Thames Explorer run a series of Inset courses for KS2 teachers throughout the school year at our Chiswick base.
The day is aimed at giving teachers confidence and ideas to undertake river studies and includes lots of practical suggestions for fieldwork on the foreshore and along the river bank classroom activities health & safety information including risk assessment useful resources and education packs plus theoretical background to river processes such as erosion, transportation and deposition.
Topics covered include:
Physical geography
landforms and river vocabulary
recording and measuring techniques
erosion, transportation and deposition
flooding and flood protection
Environmental issues
how people use the river
how people affect the river and its ecology
how people work to improve the river
water pollution
rubbish surveys
Settlement
growth of river settlements
different land use
conflict over land use
History
how the river has been used through time
Romans on the River
the history of river transport
how the Victorians used and changed the river.
using primary data
using census and old maps to discover the past
Archaeology
how the river has been used through time
classifying materials
sorting materials
identifying pottery
All course participants will receive a free river resources CD containing all the materials used during the day plus additional worksheets, PowerPoint’s, a bank of superb river images, spotter sheets, health & safety information and additional river resources.
