The Falkirk Wheel

The ingenuity and skill of Scottish tradesmen is world renowned. As I described in an earlier post about Glasgow, the country's ship and steam engine building techniques and quality is unsurpassed. They just don't build'em like that anymore.


Taking a short train ride down to the the end of the Firth of Forth, last week-end, Denise and I were treated to the view of a feat of engineering and workmanship that is as unique as it is impressive: The Falkirk Wheel.

It was Saturday morning, so we wanted to go somewhere. As we have done in the past, we took our #3 bus to Waverly Station in Edinburgh and looked for a destination.  Looking up at the 'big board' a train was leaving for Falkirk in 10 minutes. We could go to Falkirk, round trip, for 7 pound each.  I had read about the Falkirk Wheel as being something to see, but I wasn't really sure exactly what it was. Denise was game, so we purchased the tickets and off we went. 

There are two major canals that were built  in the heart of Scotland  to enhance transport of goods before the time of highways and rail-lines.

The first, the "Forth and Clyde Canal" opened in 1790 and allowed ships to sail the 35 miles between the Clyde at Glasgow to the Forth at Grangemouth. En route they negotiated 40 locks and 32 swing bridges. This effectively connected the east and west coasts of Scotland.

A view of the Clyde and Forth Canal running through Falkirk and a Lock and Dam

Lock and Dams running down the mouth of the Firth of Forth (translated: Fourth Bay)

The second, the "Union Canal" opened in 1822. It started in Edinburgh and followed a contour at 73m above sea level for some 30 lock-free miles through the coalfields it was designed to serve to Falkirk.

At Falkirk the two canals were linked together by a ladder of 11 locks that allowed boats on the Forth and Clyde Canal to climb the 35m to the level of the Union Canal. These 11 locks fell out of use as the trains became a more economical way to transport goods, and the land where they were became roads, housing developments, and was otherwise used for communities.

However, in the late 1990's people saw the value of these canals as a good place to live along, and tourism grew up in the form of leisure travel along the canals.  The desire to re-connect the two canals was there, but how to do it? The land where the original connection had been made was now cut up and paved over.

Enter the "Millennium Link" project.  This ambitious project would re-furbish the canals and the lock and dams for passage. But still, how to make the connection? 

The solution is the Falkirk Wheel. Boats approaching from the higher Union Canal now use a new length of waterway before descending through two locks. They then progress through a new 168m long tunnel that emerges at the start of a 104m concrete aqueduct. The far end of this opens directly into the upper of the two "gondolas" of the Falkirk Wheel.

The wheel then rotates, and having descended, what is now the lower gondola opens out into a 100m circular basin whose landscaping carefully conceals its origins as an open cast pit. On one side of this is the beautifully curved structure of the visitor centre. One final lock at the far end of the basin lowers boats to the level of the Forth and Clyde Canal.

Pictures may help here:



Blue colored tour boat going into gondola that holds as much water as an Olympic size swimming pool.





Cool Eh?



If you want to learn more, you can got to the website, where I got the details for this posting: 

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/index.html

For you teachers out there, the following website has material to make lessons in history, math, physics, and mechanical engineering:

http://www.thefalkirkwheel.co.uk/education


After seeing the wheel actually turn (5 minutes for the full cycle), we walked the 3 miles to the center of town along the canal, and had some tea and cake at one of the many tea houses along the main drag. (That's what people do here on a Saturday afternoon.)

 
By late afternoon we caught the train back to Edinburgh, then caught our now very familiar #3 bus to Dalkieth. 

It was a great way to spend a Saturday.

Education at Dalkeith Fall 2011 - so far...

Now that the school year is in full swing around the world, I can provide some insight into the workings and ideas that are in play for me here, as an instructor for the Wisconsin in Scotland program.


One of the most prominent features of the program is its acceptance and promotion of experiential learning.  That is, the staff and faculty are working very hard to give every opportunity for students to gain cultural experience along with their regular studies.  What that means is that we might all hop on a bus and go experience something that we are studying about.

Now, of course, these things don't happen without some planning.  During the week that faculty members met before the arrival of the students, we, along with the Program Director and the Education Director, planned the details and dates of all the trips that we would take. 


To qualify that, as we instructors often do, we planned the module of instruction.   And now that I've brought that word into the conversation, I will explain what a module is, thereby going off on a tangent before the "bus leaves the station" here on this particular posting.


The Wisconsin in Scotland program has implemented a Modular Structure for the Fall 2011 semester. There are 5 'mods' that last from 3-4 weeks each.  The idea is that each student has one class per mod.  The student will still take 4 to 5 courses (12 to 15 credits) over the duration of the semester; however, he or she will only be taking one course at a time vs. taking 4 to 5 courses all at one time.


This system allows the student to focus in on one particular subject at a time to experience immersion in that course. In addition, the modular system allows flexibility for scheduling of travel and experiences that would be difficult to do in the traditional semester system. This is the first time that the program has run this modular system.


