education

3-6 Mining

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Second Nature Education offers an amazing variety of educational and experiential programs to a variety of mines and quarries in: Queensland and New South Wales; throughout Australia; and overseas.

All our programs are either tailored to support relevant units within the Australian curriculum, or as specifically requested by our clients.

What We Provide 

  • Award-winning educators/ facilitators
  • Itineraries and flyers
  • Curriculum-based work-booklets
  • All relevant equipment (supplying up to 150x students per session)
  • Example assessment tasks
  • Pre/Post excursion activities (usually a PPP)
  • Risk Assessment (location specific)
  • Variety of field-work locations (where available)
  • Accommodation options (we provide quotes to utilise the most affordable and most appropriate accommodation to suit your needs)
  • Catering options (we provide quotes to utilise our own in-house catering service for every excursion (where available) and/or catering through a third-party provider

Primary School (3-6) Programs

Our “Mining” programs for years 3-6 have been specifically developed for this age group, and for a variety of learning abilities. Through our “Mining” program, students gain a basic understanding and awareness of how mining affects local communities and the natural environment. This experience can be delivered to complement the following units or modules:

Geography

  • Year 5 Factors that Shape the Human and Environmental Characteristics of Places (QLD) or Factors that Shape Places (NSW)
  • Year 5 Factors that Shape Places and Influence Interconnections (VIC)

Cultural

  • Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia

Trip Overview

Iron ore and coal mining are the two largest export industries in Australia. While it is important to acknowledge the immense economic benefits offered by these products, the mining activity required to produce them can severely harm natural environments.  Primary teachers choosing to undertake one of our field-based “Mining” excursions have the option of an ‘Experiential’ field trip (usually Grades K/P-4) or a ‘Work-booklet’ based field trip (usually grades 5-6/7). Experiential field trips are less structured than work-booklet-based field trips and allow flexibility to follow the specific interests of a group. Work-booklet-based field trips allow for a methodical and structured investigation of mining activity. Our “Mining” incursion option allows students who are unable to participate in a field trip (e.g. due to finances, proximity to habitat, behaviour issues, etc.) to gain a basic understanding of the impact of mining activities on communities and ecosystems through a well-designed in-class presentation.

Highlights

  • Touring an operating iron ore, coal or sand mine!
  • Speaking with local farmers about how their land has been affected by mining.
  • Speaking with community members who have benefited from mining
  • Receiving flyers and freebies from activist groups on either side of the mining debate
  • Biodiversity surveys
  • Water quality testing (rainwater/farm bore/mine bore etc.)
  • Touring a working power station (if relevant)

More Information

Inclusions

Excursions

  • Guided tour of an operating iron ore or coal mine
  • Presentation from a worker at the mine
  • Field sketch of study site
  • 1-2 farm visits where farmers will share their concerns about a local mine
  • 1-2 community visits where community members will share their thoughts about a local mine
  • Visit to a working power station (where relevant)
  • Field work (water quality testing)

Incursions

  • An age-appropriate interactive PowerPoint presentation
  • “How coal is made” animation
  • Virtual tour of a coal (or iron ore) mine
  • Discussion of environmental impacts of coal mining
  • Specialist speaker from either a coal mine or power plant
Educational Outcomes
  • Awareness and knowledge of the impacts of mining on communities and natural environments
  • Students conduct an unbiased investigation of mining, taking into account many different perspectives
  • An understanding of the social and political factors affecting mining or quarrying
  • Knowledge of environmental issues that have arisen as a result of mining or quarrying including habitat destruction, introduction of invasive species, pollution and global warming
  • Learning of environmental management principals that minimise these issues and promote sustainability
  • A feeling of connection and sense of stewardship towards Australia’s natural environments
Itinerary

Below is an example itinerary for a 1-day “Mining” excursion. All excursion packages include the necessary work booklets and equipment.

07:30 Tour group pick- Second Nature have a fleet of vehicles available to cater for any number of passengers (within reason). We can provide transport to and from schools and airports
08:30 Arrive at a dairy farm for Information Session 1: Impact of the Mine on Farmers.
09:00 Depart dairy farm for a grain and fodder farm.
09:15 Arrive at the grain and fodder farm for Information Session 2: Impact of the Mine on the Environment
09:45 Waterway health assessment at the grain and fodder farm
10:15 Depart grain and fodder farm for the Mine
10:30 Arrive at the Mine for Information Session 3: Impact of the Mine on Regional Towns
11:00 Tour of the mine
12:30 Waterway health assessment at the mine
13:30 Depart the mine for a park in a nearby township
14:00 Arrive at the park Enjoy lunch as you watch the town go by
14:45 Depart park for the Community Centre within the same township
15:00 Information Session 4: What the Mine is doing for the community
15:30 Depart Community Centre, back to school or airport
16:00 Arrive back at school or airport when required
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