UKS2: STEM Project@ St Vincent’s – What does it mean to give your heart to someone?
This project is over a term and will be investigating the driving question “What does it mean to give your heart to someone?” This project will provide opportunities to think about literal and figurative use of language. The notion of giving your heart metaphorically through love will be explored through poetry and music enabling the children to write their own pieces. We will also look at donating a heart literally and what conditions might lead to this being necessary . Using the novel “Pig Heart Boy ” by Malorie Blackman as a vehicle, we will explore the scientific topics of the circulatory system and other bodily systems and our entry event of a post Christmas Boot Camp will enable the children to assess the effect of exercise and rest upon the heart. Although the book is fictional it will also enable us to have ethical discussions about organ donation and help the children to develop their debating skills. After researching what life was like in the past with regard to medicines and operations, we will then look at the logistics of transporting organs from one hospital to another and develop the children’s geography, and designing skills to produce model bridges providing the quickest route between two points. Finally our focus will return to our driving question, as a Catholic school our focus leads us to think about Jesus’ great love for us and how he literally and figuratively gave his heart to us at Easter. Throughout the project the children will be contributing to a collaborative art piece which will be a celebration of love on permanent display in the school.