One aspect that I have noticed about this system is that it is very different having students for 3 to 4 hours in class each day, 5 days a week vs. having students in class for 3 one-hour periods a week over the course of 16 weeks.  I have renewed respect for our program teachers who are quite used to teaching for this span of time day in and day out.  One must really plan time carefully.


Another aspect that I have noticed is quite different is the shortened time for students to do their reading, writing, and, in general, time to digest the material presented.  I am using a typical 15 week text book to teach my Oral/Interpersonal Communications (Speech 101) Course, which means that we are covering 5 chapters a week.  I am having the students do 5 speeches, 3 papers, and 3 quizzes.  


There was some moaning the first week, but now the students are pretty good about studying hard Monday through Thursday night, finishing class on Friday, and then exploring on their own for the weekends.


Ah yes, exploring. That was where we were, well planning first of course.  The other faculty and I met and planned out some trips for the current module.  We have taken some field trips with just our own students, but over the last two days we brought the whole group out together, combining our course work to fit the trips.


An event that I brought my Oral/Interpersonal Speech students to on my own, that is, just our class, was the International Book Festival.  We had class in the morning and discussed Narrative Speeches, and a little bit about story telling in general.  We had read about audience, setting, tone, the environment of a communication scenario, and other ideas typical to the beginning of a speech class.

In the afternoon we went and heard the author Barry Miles give a talk about his new book, In the Seventies: Adventures in the Counter-Culture, and this worked out really well because Miles basically told a bunch of stories about when he was working with various authors and artists throughout his life.  The following are some pictures of that event.

Entrance to the festival - it was seven pounds to see Miles speak



Prince Albert in Charlotte Square looks on approvingly.



A little mud never stopped these bookworms

Of course, the book tent had copies of books of all the authors there.

The outing worked out well, as the assignment was then for the students to give a narrative speech about their experience at the festival, as well as give a critique of Miles' story telling using the terminology we had discussed. 


The student speeches were given the next day, and we quickly moved on to the next lessons.  There isn't a lot of time to mull things over in this module course delivery system, but so far, that has not been a big problem for my particular students.  We give a speech roughly every third day. 

The other classes being taught at the same time as my Oral/Interpersonal course are:


Engl. 216 - British Literature   
Engl. 389 - Travel Writing
Comm.290 - Introduciton to Critical Media Literacy


It is a communications heavy module, and they are not all like this, but this one really works well together to get the students thinking about the many aspects of communication and how it affects our vision of the world and how the world views us. 


Because we live, eat, and work with the students on a daily basis, it is not unusual to have a discussion about what we are working on in our various classes during dinner or when out for a walk on the grounds.  It is a different type of student instructor connection than one gets in the usual general education scenario that I am used to. Again, I think of our program instructors at WITC who work with their welders, accountants, nurses, or masons day in and day out. I realize this is a double edged sword that can cut both ways.


Ah yes, speaking of swords, we were on the bus, and now we can depart, as the stage has been set.


Our first stop was Scott's View - this is a spot where Sir Walter Scott, the famous 18th century Scottish writer who built the country estate Abbottsford, would stop on his travels to take in the stunning beauty of the country he loved so dearly.  It was such a habit for him to stop at this particular spot that his horses - as they made their last trip with him, Scott in his final resting casket, stopped with out prompt at the spot that their owner, now deceased, had so many times before.



Planning for the rainbow to be there exactly when we were took extra time.

  After winding our way back down from the view, we made our way to Abbotsford itself.

A classy little castle, I must say I like Sir Walter's style - just how I might have done it.

Sir Walter himself - they say this was an uncanny likeness done by a master sculptor.
The face reminds me of someone....

Our excellent tour guide.  My Oral/ Interpersonal students were instructed to pay attention to the guides speaking style,and this guy really delivered - very impassioned relating of the history and great use of transitions.



 The trip was a great success, especially for the British Literature students who had been spending a lot of time with the works of this man over the previous two weeks.  It really lit them up a bit, and they were telling me about the significance of some of the aspects of the place.


Next, we went up the road to Melrose Abby - this was mostly because it was close by, and we had enough time to do it.  We brought bag lunches, so it was our lunch stop.  Melrose Abby is one of many "ruins" that dot the country of Scotland.

Abbeys, which started out being places of stark worship, became centers of wealth and influence over time. Melrose Abbey is a Gothic-style abbey in Melrose, Scotland. It was founded in 1136 by Cistercian monks, at the request of King David I of Scotland. Today the abbey is maintained by Historic Scotland. The ruins of Melrose are widely considered among the most beautiful of religious houses in the United Kingdom, being especially notable for a wealth of well-preserved figure-sculpture, and its architecture is considered to be some of the best in Scotland.


Alexander II and other Scottish kings and nobles are buried at the abbey. The embalmed heart of Robert the Bruce is also said to rest on the abbey's grounds, while the rest of his body is buried in Dunfermline Abbey. The heart story is a great story if you have time.

Denise took this cool shot through one of the many the glassless windows

We had time to walk about town after lunch, so Denise and I walked down to the River Tweed and this suspension pedestrian bridge.

The "Chain Bridge" over the River Tweed

The River Tweed - a world class trout river - we saw a number of fisherman fly-fishing along the banks.

