Blog: Learning

Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales would like to congratulate the 4,463 pupils from across the UK who achieved Super Scientist recognition for their participation in the Spring Bulbs for Schools Investigation 2019-2020.

A big congratulations to you all! Thank you for working so hard planting, observing, measuring and recording, you really are Super Scientists!

Many thanks to The Edina Trust for funding this project.

Super Scientists 2020

Enillwyr / Winners

Cymru / Wales: Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Tonyrefail

Gogledd Iwerddon / Northern Ireland: Holy Cross Girls' Primary School

Lloegr / England: St Michael's CE Aided Primary School

Yr Alban / Scotland: Gavinburn Primary School

Yn Ail / Runners up

Cymru / Wales: Bryncoch CiW Primary School

Gogledd Iwerddon / Northern Ireland: Greenhaw Primary School

Lloegr / England: King's Meadow Academy

Yr Alban / Scotland: Penpont Primary School

Clod Uchel / Highly Commended

Cymru / Wales:

St Paul's CiW Primary

St. Julian's Primary

St. Robert's Catholic Primary

Ysgol Gymraeg Caerffili

Gogledd Iwerddon / Northern Ireland:

Steelstown Primary School

Lloegr / England:

Arkholme C of E Primary School

Bursar Primary Academy

Clifton Primary School

Ossett Flushdyke Junior and Infant School

St Austins Catholic Primary School

Stoneferry Primary School

Woodfield Primary

Yr Alban / Scotland:

Dalbeattie Primary School

St Fergus' Primary School

St John Ogilvie Primary School

Cydnabyddiaeth arbennig / Special Recognition

Cymru / Wales:

Blaendulais Primary School

Bro Pedr

Broad Haven

Carreghofa C P School

Darran Park Primary

Evenlode Primary

Ferryside V.C.P School

Gaer Primary School

Henllys C/W Primary

Litchard Primary School

Llanedeyrn Primary School

Llanharan Primary School

Pil Primary School

Sofrydd Primary School

St Athan Primary

St Joseph's Cathedral Primary School

Tonyrefail Community School

Ysgol Deganwy

Ysgol Gymraeg Dewi Sant

Ysgol Llwyn yr Eos

Ysgol San Sior

Lloegr / England:

Canon Peter Hall Primary School

Fieldhead Primary Academy

Fleet Wood Lane Primary School

Hudson Road Primary School

Oldfleet Primary School

Stanford in the Vale Primary School

Yr Alban / Scotland:

Carnbroe Primary School

Earlston Primary School

Greenburn School

Lawefield Primary School

Sanquhar Primary School

St Mungo Primary

Whatriggs Primary School

Gwyddonwyr Gwych / Super Scientists

Cymru / Wales:

Dyffryn Cledlyn

Aberdare Park Primary School

Albert Primary School

Blaengwrach Primary

Garth primary School

Georgetown Primary

Hendredenny Park Primary

High Cross Primary School

Llangan Primary School

Maesgwyn Special School

NPTC Newtown College

St. Michael's RC Primary

Ty Isaf Infants School

White Rose Primary School

Y Berllan Deg

Ysgol Craig yr Wylfa

Ysgol Ysbyty Ifan

Gogledd Iwerddon / Northern Ireland:

Auchencairn Primary School

John Paul II Primary School

Newbuildings Primary School

Saint Patrick's Primary School

St Anne's Primary School

St Paul's Primary and Nursery School

Lloegr / England:

Adelaide Primary School

Bardney CofE Primary School

Castleford Park Junior Academy

Chorley St James CE Primary

Dunstall Hill Primary School

Garstang St Thomas C.E. Primary

Gonerby Hill Foot C E Primary School

North Road Primary School

Sandal Magna Community Academy

St Helen's C of E Primary School

St Michael's Church of England Aided Primary School

St Peter's Catholic Primary School

Yr Alban / Scotland:

