#536: Beach Pebble Guide

Came across a cracking little guide to the pebbles on the beaches of Scotland (in particular) by the Scottish Geology Trust.

It's a free PDF download from this link.

Scottish Geology Trust ©2021 This work is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence. 

#527: Gersmehl Diagrams

Check out this TES Resource which includes an animated Gersmehl diagram option.

Gersmehl diagrams were developed by Phil Gersmehl

They are particularly important when explaining the relative stores and flows of nutrients within an ecosystem. The thickness of the arrows or connectors and the size of the circles relates to the transfer or storage. For a rainforest, the nutrients are stored in the biomass for example, and nutrients move from the litter into the soil by decomposition and the work of detritivores.

I would imagine that they may end up being in the draft specification - perhaps only for UK based ecosystems e.g. deciduous woodland, heathland etc. but you never know.

e.g. a Tropical Rainforest.

Image source:

https://thatbiothing.wixsite.com/ecologyconservation/single-post/2015/12/07/the-gersmehl-cycles-nutrient-cycles

#398: Free e-book on the Climate crisis

Konnie Huq launches free climate crisis ebook for UK primary schools https://t.co/eNXrjBEwEc

— Guardian Environment (@guardianeco) November 4, 2024

A free ebook about the climate crisis for every UK primary school has been created.

The ebook, Children for Change, is edited by Huq and features contributions from more than 80 writers, illustrators, environmentalists and young people including Tom Gates author Liz Pichon, The Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler and TV presenter Chris Packham. Not all of them are climate experts to be fair.

The book contains stories, poems, illustrations and features about a variety of topics related to the environment including fast fashion, rewilding and measuring our carbon footprint.

The introduction advises children to “start anywhere” in the book. “It’s a chocolate box, essentially”, said Huq.

Edited by broadcaster and author, Konnie Huq, Children For Change is packed with 300 pages of imaginative stories, poems, non-fiction, illustrations, infographics and creative resources - all to inspire children to take climate action. Contributors include Rob Biddulph, Adam Kay, Liz Pichon, A.M. Dassu, Joseph Coelho, Hannah Gold, Axel Scheffler, Emily Gravett, Chris Packham, Mary Portas and Jamie Oliver.

Packed with actions and eco-tips, this ground-breaking ebook helps you to educate children about what they can do to help protect the planet, without generating eco-anxiety. It's a perfect resource for KS2 English, PSHE, science or geography lessons, or primary assemblies, covering a range of topics including sustainability, endangered species and fast fashion. It's also free for you to distribute home - all you need to do is send the link to parents and carers, and they'll be able to download Children For Change too!
 

Given that not every child (or school) can afford to buy books, this is a welcome development.

#226: Forestry England - free Tree Trumps game download

Forestry England have made a free Top Trumps game available to download featuring UK tree species. This is found in the activities section of their website. May be helpful for those wanting to improve their identification skills.

#189: The Harmony Project

 Check out the Harmony Project.

The Harmony Project aims to transform education to ensure it is fit for purpose in preparing young people to engage with the environmental and social challenges we face, not just to pass exams. We work with educators to develop learning that is based upon a deep understanding of, and connection to, the natural world – learning that will equip students with the skills they need to live more sustainably.

The booklet they've created has been designed for primary teachers rather than GCSE students, but the ideas could easily be adapted, and that goes for much of the other resource library on the site.

We've created a booklet for #primaryteachers and #schoolleaders which outlines children's progression in expertise and skills from Reception to Year 6 across six key #sustainability themes. It's free to download from our website: https://t.co/WzA14VDmqB #climatechange #SDGs pic.twitter.com/JEfD2dYtC9

— The Harmony Project (@HarmonyOrgUK) November 8, 2023

Visiting the website revealed a whole range of other resources that would be of value to those preparing to teach the new GCSE but also existing subjects including Geography but also English and PSHE.

