So what is the connection between Natural History and English? you may rightly ask...
The world around us is something we take for granted - the universe and its structures; the moons and stars and heavens; the natural world and all its creatures....
Literature from the ancient Greeks to Harry Potter reflects man's continual relationship with the natural world. - Where do we come from? Does God exist? Who created all this? How do natural phenomena occur? Why do disasters such as earthquakes happen?
The metaphysical poets were chiefly concerned with man's relationship in the Universe. Galileo had disturbingly discovered the World was not flat - this threw into consternation the whole idea of everything centring around the Earth and God sitting up in Heaven...Shakespeare, Donne, Swift and Marvell questioned the very existence and nature of God, despite all being part of a society where the Church was a prominent feature of everyday life and Donne himself a high clergyman!
Darwin added even greater chaos with his theories on Evolution - impacting on the Victorian literature of morality and of the supernatural - Dracula, Frankenstein, Dr Jekyll to name a few.... Creatures from ancient mythology to Alice in Wonderland and Narnia demonstrate our desire to personify human traits in natural or supernatural beasts. And what about sci-fi and dystopia? These genres too are based on the desire to explore how far science can go...
The Romantic poets and early novelists looked at nature and how that reflects our moods and lives - Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats and post-modern writers spend much energy trying to make sense of the universe inside our heads.
The trip was thus a fascinating look at the Darwin centre, the exhibitions of Dinosaurs and the Physical world of earthquakes, volcanoes and the impact of man on the millennia of existence - or rather, the other way around.
So before you become extinct, we recommend a visit!
Thanks to Mrs Warnock and Ms Kanwal.
So what is the connection between Natural History and English? you may rightly ask...
The Romantic poets and early novelists looked at nature and how that reflects our moods and lives - Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats and post-modern writers spend much energy trying to make sense of the universe inside our heads.
Both year 8 forms went to the Natural History and Science Museum on Wednesday 21st of November 2012. When we first arrived we were all split into three groups: Mrs Hunt's group, Mrs Kanwal's group and Mrs Warnock's group.
ReplyDeleteWe started by going round to see the dinosaur exhibit which we all explored at our own pace. There were a lot of dead dinosaur bones around! I even had the chance to take a picture of my favourite dinosaurs the tyrannosaurs and triceratops.
Afterwards we met with the rest of the groups. We all went up the lift to another building "the cocoon" to do a little worksheet called "a day in the life of a scientist". After some minutes looking around, everyone began getting tired and hungry. Eventually we made our to the grand hall (where we first were)to look around some more and go to the shop.
Finally we had lunch! After that we looked round the museum again to the blue room where there there was a room of stuffed, dead animals. Some were extinct a long time ago and some were animals which are still known for example horses, goats and whales.
Then we went to the red room where the exhibit was saying what the world would looks like under natural disasters. Lastly we made our way back to the grand hall, counted everyone and made our way back to school.
By Antonia Williams 8W
On 21st November 2012 all the year 8 went to the Natural History Museum. We went on a coach.
ReplyDeleteWhen we got there, first we went to see the dinosaur fossils. We saw full fossils of different dinosaurs. We also learnt in what conditions the dinosaurs lived. They lived in a world where there were only forests, seas, and mountains. they all had to compete for food and shelter.
Next, we went to see the mammals. There was a very big model of a blue whale. it was about 9 or 10 meters long. we saw many other models of different animals.
Then, we had lunch. On the way to our lunch, we saw many stuffed birds. I saw a Dodo, but of course, it was a reconstructed one.
After lunch, we went upstairs to see the 'power of the earth' exhibit. We could experience the earthquake there. I didn't think it was a fun experience as the earthquake caused a lot of tragedy.
Finally, it was time to go. We took a picture in front of a large fossil dinosaur. it was such an educational experience and I'd love to go there with my family.
By Mayuka Saegusa 8W
On Wednesday 21st November, Year 8 went to The National History and Science Museum. This linked to our class reader "Holes". It was fun and I learnt about fossils and dinosaur bones. I found the dinosaur bones quite interesting as each dinosaur had different shapes. We also saw many of the lizard models. Just like the cover on "Holes!"
ReplyDeleteBy Nozomi Sakamoto 8K
On the 21st of November y8 went to the natural History Museum. We went as part of our English and Science lessons. The journey to the museum was about 45 minutes, in the coach.
ReplyDeleteWe got into the building and entered the main hall which had a big dinosaur that you could pay to have him roar or change color. In this hall there was the main shop with dinosaur posters rocks and minerals, stationery and lots of other little presents you could buy. Everyone found something. We went into the dinosaur part of the museum which was really interesting. There was loads of information about the Triceratops, Coelophysis, Diplodocus and the Tyrannosaurus. My favourite was the Coelophysis, because I had never heard of it but the skeleton, and the boards around it were really useful. They explained Coelophysis meaning ‘Hollow Form'; they are called that because they have hollow limb bones. This wasn’t unique to the Coelophysis; many other dinosaurs had this. There light-weight creatures which meant they were good agile hunters.
We also met a lady called Val who volunteered at the museum. She had animals in tubs like the scarab beetles. We used taxonomy to decide how to group them together. It took about 15 minutes. She had explained there was 4 groups, but we had 5, so she showed us how taxonomy worked and how it was an important tool to scientists.
When also visited the hall with all the life size models in it. There was a blue whale which was half the size of the hall we where. We spoke to a man who taught us about the bones - about necks, elbows and knees and how all mammals including humans have 7 vertebrae in their neck.
While we were going round we made notes and used our Nature plus cards - a tool that we were given on our arrival to the cocoon. While we were going round there were tables with scanners. The information we wanted to remember, we scanned onto our cards. When we got home we went to the museum’s website www.nhm.ac.uk and put our unique ID codes in then we could see all the information we had saved during the day.
We also had an earthquake experience where we went into a mock-up Japanese corner shop and we were just looking round, then it all started shaking. It was quite a weird feeling, I definitely never want to be in an earthquake.
Thank you to Mrs Hunt, Mrs Warnock & Mrs Kanwal for taking us on our trip. - Gemma Hook - Year 8
Zusi was in charge of the camera and took all the pictures.
ReplyDeleteWe walked through a room full of real dinosaur bones and wrote down information about them. There was a dinosaur called Iguanadon and another called Gallimus. I really enjoyed that room.
We absorbed so much information and had so much fun at the same time that I would love to go to the Natural History Museum again!