Introduction

this linguistic stay aims to better understand the earth sciences through paleontology. To do this we will visit the famous Dino Isle museum in Sandown, carry out fossil prospecting on different beaches and do related activities.

Le Journal de Bord

Wednesday 5 april

We arrived on Isle of Wight at approximately 9h30, then the animators arrived, they take us to an abbey, where we have walk and done some shop.
Then we go back to our suits where we take the bus to move to the museum.
We arrived at Yaverland, where we bought some sandwiches. And then after eating we went to the museum named “Dinosaur Isle”.

We did a first dig in the sand, but to get there we had to go through an obstacle course ! There was a lot of mud, but we made it ! It was an amazing experience, we found turtle shell bones. The saddest part was to see the progress of the erosion, because apparently in 2500, there will be no more island.

In the evening, it was relaxation ! Everyone met up with the camp staff for an « ambush », a team building game, then a hide and seek with the aim of finding a certain place, and all this in a huge territory !

Thursday 6 april

We visited the beach from 7.30 to 9am, the one in front of the dinosaur museum. We found both fossils and scales of animals millions of years old. The best part is when the monitors explain the rocks, their formation, the characteristics of the different families of dinosaurs. It’s really impressive !

Then at the end of the morning, we did 3 workshops of 30 minutes, one on a frieze with the different appearances of species, mass extinctions, phenomena, etc. . In the second workshop, we had to group definitions to their words. And finally the 3rd one where we studied classical maps, but also more detailed maps with the different rocks, especially the one of the Isle of Wight where we can see a clear cut between the north and the south !

Once the lesson were over, it was time to eat and to take a nap before going to another beach. We ate pasta with cheese. Teachers had given us until 2:15 to do what we went before taking the bus. We played cards and listened to music.

At 35 minutes from the camp, we went on a new beach in order to find old bones of dinosaurs, teeth of sarks, and scales fishes. To 3:30 pm to 5:30pm , we went on another beach to find footprints of dinosaurs in rocks. Laetitia explained us the idea of superposition, the synclinal one and the anticlinal.

At 6:00 pm, we came back on the camp and we had one hour to get shower. The dinner were started at 7:00pm and because of the rain, Cordelia announced us that we couldn’t do a campfire. So she has given us to options. First, we could have a disco party. Or we could play a game. Of course the majority of us choses the disco party and because Cordelia have a great heart, she says that we were going to do the two of the activities she proposed. So at 8:15, we all gathered in the huge room to dance until 9:30. It was really fun, and we spent a really great time.

Friday 7 april

After this big and tiredness day, we all go to sleep, and wakes up at 7:00 am, because we walk 13 miles. The breakfast was at 7:30 am and, last night, Cordelia annonced us that we were going to spent all the day in the camp and play games. So at 8:00 am, 3 chiefs of groups were designed in order to creat their teams. And then, we had 2 hours to do two activities : a cooperation one, and a combatant trails. We all spent a really great time together.

Our group participated in two activities.
The objective of the first one consisted of making a diagram on the cause and effect of human activities. We could see that as humans, our way of life has an impact on everything around us. From the way we produce energy to climate change, everything is related to us. But the worst is that the negative impact we have on our planet will have an effect on us. For example, because we produce greenhouse gas which causes climate change who’s at the origin of the rise of the sea levels which can submerge the land in the near future and destroy people’s homes. And that’s just a small part of it, the consequences are endless.

The second part consisted of a debate between two groups on the subjects of “are the humans mostly responsible for the 6th mass extinction”. While the answer is obviously yes, a group had to play the role of people who believe the opposite. In the debate we could easily understand that humans, as the dominant species, have a lot of power over the species around us and we can literally bring species on the brink of extinction. For example the introduction of the européen rabbit in Australia messed up the ecosystem. As humans we cannot go against nature without destroying it so de must stay attentive.

—Thank you to the students and teachers for this very good stay !
Providence high school amiens

Ayassi, Thomas & Laetitia

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