttle and tested out which one was more successful. 

Then we used our inclinometers from the previous lesson to measure the distance our shuttles travelled. Here is an example of our shuttles: