Please review the following information and teaching guides prepared by eminent geologists familiar with the GeoRegion to assist teachers and pupils develop a greater understanding of the area.

In the field sciences we often use teaching exercises that involve counting, measuring, and mapping. That sort of work is done by geologists and biologists as a means of quantifying a story they wish to share, but measurement is not the most important or the first activity they undertake in a new environment.  A student excursion to Long Reef lasts about three hours, and a coach trip to West Head will give you about the same time on the ground at only 2 or 3 sites because coach parking is limited. Teachers are advised to check the sites, facilities, and expected weather and tides before running an excursion.

At neither place is there sufficient time to undertake quantification tasks. So, it may be better to leave the exercise sheets, rulers, and grid squares at home. You will get effective learning if students take time to make observations that they can explore with one another and discover their own explanations. Triggering curiosity is the first objective and having fun should be one of the objectives.  Brainstorming and sharing is the name of the game and students can be encouraged to use their mobile phones to discover additional information and learn to discriminate reliable data from garbage.

To consolidate the day’s activity, small groups could verbally report to the class about what they discovered, how they explored it, and why they thought it was important. You may like to follow up with individual reports, perhaps on self-selected topics that lend themselves to presentation through other media – photography, art, video, social media etc.

So, let’s try it on by applying Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Six Honest Serving-Men’. Sexist - perhaps, but he wrote it in 1902.

I keep six honest serving-men
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who.
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men.
But different folk have different views;
From the second she opens her eyes -
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!

You may find the following themes useful as a means of structuring a trip. Answers should always be backed by field evidence. Remember; curiosity rules, discussion catalyses learning, no available source of knowledge should be ignored, and no question or opinion is too silly to share.

Teachers Guide to Long Reef   Teachers Guide to West Head

Teachers Guide to Sheldon Forest   Teachers Guide to Browns Field