Geology with Year 3 totally rocks!

Our Year 3 pupils were treated to a fantastic Geology session led by Mr Speed this week, learning about different types of erosion and investigating some of the reasons why it happens and the effect it can have. 

The budding Geologists conducted an experiment that would mimic the effect of erosion on rocks over time. The girls used sugar cubes to represent rocks, inside plastic containers which represented a river. They began by noting their predictions of how shaking the container would affect the sugar cube’s mass and shape. They then took it in turns to shake the container, take out what was left of the sugar cubes and weigh them, they then repeated this, increasing the number of shakes each time. 

They finished by analysing their results, deciding whether their initial prediction was accurate and looking at how the shape and size of sugar cubes had decreased as an effect of the shaking. The girls then discussed the real-life equivalent of their experiment and noted factors contributing to the severity of erosion including the length of the river and current speed. 

The girls had a great time being Geologists for the morning and even learned some interesting facts about volcanoes and glaciers too. “I really liked learning about rocks and erosion, I’m going to go home tonight and read more about volcanoes as I find them really interesting.” Lizzie, Year 3

Mr Speed said he was delighted with the level of enthusiasm shown by all of the girls and looks forward to welcoming some of them to Geology Club, or perhaps even teaching them A-Level geology or GCSE.