Your Local Area task

Gentlemen, the final day of Local Experience is upon us, and with it the final task: "Your Local Area" (formerly known as "Green Wedges").

The first thing we're going to do is grab the dictionaries and find out the definition of a park. This will be important to know in the context of this task.

After that, we will use the class set of UBD directories again to find out the amount of land that has been set aside in Mordialloc for parkland. Remember our scale from yesterday? 1 millimetre = 20.83 metres. These are the parks to measure:

• The small reserve off Duggan St (north of Parkdale Secondary College)
• The reserve off Waratah Ave (just south of Parkdale Secondary College)
• Woodlands Golf Course
• Christoper Brotchic Park
• Doug Denyer Reserve / Kevin Hayes Reserve
• Jack Grut Reserve
• G. Woods Reserve (the area sweeping west alongside Mordialloc Creek from Jack Grut Reserve down to the railway bridge)
• The small reserve on Chute St (just north of St Brigids Catholic Primary School)
• Ben Kavanagh Reserve (the footy oval)
• Peter Scullin Reserve (the area (sweeping from the railway bridge down to the Mordialloc Pier, and then north along the foreshore up to the Mordialloc/Parkdale border at Bay St, off Beach Road)
• Bradshaw Park (alongside the railway line, corner of Nepean Hwy and White St)
• The small reserve on White St, corner of Barkly St

Create a table on your computer, with one column for the names of these parks, a second column for our approximate length (in real distance), a third column for our approximate width (in real distance), and a fourth one for our area measurements.

To work out the area of these parks, the best way is to try and measure the approximate length and the approximate width of each one (ie: measure it as either a square or a rectangle). Then, use the formula for working out the area of an object (Area = length x width) to work out the areas of our parks. Below the names of our parks in the first column, we'll put TOTAL AREA, add up the areas of our parks, and place our answer in the fourth column.

The next thing to do is visit Ben Kavanagh Reserve online and describe all the different things it has to offer the public.

http://www.kingston.vic.gov.au/Directory/S2_Item.asp?Mkey=150&S3Key=26

Then we will compare Mordialloc to an established inner city suburb - in this instance, East Melbourne and Jolimont on Map 18. This is what we'll look for:

• How big are the parklands compared to Mordialloc?
• What are the obvious man-made features?
• Surrounding landscape: how would you describe the street structures / landmarks / transport system? Are they built to cater for more or less people than Mordialloc? How would you describe the people of East Melbourne and Jolimont, based on this evidence (ie: lovers of recreation, appreciative of nature, busy people, etc)?

Then, visit www.realestate.com.au and compare the property values of Mordialloc and East Melbourne / Jolimont. Which suburb is more expensive? What do you think are the reasons for this?

Finally, you have the chance to design / create your own suburb on an A3 sized poster. What you should include:

• All the natural and man-made elements that you believe would make for a perfect suburb (eg: roads; marina; parkland; beach; sports and recreation facilities; residential, commercial and industrial zones; shopping centres; etc)
• A detailed legend to identify your map's symbols (use Map 3 in the UBD for assistance)
• A sign promoting your new suburb, encouraging people to move to it.

Reflection: why is this task relevant to you? Why is it important to think about the amount of parkland set aside in our suburbs?

When we have completed this task, we will go over what is involved for Community Placements and the City Experience.

Today's Instructions

As mentioned in our previous transmission, the Local Experience is well and truly underway now, and the boys are looking to tomorrow to commence the “Human Impact” task (investigating Mordialloc Creek, the foreshore, and the interchange). Below are a set of instructions for them to follow to ensure that their responses are quality ones:

Before I provide the “Human Impact” instructions, a reminder that our Information Evening regarding Community Placements (which start this Thursday) and the upcoming City Experience (immediately after Placements) is on here at Mordialloc College on Wednesday October 29, in the MEX room commencing at 7:00pm sharp. Parents and guardians, have your questions answered in this one-hour (approximate) session, and see for yourself what these programs are all about.

“HUMAN IMPACT” TASK

Period 1

To begin with, we need to form our action groups and create a table to record information of our visit to Mordialloc Creek, the foreshore and the interchange (where the creek meets the bay). The table needs to have three columns: one to record the human impact we can see on the creek, the second column for the impact we see at the foreshore, and the third for the impact at the interchange).

You will hand this table in as part of your submission, so make sure all group members’ names are on the sheet!

What we could be looking for:

Litter in the water, and/or items dumped in the water (eg: food wrappers, plastic bags, that TV we saw dumped off the bridge into the creek, and particularly what’s been caught in the litter trap at the fork in the creek)
The water quality (ie: is the water relatively clear / murky / smelly / polluted?)
Litter on the ground
Man-made structures (eg: the pier, drainpipes, the boat ramp, buildings, paths, car parks, etc)
Any noticeable impact on flora or fauna (plants and animals), both positive and negative
Any other signs of conservation (eg: no-go zones for humans to enter, protection for newly planted vegetation, signs indicating council regulations, etc)

Mr E will have the camera with him, and will place the photos on the network for you to download afterwards; follow these links:

student subs : Mordi experience_08 : Photos and Videos : Local Experience : Term 4

Periods 2 - 4

From this point on in the day, you will have substitute teachers looking after you (Ms Coombs will be away). This is not an excuse to sit there and do nothing, gentlemen!

At this point, you should have filled in your table of three columns with your observations from our visit down the creek and foreshore during Period 1. Please do a good copy of this information and print out; all group members’ names should be on your sheet.