Cummertrees Primary School

Drummore Primary School

Gelston Primary School

Glenluce Primary School

Gordon Primary School

Laurieknowe Primary School

Locharbriggs Primary School

Loreburn Primary School

New Abbey Primary School

Newmains Primary School

Our Lady of Peace Primary School

Saint Anthony's Primary School

Sheuchan Primary School

Wormit Primary School

St Peter's Primary School

We have had fantastic entries from all areas of Wales & beyond! The standard is truly incredible! Visiting these virtual museums has been great fun and an incredible honour! Many thanks to everyone who took part in the Minecraft Your Museum Competition! 

We hope you enjoyed taking part as much as we enjoyed visiting your Museum! 

The video below shows entries from all our participants and highlights the winning entries.

Congratulations to everyone who took part in this (woolly) mammoth of a challenge!

This competition shines a light on the talented young 'crafters' we have in Wales! They have created the most beautiful Museums and wonderful collections. They also thought of everything a visitor might need from cafes, to play areas, shows and of course toilet facilities. They are digital architects, curators and Museums managers all rolled into one! The digital skills they have used in both creating and presenting is something to shout about! Digital Literacy being a cross-curricular theme in Wales is really paying off. 

We are delighted to announce that the People's Collection Wales will be creating a collection of all the entries so others too can appreciate the amazing museums created. Once we have permission from participants,we will update this blog with links. People’s Collection Wales is a National digital collection that gathers history from the People of Wales.

We are delighted to announce that the Minecraft Your Museum competition has been shortlisted for the Family Friendly Museum Award From Home. 

The Winners:

1st place: Prize VIP trip for your class to your chosen museum (when safe to do so). Plus two reserved tickets for the Museum Sleepover - Dino nights at home & certificates.

2nd place: Two reserved tickets for the Museum Sleepover - Dino nights at home & certificates!

3rd place: Two reserved tickets for the Museum Sleepover - Dino nights at home & certificates!

Highly commended: One reserved ticket for the Museum Sleepover - Dino nights at home & certificates!

To be awarded Minecraft Your Museum certificates for completing the challenge!

The Competition

Competition for 6-11 year olds.

The Challenge: Use your imagination to build your dream museum in Minecraft. Decide how you would like the building to look and fill it with some of your favourite Museum objects. They could be anything from any of our seven museums, such as a Dinosaur, a Roman coin or a house from St Fagans!

Prizes: Win a VIP trip for you & your whole class to your chosen museum - when schools re-open!  A prize will be awarded to each year group (Yrs. 2-6).

Since lockdown began, I have found myself spending more time than ever peering in to people’s windows. Not because I’m nosy (well, maybe just a little) but because our streets have become almost living galleries, with art popping up in windows everywhere – mostly rainbow art, as symbols of hope.

This got me thinking about the rainbows in the national art collection, like the Turner watercolour given to us by Gwendoline Davies in 1952 as part of the Davies sisters bequest; Thomas Hornor’s rushing waterfall rainbow; and this more melancholic painting in the manner of Constable of a rainbow cutting through dark clouds, with a solitary figure at a fence seemingly oblivious to the rainbow above.

Comfort on our doorsteps

The weather was a constant source of fascination to Constable. He was drawn to rainbows as a scientific spectacle, and also for their calming effects. He once said ‘nature… exhibits no feature more lovely nor any that awaken a more soothing reaction than the rainbow’. For Constable, the rainbow represented a glimmer of hope in tumultuous times – something that may resonate with many of us today, as we struggle to come to terms with traumatic world events.

Constable believed artists should paint views and subjects with deep personal connections – things that they know and love; things that have stirred their senses and emotions. He once said that ‘painting is but another word for feeling’. For some, this is key to understanding his art. Constable’s paintings are not meant to looked at – they are meant to be felt.

