Mission Possible: Creating exciting opportunities to enrich and engage primary students in science

Watching an episode of the 'New Inventors' on television highlights how a spark of inspiration and creativity can lead to the most amazing inventions. How many times have you thought 'If only there was a tool that did this?' Creativity in the classroom is equally important for enhancing student learning, yet it is so often overlooked in normal teaching situations. This is also true if not more importantly the case for gifted students. In support of this view, Davis and Rimm (1989) consider that creativity provides the stimulus for gifted and talented students to use their gifts and realise their full potential encouraging them to make 'creative contributions to society'. This paper outlines a 'creative' way of involving students in a day of scientific investigation and problem solving called Mission Possible. Each year approximately 200 Year 6 students from the local area participate in the day, which is held at one of the K-12 schools in Armidale. Teachers at the school act as leaders for the day with the support of a team of volunteer Bachelor of Education (Primary) students from the University of New England.