Category Archives: Biology

S3 biology students ex-cell…

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S3 Standard Grade Biology pupils have recently been learning about cells as part of their studies. Class teachers Miss Macauley and Mrs Binnie and visiting teacher, Mr Scott, set the pupils a challenge of demonstrating what they know about cells by making a model of an animal or plant cell for homework.

The pupils concerned are a creative bunch but they ex-celled (see what we did there) in showing off their knowledge and demonstrating their creativity too. House points were up for grabs in this particular activity and there was more than just pride at stake.

Some of the cell models can be seen below…

In 1st Place, winning points for GRANGE, was CIARA HARVIE

In 2nd place, also winning points for GRANGE was LAURA O’BRIEN

In 3rd place, shy and retiring Amy from Seton was reluctant to appear on camera but she still secured house points for the reds.

Here are some of the class efforts – we are certain everyone will enjoy their creativity. We should point out also that the winners were selected by the class through a secret ballot – with each pupil peer reviewing the models against success criteria agreed before the task was set.

 

Science Centre workshop

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2 C3 recently played host to visitors from the Science Centre Education project. In this workshop, pupils were forced to examine their thoughts on genetic engineering – was it a force for good or the refuge of the morally bankrupt? During the session, they looked at the occurence of GM foods and which nations had opted for GM research. They finished the session posing as politicians (aren’t all politicians posers??) and proposing various policies they would implement if in power (or when in power!) . Our future is indeed in safe hands!

Well done to 2 C3.

[rockyou 111710790]

An Archimedes riddle…

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Archimedes was no slouch! The Greek mathematician was also a physicist, engineer, inventor and astronomer in his spare time!

He is most well known for his “Eureka moment”…

The most commonly related anecdote about Archimedes tells how he invented a method for measuring the volume of an object with an irregular shape. According to Vitruvius, a new crown in the shape of a laurel wreath had been made for King Hiero II and Archimedes was asked to determine whether it was of solid gold – or whether silver had been added by a dishonest goldsmith. Archimedes had to solve the problem without damaging the crown, so he could not melt it down in order to measure its density as a cube (which would have been the simplest solution).

While taking a bath, he noticed that the level of the water rose as he got in. He realised that this effect could be used to determine the volume of the crown. For practical purposes water is incompressible, so the crown would displace an amount of water equal to its own volume. By dividing the weight of the crown by the volume of water displaced, its density could be obtained.

In other words, the density of the crown would be lower if cheaper and less dense metals had been added…

Archimedes then took to the streets naked  (so excited by his discovery that he had forgotten to dress!)  crying “Eureka!” (“I have found it!”)

So what is your Archimedes Riddle?

You are sitting in a rubber boat in a swimming pool. In the boat lies a stone. You throw this stone from the boat into the pool. Will the water level in the pool rise or drop?

Over to you…