Last week our S2 pupils gained some very interesting input from the staff of The Geo Bus. Mrs Laybourne, Faculty Head of Social Subjects, tells us more:

The fundamental aim of the Geobus is to engage with pupils to enhance their understanding of Earth Science, and provide resources and support to teachers across the UK whose main subject may not be geology. All of the GeoBus teaching packages are based around hands-on and interactive learning, and all the resources involved in the activities are brought to the school.

In the first part of this interactive workshop, students investigate the different types of waves involved in earthquakes, and look at some of the equipment used when monitoring earth movements, such as seismometers.  Using the knowledge gained from this, pupils then work in small groups to design and build a house, which is tested to see it if would withstand an earthquake.

Pupils also had the chance to see what goes into volcano monitoring and prediction, using the work of our research team on the island of Montserrat as a case study.

Students run an experiment using party poppers to simulate a volcanic eruption. From the data gathered they form an evacuation plan, and the experiment is repeated to demonstrate how tricky it is to predict such volatile processes.