The 5th Grade students of Primary Cycle of School of European Education of Heraklion participated in an activity of Urban Environmental Education in the framework of the International Day of Outdoor Education as the 2nd November has been set. Specifically the teacher of the S.E.E. Heraklion Mr. Nikos Kokolakis has organized a “soundwalk” session activity in order the students to observe the sound ecosystem of the Heraklion city. The students had the chance to record the soundscape of an urban beach near to school. The “soundwalk” took place on the route from the school to “Karavola” beach, which is 10 minutes from the school.
The students recorded their sound observations on paper and then they had a brief discussion in a circle on the beach where we “shared” the sounds we had heard earlier on. Then, they split into groups and became sound explorers across the length of the beach. They tried to record the same sounds we discovered earlier on with the help of the special equipment that the music teacher of the school Mr. Nikos Kokolakis had (recording device with a microphone, a hydrophone, and a geophone). All the students had the opportunity to experiment with the equipment.
In class the students drafted a short report recounting their experience. Here are just a few words from what they wrote:
"..a gurgling sound escaped from the tunnel, and a low, deep moaning roamed from the structure..", "..we threw stones around the geophone and listened to the noise they made, it was really satisfying..", "..my team spotted a white Herron! We went to hear it, but it flew away..", "..I heard a Herron, the waves crushing, footsteps, the cars and bikes..", "..we could hear the differences between the sounds of the city and the sounds of the nature..", "..we heard the sounds of strong wind blowing, the waves of the Ocean, and vehicles passing through..", "..I heard a very creepy deep voice coming out of the weird tunnel next to the big yellow rocks..", "..me and my friends collected 312 pieces of glass to clean the beach..", "..he put the hydrophone in the water and connected the wire to the recorder, which was already plugged to the headphones and could listen closely to the ocean..", "..the way back was quicker because we had less stops..", "..on the way back we could talk to each other..", "..for me the trip was very nice! It shows that you don't need money to have fun..", "..I really enjoyed the field trip and I think it was a once in a lifetime experience..", "..I slipped from a rock, and hurt myself, but anyway the trip was fun..", "..all in all I think we had a nice day.."
