#447: CLA blog on the GCSE Natural History

The latest blog post about the newly resurrected GCSE Natural History is on the website of the CLA and is written by Claire Wright.

It references a few research reports on the value of engaging with nature.

This includes a 2018 survey from the University of Derby.

#446: Doggerland

Doggerland is the name given to an area which is now submerged beneath the North Sea. 

The higher sections of the land are known as Dogger Bank: a fishing ground.

The National Geographic has explored the area.

At the end of the last ice age, Britain formed the northwest corner of an icy continent. Warming climate exposed a vast continental shelf for humans to inhabit. Further warming and rising seas gradually flooded low-lying lands. Some 8,200 years ago, a catastrophic release of water from a North American glacial lake and a tsunami from a submarine landslide off Norway inundated whatever remained of Doggerland.

There have been many items dredged up by trawlers from this area, or found on beaches along North Sea coasts. Doggerland was home to Mesolithic peoples.

Origin of the name:

Doggerland was named by University of Exeter archaeologist Bryony Coles in the 1990s after the Dogger Bank, a stretch of seabed in the North Sea in turn named after the 17th century “Dogger” fishing boats that sailed there

From Archaeology.Org.

The floor of the North Sea is now recognized as the largest well-preserved prehistoric archaeological landscape in the world. It would have been a paradise for the bands of hunter-gatherers who followed the retreating ice sheets into the region to settle there. They, however, were not Doggerland’s first inhabitants. Millennia prior to their arrival, the North Sea basin had belonged to Neanderthals, who lived there for hundreds of thousands of years. During the last Ice Age, between roughly 125,000 and 15,000 years ago, Doggerland was part of the cold and dry mammoth steppe. Because vast quantities of water were trapped in glacial ice sheets, the North Sea was around 450 feet lower than it is today. It was a mostly treeless, grassy plain that attracted mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses as well as herds of reindeer, horses, and aurochs.

This would be a potential case study for the proposed theme on landscape change.

#445: National History Reading List #23: 'Oak and Ash and Thorn'

Another book that would be good to add to the developing reading list of books for those who are developing curriculum resources for the new GCSE Natural History.

It is a book about the ancient woodlands, as well as the more recent forests of Britain. 

It is written by Peter Fiennes, and focusses on some of the species that have been around for the longest. It would sit nicely with some of the other tree related books I have mentioned before on the blog.

There are plenty of possible locations for field visits here too - and I hope that young people explore woodlands as part of their teaching.

The image shows a useful chapter on the importance of trees in cities. Regular readers will know of the the vital part that trees play in ensuring lower temperatures, and the link with the London National Park City campaign.

#444: Biodiversity and ecosystem services

Biodiversity supports ecosystem services that we need for:

🍎food

💧clean water

🏠shelter

And much more.

The Global Biodiversity Framework #KMGBF is the world’s masterplan to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.

➡️https://t.co/LIVf44SQmq pic.twitter.com/1omyBC9Dhe

— UN Biodiversity (@UNBiodiversity) April 23, 2025

#443: Some knowledge updates needed...

From today's i newspaper...

#442: "Freakosystems"

A piece on the BBC Futures website talks about the impact of people on a Hawaiian island which has produced a very unusual ecosystem.

O'ahu's lowland forests are now almost entirely devoid of the plants and animals that grew here for millions of years before the arrival of humans. Settlers brought extinctions by cutting down trees to make farms and introducing voracious predators and disease-carrying animals. Today, these tropical forests are a tapestry of non-native species introduced from every corner of the planet: Brazilian peppertree, Indonesian cinnamon and roseleaf bramble from the Himalayas and Australia. Most of the animals, including all the birds that Tarwater mentioned earlier, are also alien.

Update

Another example....

These are ‘freaksosystems’, or Frankenstein ecosystems. For the most part, people who work in landscape design and management have the feeling that they know better than nature. They love nothing more than to create a ‘freakosystem’ of their own designing (I love this term 😂). https://t.co/fjPczCuVm0

— Ben Goldsmith (@BenGoldsmith) April 28, 2025

#441: British Ecological Society Summer School - applications now open

 Thanks to Matt from the British Ecological Society for the message he added to my GCSE Natural History blog.

The British Ecological Society are supporters of the Natural History GCSE and want to be ready to support with the teaching of this qualification. I'm a former teacher myself and now work on their education policy/project work.
We are running our free teacher training again this year. The programme includes a trip to Knepp rewilding project. Anyone who teaches ecology and biodiversity as part of their curriculum should apply. I think it will be helpful if you're preparing to teach this GCSE if we can get it over the line!

The Summer School runs from the 18th-19th of July so would make a good start to the year for many.

Application deadline: Wed 30 April 2025, 12:00 BST (midday)
Online session: Wed 09 July 2025, 16:00-17:00 BST
In-person days: Fri 18 – Sat 19 July 2025
Location: Juniper Hall, Old London Road, Mickleham, RH5 6DA

Applications are now open for the 2025 Teacher Training Summer School!

FREE of charge.

If you are a secondary teacher or FE lecturer who teaches ecology as a part of your curriculum, join us in Surrey for an ecology-packed CPD programme that will help you overcome recognised barriers to teaching ecology. This application is open to all – you do not need to be a BES member to apply.

While attending the Teacher Training Summer School you will:

• Engage with industry professionals running workshops on a range of ecological skills
• Network with other educators from a variety of schools and colleges
• Learn strategies to overcome barriers you may experience teaching ecology
• Explore how ecology can be taught using a wide range of learning theories: inclusive learning, interdisciplinary learning, strengthening maths and English skills
• Receive a free bundle of equipment to be used to teach ecology
• Learn more about field work skills through attending a day trip to the Knepp Rewilding Project