Hands on Learning – Out There Learning

Natural Hazards Science for East Coast Schools

1 Comment / Earth Science, Earth Science Curriculum, Julian's Blog, NZ Geology Sites, Projects, Teacher Education / Julian Thomson / Disaster Risk Reduction, Field Trip, Geology, Gisborne, Hands on Learning, Natural Hazards, Tairawhiti, Teacher Education

Natural Hazards Activities for Schools This article is about a science education project that I was involved in that was supported by MBIE’s Unlocking Curious Minds fund in 2018. It involved four three-day natural hazards science camps for intermediate level students in New Zealand’s rural Tairawhiti (Gisborne – East Cape) region. A total of 109 […]

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Power of the Planet Geocamp in Taranaki

Over the last two weeks, GNS Science, with support from the Todd Foundation, the Royal Society of New Zealand, and Puke Ariki Museum in New Plymouth, has been running a hands on immersion geology course for teachers and years 7 to 9 students from 5 Taranaki schools. 24 students and about 10 teachers participated in

Welcome to my site

Hi I’m Julian Thomson and I am involved in science communication and education in ways that link geoscientists with teachers and students, mostly in New Zealand, but also in Asia. This includes consultancy with school faculties and individual teachers around their earth science, ecology or outdoor programmes, running geoscience workshops and field trips, creating school learning resources, making educational videos and authoring web pages.

In my work I love to highlight the wonders of the natural world and ways that we can explore, become fascinated and never lose the sense of awe. I am also very interested in ways we can best safeguard ourselves from Natural Hazards which are a continual issue in New Zealand, sitting across a collision plate boundary as we do.