Much of his work was inspired by childhood memories of his native Suffolk. A Cottage in a Cornfield shows a humble cottage in the country, with what appears to be a little donkey and foal hiding in the shadows at the gate – a simple scene he saw every day on his way to school as a boy. He delighted in the smallest details – things that many of his contemporaries in the nineteenth century art would have overlooked. ‘The sound of water escaping from mill dams, willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork, I love such things’ he wrote. Nothing was too commonplace, too mundane to be in his paintings. He saw beauty in things that at the time were not considered worthy to be the subject for art. He teaches us to find beauty in the everyday, and comfort on our doorsteps.

Today lockdown has stripped many of us right back to basics, and we are being encouraged to seek comfort and value the everyday more than ever before. We would love to see the things that are helping you get through these difficult times. You can share your #ObjectsofComfort with @AmgueddfaCymru on Twitter, or follow to see the items in our collections that have brought comfort to different people through the ages. 

Learning from Constable’s rainbows

Six years ago I had the privilege of being part of the Aspire partnership project which saw Constable’s incredible six-footer  painting Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows 1831 (Tate) displayed at National Museum Cardiff, after it was saved for the nation in 2013. 

The painting shows Salisbury Cathedral under a storm-heavy sky, a flash of lightning striking its roof. When he began paiting it in 1831, Constable was caught up in his own personal storm. His wife Maria had died from tuberculosis, leaving Constable to raise their seven children alone. He was also plagued by anxiety about political and religious changes raging around him. The painting is seen as an expression of the deep anxieties Constable felt at this time - anxieties, which were nonetheless mixed with a glimmer of hope for the future, symbolised by the faint rainbow. It is no coincidence that the rainbow ends at Leadenhall, the home of his friend and patron John Fisher who supported him through his darkest days.

Alongside the display we co-ordinated a series of learning activities, working with different visitor groups to create artworks and poems inspired by this painting. Over 6000 people took part in the programme, and I loved seeing the creative responses like these amazing pop-up rainbow landscapes made in family workshops. The animated light projections made by school groups working with artist Anne-Mie Melis , and CPD workshops for teachers led by poet clare e. potter were also real highlights.

Hope and broken hearts

What struck me during this project is that people of all ages responded so openly to the painting, and how it sometimes opened up dialogues about complex emotional states like grief, loss, hope and happiness.

One young pupil, Charles, asked ‘why does the dog look up for hope but the horses look down with their broken hearts?’; another, after learning that it took Constable four years to complete this painting, wondered ‘can you be that sad for that long? cos for every day you have a different feeling.’ I think about these questions even six years later: how emotions are never seperate - they intermingle and change so easily - and how our emotional states are never static, but are in a constant state of flux, which can sometimes make them difficult to deal with because they seem impossible to control.

This, I think, is why we need art and creativity more than ever. Not because I think art will solve the issues we are facing today - but perhaps it has a role in helping us to ask the right questions, and in teaching us how to feel our way through, together.

In 2013 Constable’s Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows 1831 was secured for the British public through the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Manton Foundation, the Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation) and Tate Members. The acquisition was part of Aspire, a five year partnership between Amgueddfa Cymru, Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service, The Salisbiry Museum, National Galleries of Scotland and Tate Britain, sponsored by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Art Fund.

To secure the painting, a unique partnership initiative was formed between five public collections: Tate Britain, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Colchester and Ipswich Museums, Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum and the National Galleries of Scotland. This initiative, named Aspire, was a five-year project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Art Fund enabling the work to be viewed in partner venues across the UK. National Museum Cardiff was the first venue to display the work. 

Produce and flower gardens were a mainstay of Miner's homes. An important place where food was grown, where pidgeons, chickens and often a pig was also kept. Sharon Ford is Learning and Participation Manager at Big Pit National Coal Museum. She wrote this article for our blog, in celebration of the health and wellbeing benefits of gardening - particularly during this lockdown. Its full of gardening joy and helpful hints and tips, and Sharon had more than a little help from a fellow keen gardener - her son, Iwan.

