School outreach
Our outreach work focuses on raising aspirations across the diverse School communities of Bristol through a range of Outreach and Widening Participation activities. We are committed to offering young people the opportunities to explore and get enthused about earth and environmental sciences and related topics in an higher education setting.
Classroom activities for KS1, KS2 & KS3
We offer classroom-based activities for KS1, KS2 and KS3 including subjects like
- Volcanology
- Palaeontology and Dinosaurs
- Geophysics
- Deep Earth and Planets
- Palaeoclimate and climate change
- Environmental
- NASA Insight Mission to Mars
- Mars and Meteorites
- The polar regions
Our workshops are all interdisciplinary, as is Earth Sciences in itself, and include aspects of physics, chemistry, maths and biology in our activities.
An outline of the workshops is listed here. To find out more please contact us directly earth-enquiries@bristol.ac.uk or complete the Science Faculty expression of interest form and email it to science-outreach@bristol.ac.uk.
Work Experience Week
The School of Earth Sciences actively supports and encourages work experience placements for Year 10 and 11 students. We run a one-week work experience programme with 12 places that will be awarded by a competitive selection process. Find out more here.
Access to University of Bristol Initiative
Access to Bristol provides local students with an unprecedented opportunity to experience life at the University of Bristol. It is also an opportunity to widen your horizon to break typical scientific stereotypes and explore how your science career ambitions can lead to studying volcanoes, earthquakes or environmental issues and climate change. The Access to Bristol scheme is for students taking A-levels, BTECs, Access to HE courses or equivalents.
Teachers resources
We are keen to work more closely with the local teachers community to develop impactfula nd inspiring supperting materials for classroom activities and School outreach events. Please get in touch if you would like ot discuss this further. Useful resources for teachers covering aspects of geology, environmental sciences, planetary science and astronomy are listed below:
Earth Science Teachers' Association Resources
The Earth Science Education Unit
The Bristol Dinosaur Project
Palaeontology resource packs for Key Stages 1-4 on Thecodontosaurus, a real dinosaur from Bristol. Find out more about the award-winning Bristol Dinosaur Project.
Your Planet Earth
Your Planet Earth is a resource for teachers and others communicating Earth science topics to pupils aged 14-15, developed in the School and launched by the Geologists Association and the Geological Society.
UK School Seismology Project
The British Geological Survey's UK School Seismology Project enables schools to detect signals from large earthquakes happening anywhere in the world. Using a basic seismometer installed in their own grounds, students have a unique opportunity to see the sort of data that research seismologists deal with on a daily basis.
