LEARNING ON THE TOUR

On leaving the lakes we were able to study the sloping down of the volcanic plateau to the coastal plain. As on previous days, many of the children were constantly asking questions about what they saw and what the head teacher told them; a number kept on noticing things on the farms and in the landscape; it became a game to discover something new. This development of curiosity was very exciting because back at Punaruku it was never easy to get the pupils to ask questions.

This was accompanied by constant notetaking. There were of course children who took few notes, and these were both among the dullest— who could not—and among the most intelligent— who sought to understand rather than record. But this still left many who noted down every fact and figure that reached their ears. This was fascinating because at school it is often difficult to get these same children to write spontaneously, and at great length, as they did on this tour.

Can this unaccustomed outburst of learning activity be ascribed to the rapid flow of experience which enabled their minds to function fully, when at home they almost seemed to atrophy?

THE PULP AND PAPER INDUSTRY

One of the most intensive experiences of the tour was our visit to the Tasman Pulp and Paper Company. Fortunately, the main plan of the industry had already been studied by the pupils, helped by a useful Post Primary Bulletin. The pupils therefore knew what the factory's intermediate and final products were and how the different parts of the trees were utilised to make these products.

This was very necessary, because company officials in general who conduct visits rarely present a systematic view of the plan of the factory as a whole. They will explain the individual processes in some detail; they will show how the different machines work, but if the factory is to be seen by pupils as a significant whole, then the overall plan should be known before the visit.

Tasman is one of New Zealand's most complex factories, and the beauty of the interlocking of the production processes was exciting to the children as they saw the waste products from the timber mill travel in chutes at ground level to the chippers to be made into chips, and later, chemical pulp, while the bark was washed into the boilers for fuel. Then, in the vats in front of the paper machine, they saw the chemical and groundwood pulp being mixed together again to make the chief final product, paper.

Most of our children had witnessed work with trees at Punaruku; they were therefore quick to notice the many strange things that happened to the trees at the Tasman factory. It was remarkable to see the pages of quite useful notes accumulated by some of our slowest workers.