A Walk In The Park

"A Walk In The Park" is an opportunity for PGDE students to explore interdisciplinary learning. We will be using Kelvingrove Park as a 'lens' to examine various contemporary issues, ways of thinking and ways of seeing, aiming to explore opportunities for learning in, through and about a local, outdoor context to support the Broad General Education.

We will focus on using materials, ideas and stimuli that we meet in our everyday lives as inspiration for learning and deep and contextualised engagement with the curriculum. The materials can be accessed and used in different ways to support and challenge your thinking, and you may find them useful as you think about planning for learning within placement and as you look ahead to your induction or probation.

Index

Environment

Nature

Kelvingrove Park is a space rich with wildlife, as well as managed green space. The Tree Identification Guide is a useful guide to identify different trees, and the Glasgow Natural History website offers a biodiversity list which includes both plants and animals. You can also find photographs of and information about Wildlife in and around Glasgow

Bug Life is a charity that concerns itself with insect life across the UK. Some of their activities are described here.

Tree communication is a fascinating article which suggests that trees can communicate with each other. However, this article may be behind a paywall.

Water

In No Bottle Rose George describes how our access to, and understanding of clean water has changed over time, and the rise of bottled water. This is, of course, relevant to Kelvingrove Park.

Robert Stewart brought clean water to Glasgow, but also led a cavalry charge against Glaswegian men and women who were protesting unemployment and starvation during a trade war. He is memorialised by the Stewart Memorial Fountain.

Robert Thom, inventor of the Glasgow water filtration system, is largely forgotten and didn't get a fountain. He is however mentioned in an article on the Scottish Enlightenment and water filtration.

A more recent invention to provide clean water is the Jompy water boiler .

This podcast describes a little about the history of water purification and the 'raw water' fad.

The video above, produced by the Global Health Media illustrates the dangers of cholera in the modern world through the experiences of a young boy. The video below introduces John Snow, who researched the link between cholera and water.

History

The origin of Kelvingrove Park is linked to the rise of public parks across Britain. These websites contextualise the meanings and purposes of public parks by describe their rise in Victorian cities.

Glasgow's public parks and the community, which you can access using your University of Glasgow institutional login, describes the creation of public parks in Glasgow and their functions.

The role of parks in public health is examined in Parks for People: the role of historic public parks for wellbeing and Healthy cities: Medical practitioners and the creation of public parks and garden cities

The Suffragette Oak, recently named as Scotland's Tree of the Year, is in Kelvingrove Park. Its history can be read here

The video above shows Kelvingrove Park in 1926, just eight years after the tree was planted.