English Teacher Adriaan Louw
Have you ever wondered what was around before Earth, or during its early history? It is billions of years old and we’ve only been writing things down for the last few thousands of those. In this camp, we took the time to look at what came before, what is here now, and what is in the future for both Earth, and the cosmos around it! This gives students an opportunity to enrich their understanding of this wonderful place we call home, and all our celestial neighbors as well. Who knows? Maybe someone discovers a love for astronomy, geology, robotics, exploration, or any of the countless other sciences and disciplines that are touched on during the course of this camp.
Week 1:
When we look around we see plants, animals, fish, birds… all sorts of wondrous variety. It was not always so, and for the vast majority of the billions of years Earth has been around, it looked very different. In week 1, students take a look back at the long history of other chapters Earth has had, from Hadean hellscape, through the ice ages, evolutionary booms, and extinctions, to the beautiful blue sphere we call home today.
Week 2:
Armed with better knowledge of the place we call home, and just how it came to be, students turned their attention outward. During week 2, students studied our celestial cousins, the other heavenly bodies. From the gargantuan Jupiter with its endless storms, and vast army of moons, to the meteorite battered Mercury, students got a change to explore all the things that make each of the other planets in our solar system unique.
Week 3:
Why learn about planets without learning about how to get to them, and how to explore once there. In the third week, students learned all about humanity’s efforts to explore and one day colonize space. From the earliest endeavors in space flight, to the bleeding edge missions planned for the near future, students got a chance to see and hear it all!
Week 4:
Imagining themselves some years in the future, and exploring the cosmos, students got a chance to learn about the most exotic, strange, and beautiful things in the vast voice of space. Black holes that weigh thousands of times more than our entire solar system and eat entire stars? Comets with tails long enough to see from hundreds of thousands of kilometers away that travel in an orbit decades long? Crazy planets where bone breaking winds circle their entire equator or it rains fire? This week had it all!