Hands On Learning - Kōtare Hub (Year 5-6)
Dave Sutherland — June 20, 2024
In order to gain a deeper understanding, tamariki have been having hands on learning experiences about geological features.
The concept for Term 2 has been 'Features and Change' and we have been exploring the physical world. Students have learnt about the connections between the earth's layers, plate tectonics, volcanoes and earthquakes. While we have been reading and writing about these, ākonga (students) have been taking part in experiments and other hands on learning experiences.
To better understand the earth's layers and why they are in the order that they are in, we did an experiment about density. Grace found it interesting that the denser object sunk to the bottom while less dense objects float to the top. She made the connection between this and the earth's layers, "the core is the most dense and therefore it is in the middle of earth."
We were extremely lucky to have scientists from the University of Canterbury come in. We were shown an impressive rock collection and heard the stories behind them. It was incredible to hear how old they were and the journey they would have taken. The highlight of the visit was to learn about volcanic bombs and how different material spreads. To do this, the scientists blew up a barrel of balls sending them sprawling across the field.
The following week, another scientist from Volcanked came in to teach student about Banks Peninsula which is surprising made up of three volcanoes (fortunately extinct). Using the school sandpit, students 'built' the peninsula and learnt about features such as valleys and harbours.
The Epro8 challenge linked nicely to our topic this term as students needed to build a bridge that was strong enough to survive and earthquake. They worked collaboratively to plan and design their structure before Mrs Kerin and Mr Millar put them to the 'shake' test.
Recently, we have been exploring earthquakes and the science behind them. We've learn about fault lines and made the connect between plate tectonics and earthquakes. To do this, students packed soil or sand on top of paper. The paper acted as the plates and when separated suddenly, students studied the impact this had on the land.
We are lucky to have had so many great experiences and have a few more up our sleeves for next week. It has been great to see the learning transferred into other areas such as reading and writing.