‘We may think we are nurturing our garden, but of course it's our garden that is really nurturing us’   

Jenny Uglow

I’ve never been so grateful to have a garden as I do at the moment, because it offers a space to inhabit beyond the four walls of the house. The fact that the weather has been so consistently good has enabled us to make the most of being outdoors when not working, to get out of each other’s way when we need a bit of solitary time, and of course catch up on all the garden tasks which are usually shoe horned into evenings and weekends. Having something to plan and focus on has been really helpful in taking our minds away from the current global crisis and the fact that we are away from friends and family. Even our energetic 8 year old son Iwan has been more engaged with the outdoors so far this year, planning which vegetables he wants to harvest and eat in a few months time, and the fresh air and activity tires him out at the end of the day. This is important as he is missing his usual swimming, gymnastics and rugby sessions.

The benefits of gardening on physical and mental health are well-researched and widely known, and it can help with a range of physical conditions such as high blood pressure and anxiety, as well as helping those with more defined mental health problems.

Not everyone is as lucky as we are to have a garden at home and an allotment just across the road, but keeping pots or planters of vegetables in small spaces can also help reduce stress and boost self-esteem. Tending for house plants has also been proven to give a sense of purpose, and can be a good place to start for those with no previous experience of gardening.

Anyway, I asked Iwan of he wanted to share his top tips for growing and tending, as he’s a seasoned gardener with four years experience now. He also wanted to share his tips for keeping chickens, just in case anyone is thinking of getting chickens to keep them happy! By the way, the therapeutic benefits of chicken keeping are also well documented!

My name is Iwan Ford. I am 8 years old and live in Blaenavon. During the lockdown, I spend all my time at home with Mam and Dad. It is ok but I miss my friends and cousins. We are very lucky because we have two gardens and two chickens. My chickens are called Barbara and Millie. I had another chicken who was called Penny, but she died a few weeks ago because she was poorly. We buried her in the garden.

Someone gave Millie to us when they heard Barbara was on her own. She is a Silkie, and is very funny and clumsy. She has big feet and walks on and into everything. Sometimes she kicks the food over and sometimes she walks over Barbara. She is very friendly and follows me around the garden. Silkies have blue ears and furry feathers. Barbara is a small bantam and has very beautiful feathers. She had orange feathers around her neck. She lays very small eggs but they are yummy and have very yellow yolks. You can tell they are happy chickens.

I do some gardening to help Mam and Dad because we have an allotment as well as our house garden. I like planting, watering and picking the vegetables and fruit when they grow. I have my own vegetable patch and have planted my French beans, pumpkin, marrow and kidney bean seeds already. Seeds need good soil with compost mixed in, sunshine and water. You have to remember to water a lot or they will not grow.

Iwan’s Top Tips:

Planting tips:

• Fill the plant pots with compost. Put your seed in. Sometimes you half fill the pot with compost then the seed then more compost. Sometimes you fill the pot then make a hole with your finger and put the seed in. Make sure you water them, and they will grow in a few weeks. When they have grown big enough and no more frost is coming, you put the plants out into the ground.
• If you haven’t got a garden you can grow potatoes in buckets or bags of compost if you cut the top. Tomatoes will grow like this as well.
• Always write the names of what you are planting on tags or lolly sticks and put into the pots so you know which is which.

Chicken tips:

• Silkie chickens don’t like to wander as they can’t fly, so if you only have a small garden silkies are the best.
• Chicken poos are good for making compost. When this is ready you can dig it into the soil to make your plants come up big and strong.
• Chickens love meal worms as a little treat. We give some to the chickens and put some out for the garden birds as well. ‘Beaky and Feather’ is the chickens favourite food and makes their feathers shine.

Dear Bulb Buddies,

I’d like to say a big thank you for all of your hard work on the Spring Bulbs for Schools Investigation. I’ve enjoyed this year’s project, especially all of the comments that you have shared with your data. Some of your comments are listed at the end of this Blog.

