The Science Department: Home

Today we are going to look at how we can develop land that needs to be repurposed. It may be waste land or it is changing land use type. In this session, look at this particular piece of land. Research potential uses for this land and think about how it can be maintained after your project is completed. The brief is as follows:
A school has been given a small sum of money and support offered from the local community to help develop a reward space for students to use on a rotation. The school has decided that this yard area is not used effectively and needs to be developed. Come up with a plan to present to a committee. Your plan should include:
• ground surface for all weathers (paths, grass etc),
• Plants/trees,
• Lighting,
• Shelter from the sun, wind & rain,
• A place that all students & staff will enjoy being.

Following "Storm Amy", earlier this month, we need to assess the damage caused and use this in risk assessing development of land in the future. Create a simple summary on Word and save it into your Land-Based folder.
Start by looking through this BBC news article and then look at this Scottish council services update.
When you have completed your brief summary, have a look to see how Storm Amy compares with Britain's worst storms.

Extension task.
Research and list ways that we can prepare for these storms to avoid the loss of life, damage to land & property and essential services being stopped.

Today we need to complete the work that we started about plant reproduction. We know that there are lots of different varieties of the same type of plants, there are dozens of different tomato plants that you can choose from. There are different ways of getting the ideal tomato, or any other plant, this is through selective breeding. Look at the link and make a note of how it works in both plants and animals.
Another way of improving a crop is through genetic engineering. Follow that link and briefly explain how that works.
When we have all of these, how do we make sure that none of them are ever lost? Have a look at the global seed vault and you need to make a brief note about the important role that this facility plays.
Finally, as an extension, look at the impact that climate change is having on agriculture and the UK in general (think about all types of land use). Here is a starting point, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board.

Put the title National Parks in your book. You must then find a selection of national parks within the United Kigdom and research facts about one of interest. When you have done that, find attractions within that area and describe how they use the land. Car parks, public toilets, cafes, camping, climbing walls, zip lines etc. Make a list of the possible things that can be done with this land.

When you have done that, think about potential conflicts with other users of the land such as sheep grazing. How do the park try to balance "access to the countryside for all" with protecting the land?

Start with the title of Roles of the different Land-Based industries. Now research these different types and add to the list given by the exam board. They have suggested:

Land management and production: agriculture, horticulture, forestry, arboriculture, floristry, fisheries, land based engineering, leisure and field and adventure sport.

Animal health and welfare: animal care, equine, farrier and vet nursing.

Environmental industries: game and wildlife management and environmental conservation.

Finally, give examples for all of the main uses of land in the UK. Agricultural, forestry, urban/built-up, recreational, conservation, water-related, rural (including military and energy generation).

Have a look at Go Ape's website. How would you categorise this use of land?

In today's lesson, we are going to find out more about the agricultural revolution. We are particularly interested in findong out about the following:
1) Who was Turnip Townshend?
2) What was crop rotation and why was clover important?
3) Why were fields left "fallow"?
4) What was a seed drill, when was it invented, how does it work?
5) What is a threshing machine and when was it invented?
Now find out more about the changes in farming between the start of enclosure in the 1600s and today. This needs to be written neatly in your exercise books. Title is Agricultural revolution research.

You can now view all of the key words/terms in the Glossary page under literacy on the navigation menu. You can also select the the words for your topic. Firstly, select Biology, Chemistry or Physics first then choose the topic from the second box.

Wishing you a great Summer Holiday from the Science Department.

I have just popped in to check that everything is up and running as we get more and more focussed on our revision and I have seen that Saturday 3rd May has been the busiest day this website has ever had. Keep going with the good work and remember to take breaks and not focus on the easy stuff. Also, go and enjoy the outdoors for a while too!

Thanks for the chicken!
Art by BP

Year 11 are now sitting their second set of mock exams. Details can be found here.
Biology: Thursday 27th Feb
Chemistry: Thursday 6th March
Physics: Friday 7th March

Year 9
Year 9 will be sitting an "End of Key Stage 3" exam. This will be split up into 20 minutes of Biology, Chemistry and Physics (1 hour in total). Questions will be predominantly from the areas studies with us: KS3 Inheritance and Evolution, KS3 Earth and Atmosphere and KS3 Engineering.

Year 10
Year 10 students will be sitting a GCSE paper 1 for Biology, Chemistry and Physics. However, as students have not yet finished all of the content for paper 1, the 1 hour 15 minute exams have each been shortened to 1 hour and had the content removed that they have not finished. A full list of paper 1 content can be found here. We have removed Bioenergetics from the Biology paper, Energy changes from the Chemistry paper and Atomic structure & radiation from the Physics paper.

Year 11
Year 11 will sit full GCSE paper 2 in each science. Details can be found here.

Every winter, up and down the country, people add salt to roads and paths. This melts the ice...Job Done! Well, it is a little more complicated that that. In year 11 (Chemical analysis), we learn that adding salt into water makes the water "impure" which lowers the melting point from 0°C to a melting range of -2°C to -8°C depending on the concentration. When we add salt, it needs to be worked into the ice in order to make it a solution and roads rely on vehicles driving over it and paths rely on pedestrians.

In reality, when we arrive at school and it is covered in ice and/or snow, we can add salt but it needs to be trodden in for it to melt the ice and if it is too cold, no matter how much salt you add, it simply will not help.

Today you need to research the atmospheres on other planets and moons. Before starting, ensure that you can recall the 4 main gases in our own atmosphere and their abundance.
Start by looking for similarities and differences in the atmospheres, can they be grouped together? What are the reasons for these variations? Why is Earth such an anomaly?
Suggested sources:
Bob the Alien's information table.
Bob's type of planet.
Compound chem's data table.
NASA's data table.
Nasa's summary.
When you have all of this information, make your own basic summary in a Word document. List common trends and anomalies. You should also explain why Earth is an anomaly. Enjoy.

When you have finished that, look into the realities of "Manned missions to Mars". Some groups expect humans to visit Mars within 30 years, what are the logistics, barriers and solutions to getting people there...and back?

With Britain's last remaining coal fired power station finally closed, of the remaining energy resources, which is the most negative for our environment? This story is very relevant to the Physics topic Energy.
Read more on the BBC news website.

Local changes to "use of land" stir up local people. Is it fair that local people can have so much say into how a farmer can use their land? Read more on the Sentinel website.

Finally - a glimpse of the Northern Lights from Stoke-on-Trent. Every time it happens, I miss it. Not the perfect picture but you can see the green on the right that fades to purple in the middle. The green caused by interactions of oxygen with electrons and the purple caused by the interactions of nitrogen with electrons.

Great news to students who struggle to learn formulae. The UK government has extended the Covid support for 3 more years by giving the enhanced formula sheet of GCSE physics. Read the full story here. Does learning the formulae make you a better scientist or just better at learning formulae?

The "Curriculum Health Check" section has gone live on all GCSE science pages now. Please be aware that this is the first time that I have seen them in HTML and am now going through the job of editing them when I find formatting errors. Enjoy, hope to be ready by September.

One of my A-level chemists has recently been accepted into the prestigious school of veterinary science at the university of Liverpool. Congratulations and thanks for the squishy cow, I shall always treasure it!