teaching - Earth Science Teachers' Association

TEACHING EARTH SCIENCES ● Volume 26 ● Number 3, 2001
Geology and the Human Environment:
The Nuclear Waste Problem
OWAIN THOMAS
This paper was delivered as a workshop at the Annual Conference of the Earth Science Teachers
Association at Kingston University in September 2001. It describes a Study Day set up at the
National Museum and Gallery of Wales for AS Geology students. The core exercise requires
students to engage with the basic spatial, geological and environmental issues which lie behind
the decision to locate a nuclear power station.
Introduction
The National Museum and Gallery of Wales has an
excellent record of supporting education throughout
Wales. The Education Department is responsible for
developing resources to complement the displays,
including the superb “Evolution of Wales” exhibition.
About eighteen months ago I suggested developing
some educational resources to support the new AS/A2
level specifications. Geraint Price, the Senior Education
Officer was very keen to support the initiative and he
worked with both Museum and Cardiff University
staff to put together a study day for AS Geology students.
I contributed a set of worksheets to complement
the presentation made by the experts.
We aimed to bring together as many aspects of the AS
course as possible in an integrated problem-solving
exercise and to meet this aim we developed the idea of
choosing a suitable site for a nuclear waste facility on
the imaginary South Pacific island of Nova Cambria.
The study day
Two groups of students attended the Museum for the
study day in November 2000, one group from
Amman Valley School, the other from Coleg Sir Gar
(Carmarthenshire College) accompanied by their
teacher, Dr. Liz Richards. Geraint Price arranged for a
number of experts to give short presentations to the
students, with each presentation being followed by a
practical exercise. Dr Bob Owens and Sarah Chambers
led respectively sessions on rock specimen identification
and the use of fossils for relative dating.
These were followed by Prof. Mike Bassett discussing
fossil evidence for plate tectonics. Geraint contributed
two sessions, one on volcanic hazards the other on
groundwater processes. Dr Carolyn Heeps from the
Education Department analysed the erosion and
depositional processes affecting coasts. Earthquake
hazards and monitoring was covered by Dr Pete Brabham
from the University and his colleague, Dr
Charles Harris, finished the day with a session on site
investigation techniques.
I think that the day was very successful. The students
felt that the sessions were very interesting and provided
a lot of interesting background information, despite the
fact that we had tried to cover a great deal of material in
the single day. The practical aspects were particularly
popular with the students.
Geraint Price and I decided that we would try to
develop the materials so that they could be used in a
number of different ways. The pack can be used in
schools using specimens readily available in a standard
departmental collection. Alternatively, materials can be
borrowed from the Museum’s outreach collection and
it is anticipated that the study day will be repeated at
some point in the future.
The activity pack
The intention is that the pupils will practise a number
of skills as they work their way through this pack,
including:
● rock specimen description and identification;
● fossil identification;
● cross-section drawing;
● locating earthquake epicentres;
● interpreting volcanic monitoring data;
● calculating rates of coastal erosion;
● determining permeability;
● interpreting geophysical survey data.
Each of the above activities is introduced to the students
assuming relatively little prior knowledge.
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