By: Jone Porter
The SAAMBR Formal Education Team have headed off to the uThukela District this week to provide outreach lessons in Estcourt, Ladysmith and Bergville. On Monday the 7th May, 11 schools with 303 learners from the Estcourt area were invited to the Mimosadale Resource Centre to attend a lesson on “Oceans in a changing climate”. The lesson, linked to the National Curriculum, taught learners about acids and bases and how the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere is increasing the oceans’ acidity. Our simple experiment had the learners spell bound. Using pH indicator in water the learners were asked to blow through a straw and watch what happened. The learners were amazed that the colour of the water changed as the pH dropped, and it was caused by their CO2 entering into the water. They also saw the effect this pH change has on shelled marine animals by adding a shell to vinegar and watching it dissolve.
The day was rounded off with an Educators’ workshop with educators from the 11 schools. During the workshop content from the lesson was dealt with in more detail to provide further support in the classroom.