For example, there's a 90 page pack on Antarctica which has links to videos and other aspects of life on the frozen (for now) continent. This explores our connections with the continent.

Our Natural History is being impacted by change taking place in distant areas.

 

#176: Surtsey - 60 years of succession

What did the crew of the Icelandic trawler Ísleifur II see for the first time?

Sixty years ago today, the sea south of Iceland boiled and a new island was born. The trawler was on the spot when a phreatomagmatic eruption began... 

I have been working on some new resources on the island of Surtsey for the new GCSE Natural History - which may or may not be delayed by recent Cabinet reshuffles. 

There is a focus on topics such as Plant Succession.

Surtsey is just over a month older than me.

It turns out that I didn't really need to do this after all as Discover the World have released a new resource on the island which is really rather good. I'll finish mine anyway as it has a different focus.

On this day 60 years ago, an eruption started in the ocean southwest of the Westman Islands. The eruption lasted almost four years and eventually formed the island of Surtsey. 📷Arctic Images. pic.twitter.com/lDYepkb5rA

— Lava Centre (@LavaCentre) November 14, 2023 

Today marks the 60th anniversary since the famous Surtsey #Eruption. With the current tectonic activity bubbling away in #Iceland, you can use our NEW classroom resource to compare with the current events of the #icelandvolcano and #IcelandEarthquakes https://t.co/HEJwNckVFs

— Discover the World Education (@DTW_Education) November 14, 2023

You can go here to download the resource.

The island is a perfect example of a blank slate on which plant succession can then begin as birds and other processes bring seeds to what is otherwise virgin territory. The island has been off limits to the public for the last sixty years, with monitoring of the species that are arriving. There is quite a bit of information online - and in my resource - on the steady arrival of new species.

The island also has World Heritage Status.

The criteria is Outstanding Universal Value.

Surtsey is a new island formed by volcanic eruptions in 1963-67. It has been legally protected from its birth and provides the world with a pristine natural laboratory. 

Free from human interference, Surtsey has produced long-term information on the colonisation process of new land by plant and animal life.

Criterion

Ongoing biological and ecological processes: Surtsey was born as a new volcanic island in 1963-67 and since that time has played a major role in studies of succession and colonisation. It has been the site of one of the few long term studies worldwide on primary succession, providing a unique scientific record of the process of colonisation of land by plants, animals and marine organisms. 

Not only is it geographically isolated, but it has been legally protected from its birth, providing the world with a pristine natural laboratory, free from human interference. Above all, because of its continuing protection, Surtsey will continue to provide invaluable data on biological colonisation long into the future.

Integrity

The property includes the whole island and an adequate surrounding marine area, and thus all the areas that are essential for the long term conservation of the ecological processes on Surtsey. There is also a relatively small but functional marine buffer zone that is not part of the inscribed property. It is noted that part of the evolution of Surtsey is the process of coastal erosion which has already halved the area of the island and over time is predicted to remove another two thirds leaving only the most resistant core.

Since they began studying the island in 1964, scientists have observed the arrival of seeds carried by ocean currents, the appearance of moulds, bacteria and fungi, followed in 1965 by the first vascular plant, of which there were 10 species by the end of the first decade. By 2004, they numbered 60 together with 75 bryophytes, 71 lichens and 24 fungi. Eighty-nine species of birds have been recorded on Surtsey, 57 of which breed elsewhere in Iceland. The 141 ha island is also home to 335 species of invertebrates.

Here's a video on the eruption:

#155: The Nature Connection Handbook from Miles Richardson

Teachers preparing for the teacing of the new specification may be interested in a free resource from Miles Richardson.

The Nature Connection Handbook has passed 30,000 downloads. Great to know there's such interest in:

What nature connection is and why it matters ✅
How to grow closer to nature ✅
Nature connection case studies ✅https://t.co/qs5IaHxCJJ pic.twitter.com/Hs6bEN1mHf

— Miles Richardson (@findingnature) April 6, 2023

The resource is a free PDF download.