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TEACHING EARTH SCIENCES ● Volume 31 ● Number 4, 2006 © PETE LOADER Figure 3 A rocky ramble in the Peak District, a sinking feeling on Mam Tor Figure 5 Dinosaurs on display at an Open Day at Truro School Geology on the TV or in films Highlight relevant TV programmes and their presenters, such as ‘Earth Story’ (Aubrey Manning), ‘Journeys from the Centre of the Earth’ (Iain Stewart), ‘Planet Earth’ (David Attenborough), ‘The British Isles: A Natural History’ (Alan Titchmarsh) and ‘Coast’. The new series on the BBC ‘Climate Chaos’ should also be advertised. Programmes like these all help to promote the wider nature of the subject and demonstrate to pupils that the subject is real and features widely in their everyday lives. Focus on how geology overlaps with other sciences and geography, which makes the subject more appealing, especially to pupils who already enjoy these disciplines and would like to continue with them to a higher level, but with a new added dimension. Likewise, for pupils who want to try something new at A level, the subject can have an immediate attraction. The fact that geology is a practical and interactive subject has great appeal to the modern-day pupil and is definitely worth pressing home. Meanwhile, Ros from ‘Friends’ can be used to get away from the typical image of a geologist! Geology in Hollywood can also be used to promote the subject, e.g. ‘Krakatoa – the last days’ whilst ‘Dante’s Peak’ (despite it’s inaccuracies) could also be debated. Use video conferencing to have an intensive lab session across a group of schools. Through video conferencing, geology teaching can be shared amongst teachers with specialist knowledge in certain areas. This can assist with difficult areas of the specification, especially for new geology teachers, and would allow for the sharing of knowledge and experience. Links could be set up between the school and industries willing to give an insight into their practices. This saves time in visiting places that may not be within easy reach, whilst some industries may be abroad or inaccessible, for example, a geologist working on an oil rig. Video conferencing may also assist with fieldwork in a similar way, to supplement that carried out by the students themselves. A school may link up with a school in another country, for example, in Arizona, USA, comparing the geological landscapes of the two areas. Video conferencing has many other possibilities, for example, ‘Ask a Geologist’, whereby students can ask questions/chat to geologists around the world. Links could also be made with universities and their specialist lectures/professors. Other IT-related possibilities include ‘virtual tours’. These can be taken around a variety of places, including mines, quarries, other fieldwork sites and museums. And some extra ideas from Ian Kenyon – wacky or not? Re-name the Geology rooms – at Truro School, we have The James Hutton Room (formerly Room 8) and The Mary Anning Room (formerly Room 7). Each room has an aluminium plaque with the name on – supplied by the CDT dept. at just a cost of £5 each. It has raised the profile of Geology and really annoyed the Science department for some reason! Figure 4 Name-a-room at Truro School Display-wise, collect weird and interesting photos from magazines/internet – then add mad geological related captions e.g. Naked surfer doing a headstand on a surfboard – ‘Geology Staff can’t resist showing off when out on fieldwork!’ Firefighters tackling forest fires with beaters – ‘The annual graptolite cull began in Penryn last week’ etc. Put mad signs on or around the geology room door, e.g. directly above the bottom of the door ‘Benthonic Access Only’, above the door ‘Sorry No Giraffes’, and others like ‘Geology Rocks’, ‘Geologists Do It on the Rocks’ etc. Open Day – give away pet rocks with a sheet of instructions on how to look after them. Make dot to dot dinosaur pictures available. Offer origami things like build a volcano, trilobite etc. Borrow materials from GeoEd to enhance Open Day – I borrowed £4,000 worth of dinosaur stuff last October (free of charge) and it made a huge impact. Write up fieldtrips for the School/College magazine – send photos to the press officer that might end up in © IAN KENYON © IAN KENYON www.esta-uk.org 28
TEACHING EARTH SCIENCES ● Volume 31 ● Number 4, 2006 the local paper or institution newsletter. Have a ‘specimen of the week’ box – a wooden/glass case made by CDT dept at a cost of £19.00 with a quality specimen of my own inside with an A4 laminated sheet to give details/info. I change it every Monday morning – students are eager to see the new S.O.T.W. every Monday! Visit the local University Department for Open Day – I use Camborne School of Mines – take lots of photos. We do an underground mine visit and test blasting! Goes down a storm. Find Geo/Dino Cartoons – enlarge to A4, laminate on coloured card and put up outside the Geology Room. undergraduate departments and in all the industries that employ geologists. We don’t need to write any more here about all the wonderful things the geology can offer to students – but you need to say more to your potential students of the future if geology is to remain a key A level subject. Paul Douglas Head of Geography Crompton House School Rochdale Road Shaw, Oldham OL2 7HS pdouglas@crompton-house.oldham.sch.uk Karl Gray Abbey Gate College Saighton Grange Saighton Chester CH3 6EG karlandlouise@hotmail.com Chris King chris@cjhking.plus.com Figure 6 A dino-board display at Truro School A rationale Why should we want to encourage A level students to study geology? This is not just because we want to increase the numbers of A level geology students (which have been declining recently). It is because geology not only provides an effective education into the natural processes of the world in which we live and offers a major contribution to all the environmental debates currently taking place, but geology also provides broad transferable (key) skills that are of real value in whatever walk of life our students take. Moreover, the country needs more geologists, both in © IAN KENYON Ian Kenyon igk1527@aol.com Pete Loader peteloader@yahoo.com and other members of the ‘Selling geology’ working group Thanks to Pete Loader and Ian Kenyon for extra photos and ideas *Although for ease of writing, these notes relate to A level Geology, very similar tactics can be used to promote GCSE Geology in England and Wales and Higher Geology in Scotland. References ESEU website: www.earthscienceeducation.com Loader, P. (2006) Jurassic Lawn? Teaching Earth Sciences, 31.2, 12-13. SETNET website: www.setnet.org.uk 29 www.esta-uk.org
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