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About our workshops
Our aim is to teach primary school children about the wonderful biodiversity of Ireland and get them actively involved in nature conservation. We have a range of topics available as outlined below. Our staff are extremely well experienced in this field and have worked with hundreds of schools across Ireland with thousands of students having taken part in our projects - just take a look at our teacher testimonials below. Workshop features:
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Choose your Workshop:
Biodiversity Bootcamp
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What is biodiversity? Why is it so important? How can schools help? This workshop has been specially designed for schools who are just starting their work on biodiversity. We’ll break it down into simple, fun and sciencey bite-size chunks! We’ll work with your students to fully explain what biodiversity is, how we depend on it and the dangers it faces. There will be a mix of games and interactive presentations. As with all our workshops, it’s also about taking action! We’ll conduct a scientific fieldtrip around your school with the students to discover what biodiversity is already there and then the class will draw up their own habitat maps to help plan for the next steps. At the end of the workshop students and teachers will be fully prepped on biodiversity and will have all the resources and tools for the next steps.
Note: If your school already has its mapping done just let us know and we’ll swap the activity for a hands-on, biodiversity boosting craft session. |
Pollinator Project
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The Pollinator Project is a celebration of Ireland’s wonderful pollinating insects including our busy bees. Pollinators have had a very hard time lately and this project aims to give them a helping hand. We will discuss the importance of pollination and all of Ireland's hard-working pollinators. We will focus particularly on bees and show students how bees make honey with our beehive and beekeeping equipment. If the weather permits we will go outside and explore the school grounds in search of pollinators. As with all our workshops, it's about taking action too! Students will take steps to make their school more pollinator-friendly through planting wildlife-friendly flowers. At the end of this workshop you'll have a classroom full of bee-ologists!
More information about our Pollinator Project campaign is available here. |
Secret zoo
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This workshop is available from September 2020
Did you know that in a single teaspoon of soil there are as many organisms than all people on earth! That's over 7.5 billion organisms in a single teaspoon!!
The Secret Zoo workshop is all about exploring this amazing, hidden world of biodiversity all around the school grounds. It's about taking a closer, scientific look at the things we pass by every day and don't think about. We'll use special ecology equipment to explore the school gardens and discover hidden life and use visualizers in the classroom to explore what we find. This hidden world is the foundation of healthy ecosystems so we'll draw up plans as a class on how best to protect it. |
Bird Bonanza
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This workshop is available from September 2020
Birds are one of the most delightful parts of biodiversity! From the wonderful Swallows that visit us in summer to the lovely Robins that sing to us through the coldest days of winter. Birds are such a welcome visitor to the school. This workshop will explore Irish birds with your students. We'll learn all about our most common birds - how to identify them, study their colours, learn their songs. All your budding ornithologists will then put their knowledge to use by exploring the school grounds for bird habitats and coming up with ideas of how the school can look after them. If the weather permits we'll also conduct a proper bird survey at the school and/ or show you how to continue the survey for your own research. We'll finish up by taking action on the day to help your school garden birds by building bird feeders in the classroom.
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Water Worlds
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This workshop is available from September 2020
While we're all very familiar with the wildlife that lives on land, we tend to know less about the secretive underwater world. However, what lives beneath the surface is truly amazing! This workshop is about exploring the water cycle and Ireland's fantastic rivers, streams, lakes and coasts. We'll take a look at the organisms that live under water and the challenges they face such as plastic pollution. We'll bring real water samples to the classroom so that the students can scientifically explore them using proper scientific equipment to identify the biodiversity present and assess the quality of the water.
