This week, Year 4 got the chance to visit the incredible National History Museum to help with our understanding of our current Geography topic of Extreme Earth.
We travelled by bus to the National History Museum and once there, we first got to take part in the very interesting Emergency Earthquake and Volcanoes Workshop!
We first were introduced to Anthony (who believe it or not was a past pupil at our school) and he went through some ground rules about being in the very interactive studio for the workshop. We were introduced to Volcano Town which was debating if an earthquake or volcano could occur after there had been reports of unusual activity and weirdly the team of scientists had gone missing meaning that we had to step in for the day. We were introduced to specialise equipment that measures the movement of the earth’s tectonic plates to predict if an earthquake or volcanic eruption would happen. We got to see a mock eruption (using wax lava) to demonstrate what lava looks like once it has erupted and how quickly it can transform into a solid and create new rock! Lastly, we had to monitor the volcano after the seismometer detached some unusual activity and we had to evacuate the town’s people. We just it just in time as the volcano erupted shortly after!
After lunch, we explored the volcanoes and earthquakes gallery as we read lots of information about how earthquakes and volcanoes have impacted our earth. We saw all the different types of rock that are created from an eruption and also some of the impacts on people. We then got to go on the earthquake simulator which shows how a building could shake during an earthquake. We even practised our drop, cover and hold drill that we had read in past lessons as a way of protecting ourselves. There were lots of case studies about different places around the world and how they have dealt with trying to prepare to deal with these natural disasters. One of the highlights was discovering the Garnet rock that had the same name as our teacher!
It was then time to head back to school and reflect on all the interesting things we had seen and experienced during our day!
Thank you to the parent volunteers who supported us on our trip!
Year 4, what was your favourite part of the trip?
