PRIMARY pupils became rock stars for a day with a hands-on workshop in earth science.
Students at Reid Street Primary School, Darlington, rocked their lessons with an inspirational study into the story of the Earth.
Guided by qualified geologist Ken Weilding, of Rocks to Schools, pupils handled fossils and minerals from around the world and looked at the formation of volcanoes and the Earth’s core.
“We’ve been looking at different types of rock, how they are formed and how to tell the differences between them,” said Ken, who is currently studying a PhD in the geology of the surface of the moon.
“The children love to be able to handle the different types of rocks and fossils, like lava and perform basic scientific tests on them to find out if they are porous or if they hold in the heat.
“Hopefully lessons like this will help to inspire these young minds to pursue science throughout their education and, who knows, there may be a future geologist here in the making.”
Alongside rocks and minerals, pupils also looked at the different types of soil, causes of earthquakes, deadly dinosaurs and evolution.
Head of science at Reid Street Primary School Claire Kelly said: “We are just starting to learn about rocks and soil at school so this is a great introduction to our topic work.
“It’s wonderful to have someone with such specialist knowledge as Ken come into class to help the children understand all about the formation of the Earth and the different rocks and soils that we have.
“All of the pupils have really enjoyed handling the different resources and finding out that science really does rock.”
Abbie Harrington, seven, of Darlington, added: “It’s been really good fun and I even got to hold lava that was once from a real life volcano.”
