ELI activities in the Geopark of Central Catalonia

In November 2017, a presentation of Earthlearningidea activities was made in the Geopark of Central Catalonia. The activities were included as part of the training programme for tourist promoters working within the Geopark. 

The photos have been included in the Photo gallery on the ELI website.
There are many activities on the website that can be used for presentations like this one.

ELI workshop in Brazil

During the recent "IV Regional Meeting of Geography Teaching " carried out at UNICAMP (State University of Campinas), Brazil by the Geoscience Institute, an ELI workshop took place.

The workshop was carried on by geography undergraduate students Bruna Campagnucci, Erica Rodrigues Soares and July Vilela under the supervision of Prof. Roberto Greco.

Geoscience in secondary schools in Brazil is taught within the geography discipline. The participants were all teachers from different Brazilian regions. In the 4 hours workshop the partcipants were able to experience many activities, interact among themselves and discuss which activities they could use in their geography classes. Exciting positive feedback was collected from the participants.

All the photos can be seen in the ELI Photo gallery  
The ELI translations into Portuguese are based in Unicamp

AEON EarthWISE using ELI

AEON EarthWISE is currently hosted by the Department of Geology of the University of the Free State, South Africa. It aims to provide training for science educators in the Earth and Beyond (E&B) field that was incorporated into the Natural Science Curriculum for the General Education and Training Certificate (GETC) in 2005.
AEON EarthWISE is currently preparing two teacher workshops in the first week of August as part of National Science Week. The organisers plan to reach 80 teachers from all over the Free State. Two activity books, (one for Intermediate Phase and one for Senior Phase), have been set up to distribute to the teachers during these workshops and Earthlearningidea activities form a huge part of these books. ELI activities fit right into the National Curriculum. The activities have been printed in their pdf format and put into the Appendices in the back of the books.
The current coordinator says, "I can't wait to show it to the teachers, because I truly believe that doing these activities in the classroom can be nothing but beneficial to the learners. So yes, we are definitely putting your ideas to good use. Thank you very much for them!"
The Earthlearningidea team is delighted to hear about this venture and the use of our activities. We wish the organisers every success for their workshops in August.
To the rest of the world - - please let us know of any similar uses of our ideas.

Kitchen physics - making cross bedding

This demonstration - 'Making cross bedding' is fun.
A mixture of sand and sugar will separate into its components if poured slowly and evenly into a pile. The process can also be tried with different materials - sand, glass beads, sugar crystals - and the results are clear. Typically, larger grains will have a steeper angle of repose than smaller ones, and they will roll down the slope more energetically. The smaller grains tend to get stuck at the top of the pile, the larger ones at the base—they spontaneously segregate. But things become more complicated. As the different angles of repose of different grains are reached and exceeded, successive avalanches will be made up of different-sized grains. The cascades of smaller grains will stop first, to be then covered by a layer of the larger grains still on the move. The process repeats itself over and over, creating a layered pile. Different (and unpredictable) results can be achieved by varying the size, density, and shape of the grains and therefore their angle of stability or repose.

GIS Data Resource

This information has been sent to us by the National Association of Geoscience Teachers, (NAGT)

Find GIS, is a new Florida GIS Data Resource site. The site includes GIS sources, Data Download Sites, FTP sites for all 67 Counties and all 418 Incorporated Areas (Cities, Towns, Villages, etc.) where available in Florida.

Free downloadable guide to Earthcaching

The Geological Society of America (GSA) has developed an educational subset of the international adventure game geocaching, called EarthCaching. People who search for EarthCaches download educational information about the sites from the EarthCache Web portal. They refer to these notes, use their GPS receivers and undertake educational tasks to enhance their Earth science literacy in the field. There are currently over 2200 EarthCaches in more than 37 countries.

Link for Earthlearningidea and 'One Laptop per Child'

Can anyone help us to link 'Earthlearningidea' and 'One Laptop per Child'? It would be wonderful if the children shown in this audio slideshow were accessing our Earth-related activities.
The laptops are currently being tested around the world. The pupils in the slideshow are from the LEA primary school, Galadima, on the outskirts of Abuja, Nigeria.

Education for everyone, including girls

UNGEI, The United Nations Girls' Education Initiative is a project aimed specifically at education for girls. Of the world's illiterate adults, two-thirds are women. Of 100 million children worldwide between ages 6 and 11 who are not in school, 70% are girls.
Click here for more information about the project.

Please send us your photos of boys and girls learning from, and enjoying, Earthlearningideas.

Do you know about the Earth Science Education Unit in the UK?

The Earth Science Education Unit (ESEU) is based at Keele University, Staffordshire in the UK. It provides short, modular workshops which cover the Earth Science content needed by UK schools. These workshops are activity-based and stress the importance of enquiry in science. They address pedagogical issues as well as subject content. Because the Earthlearningidea team members are all involved with ESEU, ELI activities have a similar approach.

ESEU is funded by Oil and Gas UK and this means that a nationwide team of centrally-trained ESEU facilitators can deliver the workshops in schools, colleges and universities across the UK.

Click here to view the activities in ESEU's 'The Dynamic Rock Cycle'.

One laptop per child

Just as Earthlearningidea is trying to provide a means of learning and exploration for children with little access to education, so is this initiative - 'One Laptop per Child'

The XO laptops are created expressly for the world's poorest children living in the most remote environments. Files from the machines can be backed up on a 'school server' or via an on-line system provided by Google. Click here for more details.

It seems that the laptops would be able to access Earthlearningidea activities. What a wonderful combination! Does anyone have more information about this please?

Here are some more links to information about these laptops. Click here and here.