Gold Fever Strikes JPS!

The Gold Industry Group have developed a new initiative offering schools the opportunity to learn all about gold, its value, relevance and the myriad of career pathways within the industry. Kristen Potter, a gold industry facilitator delivered an interactive gold session to the Year 4 and Year 5 students on Wednesday 19th May 2021.

The hour interactive session involved a variety of STEM activities which focused on designing a pulley system to transport gold, replicating machinery often used in gold mining. Students discussed the science behind using a pulley system, then embraced their engineering skills and experimented using a single and dual pulley system to find out which design would reduce the load (energy used) of the gold that they were mining. Gold fever was buzzing as students used their critical thinking skills to build and reflect upon the success of their pulley systems.

With the buzz of gold fever in the classroom, the students questioned where they could find their own piece of gold. Apart from the 1 percent of gold that that could be found in mobile phones (trust me there was discussion about breaking phones for the gold), the Gold Industry Group have a free Heart of Gold app available to download. The app provides a range of interactive activities that students, families and friends can use from any location to discover gold in our backyard.

A very big thank you to Kristen Potter for sharing her time, knowledge and experiences within the gold industry…we now have a few students who have their sights set on gold mining in the future!

Nerelle Phillips