Science News

The Science faculty have enjoyed being back in the classroom this term, engaging the students with investigations in the labs.

Year 7 have been introduced to the laboratory and learnt how to conduct investigations in a safe manner. They were awarded their Bunsen Burner Licence and finished the term learning about solids, liquids and gases whilst using their knowledge to explain some experiments using dry ice.

Year 8 have worked collaboratively this term to develop their Working Scientifically skills through a variety of investigations. Their projects included investigating the structural properties of different shapes, candle burning time and oxygen availability, the energy content of food, the strength of toilet paper. They also studied energy, the forms it takes and how it transforms from one form to another.

Year 9 have dived deeper into energy, learning about heat transfer to work collaboratively to design and construct a solar oven to cook nachos. The students produced some effective ovens and some managed to get their internal oven temperatures to nearly 70°C.   

They then applied their knowledge to design and construct a Therm Flask at home for their first assessment task. We tested their flasks in class to see which flask could reduce the heat lost from 100ml of boiling water and we were impressed with the effectiveness of the flasks that the students produced. Well done Year 9!

Year 10 students investigated motion by developing their understanding of distance, displacement, speed and velocity. They have learnt about Newton’s Laws of Motion and the application of these in the world around them. 

Their assessment task was an individual Student Research Project where they had the opportunity to investigate an area of science that is of interest to them. Some unique projects were investigating the elastic response of various balls filmed with a slow-motion camera, how the type of essential oil added to candles affects the burning time and how the medium organic material is left in, affects its rate of decay.

Year 11 Biology students had a great day at Putty Beach rock platform where they carried out sampling techniques to measure the distribution and abundance of species, tested factors such as salinity and looked at how all the factors of an ecosystem interact, including the negative impacts of humans.

Year 12 Marine Studies have set up a fish tank in GL4. They spent many lessons cleaning and preparing the tank. A range of new fish were introduced as part of their unit on Marine Aquariums. 

Mrs Louise Watkiss

Head Teacher Science