The next thing you do is collect a copy of the UBD Street Directory (we have a class set of these: ask Mrs Hume nicely to retrieve these from our storage cupboard). There should be enough copies for one between two or three of you. Turn to Map 376. Your next task is to measure how many metres of beach there is in Mordialloc:

Have a look at the bottom left corner of this map. You will see a thin red line running down the middle of Mordialloc Creek; this indicates the suburb boundary between Mordialloc and Aspendale. Move along the beach past where it says “Dressing Shed” and you will see another thin red line splitting the beach, running upwards into Bay Street; this is the suburb boundary between Mordialloc and Parkdale. The beach area between these two red lines (Mordialloc Beach) is the area that you will measure.
You will notice underneath where it says Map 376, it says “1 Kilometre Equals 4 Grid Squares”.
If 4 grid squares = 1 kilometre, then 1 grid square = 250 metres
The actual length and width of each grid square is approximately 12 millimetres. This means that to work out our scale, we need to divide 250 (the scale distance) by 12 (the actual distance)
This means our scale is 1 millimetre = 20.83 metres
Use this scale to measure the length of Mordialloc Beach and record your answer

Now what you need to do with your information is collate it into a poster or a PowerPoint presentation. In addition to your table of observations, and your measurement of Mordialloc Beach, you need to include (in your own words!):

Some overall information about Mordialloc Creek
http://www.melbournewater.com.au/content/rivers_and_creeks/river_health/dandenong_waterways/mordialloc.asp
http://www.kingston.vic.gov.au/Page/page.asp?Page_Id=673&h=0
History of Mordialloc Creek
http://localhistory.kingston.vic.gov.au/htm/article/228.htm
The Mordialloc Creek interchange: how popular it is for boats
http://www.kingston.vic.gov.au/Page/page.asp?Page_Id=913&h=0
Information about the types of wildlife that live in Port Phillip Bay
http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/1park_display.cfm?park=58
Comparison of Mordialloc Beach to Edithvale and Mentone Beaches
http://www.bayside.vic.gov.au/beachguide/beaches1.htm
http://www.bayside.vic.gov.au/beachguide/beaches2.htm
How does Bondi Beach compare to Mordialloc Beach?
http://www.bondivillage.com/
How does Venice Beach in California compare to Mordialloc Beach?
http://www.venicebeach.com/
Solutions for reducing pollution in our bays and creeks (don’t forget to create a slogan for people to remember!)
http://www.cleanupaustralia.com.au/
http://www.cleanocean.org/
Reflection on this activity (ie: what have you learned, has completing this task convinced you to change your impact on the creek and beach, etc)

Local Experience begins

Term 4 is passing as quickly as it arrived this year, for we are already up to the Local Experience unit: phew!

Today was Mordialloc Monopoly day once again, and as I type this the boys are working away on creating their boards and accessories.

As mentioned, with the class time we have available to us this term, it may be difficult for our boys to complete all of their required elements in class - meaning that homework becomes a more definite option! If any of our students would like some feedback on their work over the weekend, they can email Mr E at Ellul.Jason.L@edumail.vic.gov.au for more information.

On Monday, we move on to the "Let's Go Shopping" task once again; time to "fill" those trolleys! Have a great weekend!

CONGRATULATIONS

Congratulations Paris, you are this month's winner of the 'Mordiblog'
competition. You received a grand total of 11 comments for your post!

Come up to the MEX and collect your prize from Ms Coombs this week.

City Romp

What a day! It all started at Federation Square. Our team were ready to Romp with our crazy costumes and sleuth like minds! We were greeted with a sea of people also dressed up and raring to go. We received our page of clues and off we went. Zipping around the city, we answered questions and discovered places we had not yet stumbled upon. We travelled up the 'Eureka' tower and admired the far reaching views, we explored little Bourke street and immersed ourselves in 'China town'. When our time was up, we crossed our fingers, and are still waiting to find out what ranking we came.

Wish us luck!

Arthur says:

My group attempted to drop an egg off a 2 story building. We didn’t get outside before the egg broke. Laine and Jake were trying to put the egg in the balloon when it cracked, we bandaged it up with tape and cotton balls. We then proceeded to wrap it in paper and sow the edges together. It could have worked but Laine got us disqualified by catching our egg. Next time we will follow the instructions and give ourselves a better chance of winning!

Michael says:

On Tuesday we went into our group and we did the egg dropping activity. we made a design of it and then went outside. shakeel dropped it from the balcony and it survived the first round. when it was near the bottom it popped on the Secord round. I dropped it and it cracked and the egg did not survive the Secord round!

Shaq Says:

On Tuesday 07/10/08 we did the egg drop activity we made design and Stewart, Michael and I assemble it. The first round the aim was to the land the egg on the garden bed and we did but the balloon popped. On the second round the aim was to land the egg on the concrete our egg did not survive!

Casey Says:

On my first week of mordi experience we did many exciting activities, which include quizzes, scavenger hunting, carpet bowls, bridge building and egg dropping. The bridge building and dropping the egg was my favourite. First we had to make a design of the bridge that we were making and then make it. It had to withstand a tub of golf bowls or more tubs of golf bowls if it was strong enough and the more points you get. Next we did egg dropping and it involved building a contraption to protect the egg from the ground. Some people had hot air balloons styles to make the egg hover. We had to use a balloon, string, sticky tape and an egg. Once we had finished our designs we went over to the balcony we had to drop it over the edge and hoped the egg didn’t break and to really test the egg. We went over to a stretch of cement and tested it. One broke and two survived, our experience so far has been an enjoyable.