Moving and shaking in Year 8 Geography

In Geography this week, students of Year 8 have been designing and then building their own earthquake-proof buildings before evaluating their success - with some fantastic results.

The building of their design comes following a sequence of lessons that have allowed students to explore our dynamic world and our unpredictable tectonic plates. The topic - “Can we dig to the centre of the Earth?” - has given students an insight into the geological timescale of our planet and enables them to piece together the puzzles of Pangaea and continental drift first theorised by Alfred Wegener. Interweaved throughout the topic has been the impact of earthquakes on people and the environment and we culminated the half term by designing and building our own models. 

The overall winner was Will C (D2) - who successfully managed to use minimum resources to maximum effect; embracing many of the classic design features of such buildings including cross-bracing and a pyramidal design that meant toppling over was not an option during the replicated 30 second earthquake. Well done to Will. 

There were many other interesting and clever designs and Mr Watters and I were extremely impressed with all the hard work and commitment that was dedicated to the task. 

A great way to round off the half term.