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Summer Issue 2001 |
Science Department |
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| Contents:
Front Page Award for School |
Key Stage 3
Science Club The Junior Science Club has gone from strength to strength on Monday lunchtimes with up to 30 students attending. We have entered a 71 gram Alum crystal grown by Yr. 9 students into a national competition organised by the Royal Society of Chemists. Students have tried glass blowing and recently investigated electromagnets and building electric motors. Next term we hope to do some chemical detective work and some ecology. Weather permitting, we may try cooking omelettes with Mr. Webster’s solar cooker. BAYS During Science week a party of Yr 7, 8 and 9 students and ten staff/parent helpers visited Imperial College, London. The event was organised by the British Association of Youth Scientists and was great fun. All attended lectures and had a chance to visit the science museums. We experienced an American Bald Eagle and other birds of prey flying over our heads and landing inches from us. Also, we saw experiments that could be done at home using household objects like ‘exploding custard’. My thanks go to the parents and staff who helped on the day. Mr. Jennings Key Stage 4 Food and Farming A group of Year 10 students have spent the Spring term working with local farms and the West Berkshire Education Business Partnership on a Food and Farming challenge. Businesses in the area and organisations connected with food and the countryside have real tasks that need to be done, whilst schools benefit by putting classroom skills into practice. The food and farming challenge brings the two together. The challenge set, based on Home Farm on the Englefield Estate involves looking at the relationship between Organic farming and soil fertility. Currently the group is collecting soil from home farm and an established organic farm to compare soil fertility with a view to presenting their findings at the local championship. Mrs. Friend Getting your GCSE grades The results for the first two GCSE module tests sat by Year 10 students are now in school. Please ring the school if you did not receive your child’s mark and grade. The results for the two tests sat in March should be with us shortly after Easter. The final two tests for year 10 are on Tuesday 26th June. Mrs Carless Key Stage 5 Car Safety In the Physics department the new AS course in Year 12 has introduced students to the science behind recent developments in car safety. Students used the Internet to research current designs for seat belts, air bags and crumple zones. They then presented their findings to the group using video clips, power point presentations, OHTs and printed handouts. The relevance of the work to students about to purchase cars of their own was clear and some went on to study tyre design and modern braking systems. Mrs Carless Seed bank During
the cold winter month of January 23 A level students visited Wakehurst
Place in Ardingly as part of the Applications of Genetics module in A
level Biology. Wakehurst
have recently opened a Seed bank which hopes to educate the public and
undertake the sorting and freeze drying of valuable seeds from all
around the world. The seed bank is hoping to maintain the genetic
diversity of the world of plants. The students spent time watching
scientists at work, engaging in an interactive exhibition and listening
to lectures. The students found the experience invaluable in helping to
develop their ideas on conservation. During Science week in March this year, 15 of our most able year 11 Science students travelled into London to hear, smell and see two ‘demonstration lectures’ at the Royal Institution. The second lecture on ‘Chemistry of the Atmosphere’ proved to be particularly interesting, with lots of flames and loud bangs. The lecturer demonstrated the effects of spraying deordorant into a flame, and igniting the (extremely noisy) fuel of the future: Hydrogen gas. Tomorrow's World |