As schools closed early this year many of you will not have had a chance to enter your data to the website. I understand that some schools may have had a few weeks worth of data still to upload before this sudden change. I am also working from home as the Museum I work at closed in the same week as most schools. It’s a big change; and I have been thinking of you all at this time and hope that you are all Okay.

I will still be Blogging and Twitting about the project. In the coming weeks I will highlight different resources and activities that you can do at home. This week my suggestion is that you draw pictures of daffodil and crocus plants and learn how to label the different parts of the plants. If you have done this activity before, maybe you could choose a different plant to draw this time? I’ve already been sent some fantastic images from St Mungo Primary that you can see to the right of this Blog. If you can, email a photo of your picture to your teacher or share it over Twitter with @Professor_Plant .

There are resources on the Spring Bulbs for schools website that you can access from home. I’ve attached outlines of a daffodil and crocus that you can colour and label and ‘The Life of a Bulb’ origami booklet (and instructions) that you can colour and fold.

There are also lots of activities on the Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales website. You can choose between lots of different themes, from Romans and Celts to artists and dinosaurs! To find these visit the Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales learning page. You will see a list of the seven different Museum sites. Click on your chosen Museum, then scroll to the ‘Resources’ tab. You’ll find different resources there that link to the Museum you’ve selected.

Some schools were able to take their plants home with them. That wasn’t possible for everyone because schools closed suddenly. If you weren’t able to take your plants home with you, don’t worry, they will be fine.

Thank you again for all of your work on the project, and remember to watch this space for more blogs Bulb Buddies.

Professor Plant

Your comments

Comments about schools closing:

YGG Tonyrefail: Diolch am y prosiect eleni. Thank you for the project this year. Stay safe and well in the coming weeks. Professor Plant: Diolch, I hope you will take part again next year.
Hudson Road Primary School: This is the last reading we are able to send. We have loved taking part in the Bulb project. Professor Plant: Thank you for sharing your data Bulb Buddies.
St Julian's Primary School: We all took our daffodil pots home today on our last day at school for a while. Thank you for letting us take part once again. Professor Plant: I’m glad you were able to take your plants home and hope you will take part again.
Gavinburn Primary School: Our school closed on the 20th March and only 3 flowers had appeared from our daffodils planted in the ground. Professor Plant: Thank you for the update Bulb Buddies, it’s helpful for us to know that plants hadn’t yet flowered.
Dalbeattie Primary School: School is now closed but we are trying to keep records best that we can although they may not be as accurate. Professor Plant: Thank you Bulb Buddies, great work.
Henllys CIW Primary: All the flowers opened except mine and a spare one . Everyone's opened over the same weekends too. There was another spare one that opened so I took that one home instead. Professor Plant: I’m sorry that your plant didn't flower but am glad that there was a spare one for you to take home. Thank you for all of your work on the project.
Arkholme Primary School: This is the last day we are in school before it closes. Some of the flowers were broken in the strong winds and will not flower. Our teacher is going to check the bulbs when he is in school. Professor Plant: I’m sorry to hear the wind damaged your plants. Thank you for taking the time to update me on your last day in school and for all of the work you’ve done for the project.
Arkholme Primary School: The mystery bulbs are just beginning to bud. The sunniest week so far this year. The crocus flowers have started to open out in the sunshine. This is the last day to look at the bulbs as school is closing for the virus. Professor Plant: Thank you for this final update and for checking on the plants for as long as you could. You paint a lovely picture of your school garden.
Stanford in the Vale Primary School: Hi, This will be my last time submitting the weather data! After 3 years on doing it has finally come to an end! It has been fairly cold this week with not much rain! We won't be submitting it next week because school is closed! Thank you for the last time! Riley. Professor Plant: Dear Riley, thank you so much for the work that you have done for the project over the years. I’ve enjoyed reading your regular up-dates and wish you all the best. Remember to keep following the Blog for links to resources and to the end of project report.
St. Robert's Catholic Primary: This is our last week of weather results as our school closes today. Professor Plant: Thank you for updating me Bulb Buddies, and thank you for all of the great work you’ve done.
Darran Park Primary: Our weather has been a bit dryer this week. Unfortunately our class attendance has dropped continuously throughout the week and these children have not been able to check their plants. We have done this as best we could. Thank you for enabling us to do this project, we do hope that we will be able to do this again. Professor Plant: Thank you for taking part in the project and for updating me. I’m glad you have enjoyed the project and hope that you will take part again.
Sanquhar Primary School: Bulb pots taken home by the children left in school. Professor Plant: Fantastic, thank you.
Ysgol Bro Pedr: Take care of yourselves! Professor Plant: Thank you, and you Bulb Buddies.
St Fergus' Primary School: Our flowers are not far away from opening, the tops are very yellow but no flowers yet. Our school is now closed due to the Corona virus. Professor Plant: Good observational skills and description Bulb Buddies. Thank you for updating me, it’s very helpful to know that some plants hadn’t flowered when schools closed.

