Elementor #6928

Czech School Without Borders prepared a seminar for selected pupils at the National Science Museum. The wonderful Lenka Neal, who works at the museum, took care of the group of older children. The program began with the students getting to know the museum. Subsequently, each group of students  determined the mysterious biological object they were given and examined it under a magnifying glass or microscope. These objects included, the vertebra of a dolphin, the egg shells of a shark and a stingray, and the ear bone of a whale. 

The morning session ended with an interesting lecture about the seabed and an expedition led by a team from the museum. The students also had a short introduction into evolution from our intern Petra K. After that, the whole group went to the basement of the museum, where the biggest treasures were waiting: A 12m long, pickled krakatice and the original preserved collection from Charles Darwin. During the whole time, the pupils had the task of filling in their ‘Little Researcher’s Diary’. 

After lunch, the group headed to the laboratory where the goal was to find and observe the tiny organisms obtained by passing mud through a sieve. The students really enjoyed this activity. At the very end, the pupils painted polyester cups or played a “treasure hunt” game, where they looked for answers to questions in various places around the museum. The students still have to wait for their decorated cups as a team of scientists from the museum will be going on a real deep-sea expedition. The cups will be immersed to a great depth and will shrink to a third of their original size due to the pressure. 

We are already looking forward to the next scientific seminar.