What do birds, mammals, insects, amphibians, and plants have in common? They all complete a life cycle! Our life cycle workshop, Cycling Through Life, takes grade 2s through each life stage with STEM activities they can explore with their own senses.
Designed to Ignite Curiosity & Enhance Curricula
What’s more inspiring than a curious kid? An entire classroom full of them. That’s why our workshops bring two big goals together: helping teachers deliver their curriculum and making STEM come to life for students.
Cycling Through Life uses creatures that live in Canada to demonstrate how different kinds of animals experience their life cycle.
Presenter Team Lead Carla Sterling was one of the developers of this workshop, “We wanted to look at Canadian animals that students are familiar with but also have unique characteristics, allowing the student to apply their learning to other animals they may encounter in the classroom or outside.”
Our workshop developers like Carla are thoughtfully tailoring our workshops to curricula across Canada, and to put STEM in the hands of curious kids!
Learning Outcomes: Grade 2 and the Life Cycle
The students take on the role of biologists, zoologists, or botanists – creating habitat and life-like egg models, performing experiments using animal coverings to explore adaptations, and moving around like the animals themselves.
Q&A: What’s an animal covering?
It’s simply the outside of an animal! Think exoskeletons, fur, or even shells or spines.
This hands-on environment encourages students to develop ideas about why animals look or move a certain way, while our STEM expert presenter guides them throughout the process and asks questions to target learning goals.
“I hope students learn that all living things – from plants to animals to ourselves – have a life cycle and that they need a specific habitat to grow.”
- Carla Sterling, Presenter Team Lead and Cycling Through Life Co-developer
Feed the Curiosity: Free STEM Activities for Kids
After each of our classroom workshops, educators receive a resource package full to the brim with STEM resources, information, and activities designed to extend learning beyond the workshop. We also offer free resources for anyone in our community! We have three educational resources to go alongside your young learner’s experience of Cycling Through Life, or on their own:
If your young scientists are intrigued by the beginnings of the plant life cycle, try our World’s Smallest Seed Vault activity.
Your animals-obsessed kid can make their own swamp ruler and learn fun facts about alligators in Meet Mother Alligator.
And if fossils are all the rage in your classroom, community group, or home, try out Make Your Own Imprint Fossil for a tasty take on the remains of ancient organisms.
Scientists in School is a Canadian science outreach charity dedicated to sparking children’s interest in STEM through hands-on discovery.
Our online workshops are available across Canada and encourage children to discover how science is used in their everyday world. We provide rich, engaging and investigative experiences with plentiful opportunities for youth to interact with the visiting scientist guiding the workshop.
Explore our workshops and help us turn your young learners into young scientists!