Comments about plants:
Dalbeattie Primary School: Only green leaves- no flower formed - this is like several of our crocus bulbs. Professor Plant: I’m sorry to hear that not all of your plants flowered Bulb Buddies, this sometimes happens. I’m glad that the other bulbs flowered for you to enjoy.
St Fergus' Primary School: We have one crocus fully opened, a beautiful purple one, some more are just about to open. Professor Plant: Fantastic Bulb Buddies.
Carnbroe Primary School: 2020-03-05. The crocuses bloomed early March.We are still waiting on the other bulbs to flower. Professor Plant: Thank you for entering your data Bulb Buddies.
Sanquhar Primary School: We found our bulb bed had been burrowed into. We have replaced the bulbs. None of our bulbs in pots are showing anything yet. We have moved them to a sunnier position. Professor Plant: Thank you for the update Bulb Buddies. Do you have any ideas what might have been burrowing into your flower bed?!
Bryncoch CiW Primary School: I noticed a caterpillar on my daffodil. Professor Plant: Fantastic Bulb Buddies, do you know what type of caterpillar it was?

Llanedeyrn Primary School: I was shocked on how tall it had grown. Professor Plant: They do grow surprisingly tall!
Bursar Primary Academy: 3 of the planted crocus' never flowered. Numbers 1, 15 and 30. We believe this is because these were sheltered from sunlight and rainfall. The Crocus' opened between 24/02/2020 and 05/03/2020. The heights range from 31mm to 98mm. Professor Plant: Well done for thinking about why some plants might flower and others not. This can also be why some plants flower earlier than others.
Litchard Primary School: It shows the difference in temperature when we brought the crocus inside it opened within 10-15 minutes. Professor Plant: This is an interesting experiment to do, bringing one inside while the others are outside and comparing the flowering date.
Hudson Road Primary School: There were two flowers that had opened when I measured them they were both 90 mm tall. Professor Plant: Fantastic work Bulb Buddy!
Drummore Primary School: It is a small plant but its a step closer saving the world. Professor Plant: They are very small and delicate, but can teach us a lot about the natural world.  
Drummore Primary School: They take a long time to grow. Professor Plant: They do, and you’ve been very patient caring for it since October.

Comments about data input:
Our Lady of Peace Primary School: We are happy to send in data again. Professor Plant: Thank you for sharing your data Bulb Buddies.
Our Lady of Peace Primary School:  Sorry we missed out a few weeks and a couple of days. As we said we are super sorry. Professor Plant: That can’t be helped, thank you for letting me know and for inputting the data you can.
Saint Anthony's Primary School: It was really exiting to check the temperature and rainfall. Professor Plant: I’m glad you’ve enjoyed the project Bulb buddies, thank you for all the work you’ve done.