Jamie and Sarah from Digital Explorer popped down to Portsmouth on Friday to work with some of our students linked to their excellent Oceans project. The idea was to run a mini-expedition during which young people explored the issue of sea level rise.
Firstly, we found some of the only sandy beach in Portsmouth and created housing developments. Students were sored on how many developments were left standing at high tide. Let’s just say, there weren’t many to make Jamie’s judging job too difficult….
Next, some experiments were demonstrated in order to explore the effects of polar ice melting and thermal expansion of our seas. Both of these experiments were put together with simple equipment available from our science lab techs and shop bought.
After some plastic combing, it was off to a classroom to work out the actual projections for sea level rise in Portsmouth and then a walk along some of the sea defences to reflect on whether Portsmouth City Council are doing enough to stop the problem.
We wondered if this development was really a good idea!
Overall, I was impressed with the mini-expedition and pupils’ understanding improved. The activities are easily embeddable within a coastal / oceans unit. All of the experiments (apart from the sand castle building) could be replicated in a classroom / school site setting. We’ll be doing so at Priory for sure. My eyes have certainly been opened to how we can teach physical geography and complex concepts and processes better.
A big thank you to Jamie and Sarah!
Great working with you David and look forward to seeing how we can spread this to other schools.
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