Project funds primary students coastal discovery trips to the Scottish Seabird Centre
A total of 240 East Lothian primary students experienced the thrill of coastal outdoor learning at the Scottish Seabird Centre through funding provided jointly by Inch Cape and Siemens Energy.
The Scottish Seabird Centre (SSC) is a marine conservation and education charity based in North Berwick, East Lothian and through its visitor centre and outreach work, aims to inspire and educate people about Scotland’s marine environment and encourage its protection.
Together Inch Cape and Siemens Energy covered the costs of transport and participation in the coastal outdoor learning programme for children from three East Lothian primary schools – St Martins Primary, Cockenzie Primary and Preston Tower Primary. The visits lasted around four hours and included both indoor and outdoor educational experiences.
The children enjoyed a ‘rockpool ramble’ in the intertidal zone – hands-on, outdoor learning session exploring life in tidal pools where they learnt about habitats and the creatures found along Scotland’s coasts including hermit crabs, anemones and shore crabs .
The children also had a guided visit of the Centre’s Discovery Experience, an interactive exhibition space, where hands-on games and equipment enabled them to explore marine ecosystems, seabird behaviours, threats facing our seas, and the role of conservation.
Together, the indoor experiential learning and outdoor exploration activities align to the children’s school curriculum topics on the environment and climate change and also to educational outreach ambitions for both Inch Cape and Siemens Energy.
The funding also covered the provision of educational resource packs containing information, story books, print-outs and craft instructions, for each of the schools to help supplement their learning once back in the classrooms.
