Educational Activities and Programmes

Earth and beyond

• Sustainable Development and improved Quality of life – including Earth as our life support system, human impact on the environment, water availability, food security and taking care of our Earth; includes career opportunities in Sciences (Gr. 10-12) LS (1 hour)
• The Solar System and the Stars (Grades 1-12) Natural Sciences (NS) (1-2 hours)
• Natural Disasters – tsunami, hurricanes, etc. (Grades 5-12) NS / Social Sciences (SS) (1 hour)
• Continental Drift and Volcanoes – plate tectonics and how volcanoes work (Grades 4-9) NS (1 hour)
• Plate Tectonics – including folding, faulting, earthquakes and volcanoes (Grades 10-12) NS (1-1½ hours)
• Geomorphology (rocks) – emphasis on types of rocks and rock cycle (Grades 5-12) NS (1 hour)
• Atmosphere, Wind and Weather (Grades 7-12) NS (1-1½ hours)
• The World’s Great Storms – hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones & thunderstorms (Grades 7-12) NS (1-1½ hours)
• Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect (Grades 10-12) NS (1-1½ hours)
• Pollution and Recycling (Grades 1-6) NS (1 hour)
• Water – states, uses, water cycle, pollution, etc. (Grades 1-6) NS / SS (1 hour)
• Fossils – what fossils are, how they form, how they are dated, etc. – can be presented on its own or as a short introduction to The History of Life and / or Human Evolution. NS (adaptable to all grades from Grade 5 upwards)
• The History of Life – the story of the evolution of life, from simple single-celled organisms to complex multi-cellular creatures, with special reference to fossils found in South Africa (Grades 10-12) NS (1-1½ hours)
• Human Evolution – ‘ape-man’ to Homo sapiens (Grades 7-12) SS / NS (1 hour)

Living things

• Bees – their lives and behaviour, their importance to us (Grades 1-9) NS (¾ -1 hour)
• Reptiles – snakes, lizards, crocodiles, tortoises (Grades 1-9) NS (1-1½ hours)
• Birds – adaptations, way of life, kinds, importance (Grades 1-9) NS (1 hour)
• Mammals – characteristics, plus mammals on display in the Museum (Grades 1-6) NS (1 hour)

Humankind

• The San – a hunter-gatherer way of life, including an introduction to the Stone Age and rock art (Grades 4-9) SS (1-1½ hours)
• San Rock Art – an introduction to the San, but with the emphasis on their rock art (Grades 9-12) SS (1 hour)
• Old Bloemfontein – history, plus the Museum’s Historical Street Scene (Grades 4-6) SS (1 hour)

Other

• Energy & Electricity- including all types of electricity, generating electricity and its function in society (Gr. 4-9) NS (1 hour)

We are also happy to visit schools in the Bloemfontein/Mangaung area free of charge to present lessons.