Theme: THE ENVIRONMENT

Key Learning:

I learnt about both the natural and urban environment. The natural environment is made up of the elements which surround you, for example: the land, the people and the community. It is important to teach sustainable development and the environment topic. If pupils can form a relationship with nature, and become interested in it, then they are more likely to care and look after it.

The urban environment refers to a built-up area such as a town or city. Urban areas tend to be packed full of buildings, roads, factories and transport.
Cities are responsible for a large amount of carbon emissions, whether this is from deforestation or burning of fossil fuels. There are a finite amount of fossil fuels and the demand for these is much greater than the supply.
As there is an increasing growth of the human population the urban areas must grow to suit. This can lead to cutting down forests, to make more space for buildings, which results in the loss of animal habitats and then eventually the loss of different species.
Our urban area is able to support human growth, allow us to physically develop through health care, allow us to socially develop through clubs and communities and provide us with education. It also provides lifelong care such as nursing homes and provides resources for life. Our urban area allows us to interact with nature and shows the diversity of different species.

I also learnt about the different parts of a flower as well as the process of germination and photosynthesis. I also learnt that hydroponics is the process of growing a plant without soil.

Impact on my views/lifestyle/practice:

During the input on the environment we were able to go out onto the grounds surrounding the university and complete different tasks relating to the topic. We were given sheets with different types of plants, birds, insects and lichen and we were to go out a walk and try and identify them. This made me realise how little attention I pay when walking from the car park into the university as there were all these different species of living things that I had never really noticed before. It was good to get involved in the task.

I was able to look further into my own urban environment and it was interesting to see how many details you don’t really think about on a day to day basis. For instance I never really thought about the carbon emissions and how driving in my car every day is in some way adding onto this. It makes you think what a difference it would make if we were able to use different modes of transport, like the trams in Edinburgh, or try cycling to work and university instead of taking the car.

In the science lab we set up an experiment to compare the difference between two seedlings. One was set up with the complete solution and the other was without nitrogen. Over the course of the week we have been checking up on the seedlings and comparing the length and appearance of the two.

Areas of interest to explore further/develop:

I’m looking forward to becoming more confident about teaching science and sustainable development. To further develop my knowledge on the environment topic so far I am going to engage in some further reading as well as doing some more research online.