Kalgoorlie-Boulder primary school students receive hands-on earth science workshop

Kalgoorlie-Boulder primary school students are receiving hands-on earth science lessons this week to foster their love of science.

Australian Earth Science Education chief executive Joanne Watkins said children were inherently interested in the Earth.

“Growing up as citizens of the world, a lot of our big challenges are actually related to our understanding of earth science. So it’d be really wonderful to see more students coming through with a great understanding of earth science and a great love of earth science,” she said.

Ms Watkins told the Kalgoorlie Miner the organisation worked to providing hands-on exposure to students.

“Over many years, seven-plus years, we’ve been providing resources to schools so that they’ve got more and more and more things that they can use in their classrooms, even when we’re not there,” she said.

Ms Watkins explained most students came into the classroom already curious about earth science, but the workshops showed them how their interest could be translated into a career in environmental science or engineering.

“As citizens of the world, to have a really nice understanding of those big global issues and what’s going on around them, I guess both for careers and a community awareness and preparedness, I think it’s important on both aspects,” she said.

She noted most other subjects they were taught at school, such as maths or history, were abstract topics, but earth science was tangible.

“They’ve gone and collected rocks and explored soils, and looked at what’s in their environment. So they’ve actually picked up a lot more than people realise usually coming in,” Ms Watkins said.

She told the Kalgoorlie Miner the continuing relationship between the organisation and the Minerals Research Institute of WA had enabled them to provide earth science resources to students throughout the State.

Ms Watkins said she would hold workshops at South Kalgoorlie Primary School and Kalgoorlie Primary School later in the week.