For this year’s STEM Discovery Week the headmaster of Ano Syros Primary School Mr Nektarios Farassopoulos along with the students of the Fourth Grade decided to organize a peer learning activity about day and night for the students of the Special Primary School of Hermoupolis.

Firstly, all the pupils, (10 boys and 6 girls) studied a SCIENTIX resource (http://bit.ly/2Y1Xtb3) related to our topic. Then they visited the Special Primary School of Hermoupolis where students with disabilities attend lessons. For one day the pupils became teachers and tried to explain to the pupils of the Special Primary School how the day becomes night and vice versa using a SCIENTIX resource.

The following is a peer teaching activity where half of the group of students involved are pupils with severe disabilities.
On the first day of the task, sixteen fourth graders of Ano Syros Primary School studied SCIENTIX resources about day and night (light darkness) at their school. They got familiarized with the activities and they asked for any extra information they needed (about the sun, the orbit of earth etc). Also, they had the opportunity to discuss the content of the workshop and decide how they were going to work in order to achieve the best results, that is, to teach what they had learnt. The students and the teacher decided that the best method would be to be work in small groups, each group consisting of two students from our school and one student from the Special Primary School of Hermoupolis.

The second day we visited the Special Primary School of Hermoupolis where students with disabilities attend lessons. The chosen resource is often used with very young students (4-8 years old), thus it is appropriate for students with disabilities. For this day the pupils of Ano Syros Primary School became teachers and tried to help their peers understand how the day becomes night and vice versa using a SCIENTIX resource. After a small presentation, the students of both schools were divided into smaller mixed groups and implemented the activities of the workshop. In each group, the pupils of Ano Syros guided pupils of the SPS to colour the sheets provided for the regions with light and darkness. After that, they talked about what we do when there is light (eg go to school, cycling, play etc) and what when there is darkness (eg switch on the lights, sleep etc) and the students with disabilities painted some of these ideas on the sheets! Each group created a paper full of actions happening in light and darkness!

In the end, all the groups together drew and coloured a big planet with day and night activities. This big piece of paper full of light and darkness will decorate the central corridor of the Special Education School this year!

Special Thanks to:
Sofia Perisorati, Teacher in Ano Syros Primary School
Maria Nevrokopli, Headmaster of Special Primary School of Hermoupolis
Maria Athanasiou, Teacher in Special Primary School of Hermoupolis
Maria Markou, Teacher in Special Primary School of Hermoupolis
Eleni Totta, Teacher in Special Primary School of Hermoupolis