After lunch we got back in the bus and made the 1 hour trip over to Bowhill Estates, the home of the Dalkeith house's landlord - The 9th Duke of Baccleuch.  We again got a guided tour of the place and learned much about the family history of this Scottish dynasty.  No pictures were allowed inside, but these few pictures will give you an idea of what the home of the largest landowner in the UK looks like.


We knew we were in a palace - there is great artwork everywhere - paintings, sculptures, glassware, tapestries, and much more. This palace is in much better repair than Dalkeith House, but there is work underway to bring Dalkeith House back to its original splendor.  Notice the lawn and consider the work being done at Dalkeith to emulate this graded, manicured grass.



More nice landscaping.  There was not another building visible in any direction, which was an indication to me about how much land goes with this place.

Ye' ol curling stone - I am working on a posting for another day concerning the granite used in curling stones, but caught this one and stole a picture form inside. (the tour guide winked and nodded when I asked him about it.)

Back onto the bus after this tour, and we made it back in time for supper.  After supper the students and faculty had to hit the books to catch up on reading and writing from the day's experiences and to get ready for the next day's experience - a visit to the Scottish Parliament.

There is a wall full of quotes on plaques set into the wall such as this that one walks along while approaching the entrance.

Ground view of building from the south

Air view of building.



The Chamber itself. The audience sits in the balcony to watch the proceedings.


This is an interesting time in Scottish Politics as the question of independence is on everyones lips.  I will not be able to explain it all here, as there was a lot that happened before 1707 when the union of Scotland and England occurred, and when 300 years later the current Parliament began working with "devolved" powers, to the potential of complete independence (my guess is 2014 - we'll see it.)


My goal here was to let the students see debate happen, we were currently working on our argument speeches, and the 6 minute speeches (timed on a big clock in the front of the chamber) that the members were giving on the floor this day were excellent teaching tools. 

We were able to sit right above the chamber and dissect each speaker's logic, style, tone, transitions, and all the other techniques that the students would want to use in their own argument speeches in order to score well.


Admission was free for students as the other course instructors wanted their students to attend as well, so we were able to get the education group deal.  We sat in the chamber for about 2-1/2 hours as the members of five different parties (wouldn't that be novel vs. two parties?) discussed issues including education, health care, police and fire administration, and other domestic issues.  These are 'devolved' areas of the administration of the country that the current parliament has power to rule on.  The purse strings are still in West Minster, but like I said, keep an eye on this one.


This was Thursday of last week, the students gave their argument speeches in Friday's class, and I assigned the next speech for this coming Tuesday - they will have a paper due this coming Thursday (have a nice week-end!).  This is the pace.  At the end of this Mod, they will have a long week-end where they will be taking an organized trip to London.  The program director and Academic Director have organized the travel and accommodations, and have a number of activities planned for the students that week-end. 


I will be "on  duty" that week-end, which means that I will have the house phone, all the keys, and will generally be the contact person for Dalkeith House.  I had better stay sharp in case The Duke stops by.


This post is my attempt to discuss a little bit of how the modular system works and to give you a snapshot of just a couple of the days that have transpired.  I haven't yet included the previous week-end activities of going to St. Andrews on Saturday and more student activities on Sunday.  I will have to add the St. Andrews experience another time.

 However, on Sunday last week, the entire group got a free Edinburgh Castle tour.  This imposing  castle is the central image in the center of the city, visible from all directions.  It is a "working" castle, which means that the grounds and buildings are still used by the government for everyday purposes.



Oldest part of the Castle - Highest point.





Looking back out onto the city.  Also, the fireworks for the evening can be seen, set and ready to go. (Careful Boys!)



The masonry that went into "affixing" this castle to the top of the old volcano core is mind-boggling.



Largest black-powder cannon ever built.  It could shoot a giant boulder for over a mile - scary. One could put a person right in there and shoot him or her over the bay to the other side.
(Denise said that I could try it, but that she would pass.)



The hardened molten lava that the castle is built upon.
On the right are giant boulders that the cannon used "to incur disaster on any who would dare storm this impenetrable fortress."

To wrap up the Festivals of Edinburgh, the organizers put on the Fireworks and Orchestra Extravaganza.  Fireworks that can be seen from all over the city are synthesized with the playing of the Edinburgh Orchestra, which can be heard from the city center, or from a park where the orchestra music is piped in and a large screen shows the orchestra.  We went to the big screen park for the evening, as it was free vs. the 15 pounds for the seats in town to see the orchestra.  Of course if a person wasn't as interested in the music, the fireworks could be seen from almost any vantage point in town.  It was great to hear that music that went with it though. 

Fireworks blasting off the castle with the large screen showing the conductor of the Orchestra.

Students huddled up in the park to see the event unfold.  The artistry of the sycronization of the fireworks and music struck me as a great use of human effort and talent.

In the future, I will try to make postings shorter, but these places, observations, and activities are piling up faster than I can post them - this is a good thing.  Well, I've caught up on my online courses and graded the writing assignments for my class here, so I'm off to North Berick this morning - more about that later. I'll take some pictures.