The lesson starts with Mrs Deller inviting children to complete a pre-lesson survey. This would enable her to assess the impact of the dramatic strategies later on. A
duologue (a dramatised discussion between Charles and how wife, Emma) introduces the children to a mystery scientist (Charles Darwin) and his hypothesis that a moth with a 30cm (11.5 inches)
proboscises could exist. The children are then guided, by Mrs Deller, to consider what Darwin would have been like, as a scientist. They also examined the materials Darwin would have used, on the table top.
Following this they conveyed their views of Darwin's character traits through generating a tableau of him as a scientist.
To actively consider Darwin's hypothesis about the process of evolution they enacted the movements of moths collecting nectar from orchids and demonstrated how population changes arose over generations (and consequently hundreds/thousands of years). A
t different points in the process freeze frame was used to stop the children and ask them to think about what had just happened. A
ll the children are actively involved, even if they are waiting for their turn to be a moth or flower (orchid). Finally, they are invited to question Darwin himself by putting him in the hot seat. To assess the impact of these strategies on the children’s learning a post-lesson finding was and contrasted to the pre-lesson assessment.