rce north east project

Dove Marine Laboratory
School of Marine Science and Technology
Newcastle university
Cullercoats
NE30 4PZ

Dr Jane Delany
j.e.delany @ ncl.ac.uk

Newcastle University, Thomas Hebburn School Gateshead, 4 primary schools in Gateshead to be decided

The project will deliver STEM activities centred around the physical and natural landscape of the Tyne Estuary and drawing on the area’s rich technological and cultural heritage associated with shipbuilding, trade and manufacturing industries.

The history of the River Tyne has been dominated by the boats that have worked along its reaches. Within this project pupils will be challenged to discover which boats have been important to four distinct areas along the river and how the type of boat and the work that they have undertaken, has shaped the communities that flourished there. What are the requirements of each type of boat in terms of quay or dock space, and water depth? The fundamental science underpinning these studies will include consideration of materials and their properties; density and floating; properties of fluids – flow and speed; water resistance; forces and moments. The pupils will engage in technological activities to consider how the shape and design of a boat will determine its progress and the role it can fulfil. The children will participate in field visits to see various boat types, and have access to the School of Marine Science and Technology’s towing tanks to test their ideas about ship design and performance.

The pupils will explore how the physical and chemical environment of the different river reaches influences the natural community that is hosted by each habitat. Substrate, water flow rates, changing salinity, proximity to estuary mouth, depth of water will all be considered in terms of the animal and plant life it supports. Concepts relating to adaptation, diversity, classification, and living things in their environments will be covered. There will be opportunities for the students to encounter field sampling techniques, and to use the University’s Dove Marine Laboratory field station facilities and aquaria to investigate living organisms at close hand.

The above will be integrated to discover how trade and natural habitats influence the types of jobs and human communities that develop around river and estuarine locations.

Study sites to include: North Shields; Wallsend; the area around the Baltic flour mill and Wylam. Four schools, (a primary and secondary from each of Newcastle and Gateshead), would participate. “Year 8 and Year 9: River journeys”. A creative programme of workshops, role playing scenarios and discussion groups where Year 8 and 9 pupils work together to consider environmental issues associated with ports and river-living. Themes will centre on networks and linkages and the pupils will investigate how given components of industries, communities and disciplines of science influence and affect each other.

Raised aspirations of participating pupils relating to career ambitions, university applications and engagement with science and technology. Success criteria includes perceptions of their achievements by the pupils themselves.

Resources to be produced include interpretative posters, and work programmes to be used in future school classes developed in collaboration with the pupils and teachers.

Dissemination to include a celebration event to be attended by the parents.
Papers submitted to educational journals.

The Dove Marine Laboratory