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testimonials:
"A truly amazing and educational workshop on bees and their essential role in nature. Both the pupils and myself learned so much. Mark presented a wealth of information in a most child-centred way, which kept the pupils enthralled throughout the entire workshop. His enthusiasm and depth of knowledge shone through and I know he has inspired the pupils to be even more environmentally aware. I would unreservedly recommend this project to every school and look forward to many more visits in the "The workshop is not only fun but very educational. It’s suitable for all classes and they all thoroughly enjoyed it. The workshop will sit comfortably in any school's yearly scheme. I would highly recommend it.” "The practical activities were so age appropriate and the pupils loved every second." "This was an excellent workshop that was fun, hands-on and educational. Mark was great with the kids and they really enjoyed it!" "I would like to take the opportunity to thank you very much for delivering such a high standard workshop. The children enjoyed it greatly and are still talking about it." |
"Mark is an excellent facilitator. He managed my class very well, he kept their attention, he was respectful and he has a lovely calm clear manner. His explanations were clear and age appropriate. The children were completely captivated by his outdoor activities and were very excited looking for different insects. Even on sports day next day many of the class were spotting different bees and insects." "Thank you so much for the workshop. The content was superb and you kept the children totally engaged for the entire two hours. The children were totally captivated and really enthusiastic. Once again thank you Mark, you are welcome back any time." "Very interactive. Innovative games were used to help engage the children. Good balance of oral, written and hands on work. Mark was excellent at holding their attention. He left the children with lots of idea that could be implemented easily into our school to help increase biodiversity. One of the best in-house facilitators we’ve had in school. Super course and the children and I thoroughly enjoyed it." "It fitted nicely in our SESE programme, Green School's biodiversity theme and construction strand of the visual arts curriculum. Your vibrancy, energy and overall positivity appealed to and engaged all the children in first class. A breath of fresh air!!" “The children really enjoyed this workshop as it was fun, educational and very interesting. As a teacher, I would recommend this workshop to other schools as it is well organised, very realistic and delivered in a fun interactive workshop." |
"This workshop worked extremely well with our school's work on biodiversity. I would recommend this to other schools without hesitation. It was a very valuable experience for all involved.”
Ms. Fahy, Teacher & Green Schools Coordinator, Holy Family Boys NS, Carlow
"Thank you most sincerely for visiting the school. All of the pupils listened attentively and thoroughly enjoyed actively participating in the workshop.We are delighted with all of your suggestions and guidance with our pollinator plan which we hope to implement in the school. We were very impressed with your warm and friendly engagement with the pupils. We would highly recommend your workshops to other schools committed to biodiversity and caring for our environment.
Anonymous feedback via Heritage in Schools Scheme.
"Thoroughly enjoyable day. The children learned an extensive but appropriate amount of information and facts. After our nature walk Mark helped the children draw a habitat map of our school grounds. Then Mark helped the children create a pollinator plan for our school." |
"We had a wonderful and informative day. We , even teachers, learned so much today and children will really remember this day for many years." |
"We had a great day! It was interesting, informative, interactive, engaging and fun. Mark pitched his presentation and activities at a level perfect for Second Class. He brought us from local to global, using the familiar context of the school garden to bring us the children to a subject that has world wide significance. We plan to share what we learned about Pollination and Pollinators with our whole school at our Science Day next month. Thank you Mark."
Cornamaddy NS, Athlone. Co. Westmeath.
"My class thoroughly enjoyed the Biodiversity Bootcamp carried out by Mark Nolan. Every pupil was engaged and involved throughout all of his lessons and discussions. The children loved the field-trip and the opportunity to find aspects of biodiversity in our school environment. I would highly recommend Mark's workshops".
Melview NS, Co. Longford
"Really enjoyed the visit. Mark was so knowledgeable and professional. The children and teacher learned loads! He gave us great ideas on how to improve pollination in the local environment."
Anonymous feedback via Heritage in Schools Scheme.
"Excellent workshop to keep the children engaged....great for this time of year!" |
"Mark was excellent with the pupils" |
"The day was very informative and hand-on. The children really enjoyed all aspects."Ballinlough NS, Co. Roscommon |
"Mark was an amazing facilitator for the 'Pollinator Project'. He was passionate about his content and the children responded really well to him. His content was engaging, interesting and fun."
Scoil Thomáis, Dublin 15
"Mark was very prepared and obviously has a great love for what he does. The children loved every aspect of the visit and learned so much in one day."
Queen of the Universe NS, Co. Carlow
