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Astronomy GCSE      Body Worlds 4 - Art, Science and Ethics

Year 8 Strike Oil!  in the car park?

Astronomy GCSE Students in Y9, Y10 and Y11 have started studying for a GCSE in Astronomy. The course is being run after school and will allow interested students to gain a further Science qualification with Edexcel.  Any students who are interested in this course should speak to their science teacher. Click here to access the BNCS website for Astronomy information

Body Worlds 4 - Art, Science, Ethics and Philosophy.
Art, ethics and philosphy and science joined forces this term to take students on an inspiring day of visits and lectures to learn about the subjects of organ transplants, art and anatomical studies and the issues surrounding the Bodyworlds –4 exhibition.
Click here to visit The Wellcome Trust website and discover more about the current debate on organ donation.	The day began with a visit to the Northern General Hospital in Sheffield where the Organ Transplant team spoke to the students about organ transplantation and donation. The students looked at some case studies and were asked to make ethical judgements about issues that the doctors and nurses could experience.
After a very productive morning we whizzed over to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester where the students viewed the Bodyworlds 4 exhibition. Students enriched their science learning and also began their artwork with drawings of the exhibits. They analysed the many and varied views about the exhibition and it’s producer, Gunther van Hagens.
We crossed Manchester at speed to Pizza Hut where our pre-ordered food awaited before the brisk walk back to the museum in time for the evening lecture. This was presented by Dr. Clare Reeves, Outreach Historian from The Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine at University College London. She talked about the history of art and the study of anatomy through the ages. This fascinated our students and extended their earlier research into such cases as those of Burke and Hare, the infamous bodysnatchers of the eighteen hundreds.
The project has continued in school, with a two day workshop in art. The students worked with Jackie Berridge , an artisit based in Derby who has a record of anatomical studies. The students are currently developing this work and will exhibit later in the year – watch this space!	Click here for more info about the macabre history of medicine, art and anatomy.
Students also helped to teach some ethics and philosophy lessons, teaching their peers about the issues surrounding organ transplants. They specifically looked at the attitudes of different religious groups to organ donation and transplantation.
The students are to be congratulated on their efforts to date, the team at the Northern General Hospital were very impressed with their level of engagement with the topic.
Our thanks are due to:- the Wellcome Trust who have funded the project through their Arts Award scheme, Dr. Raftery and his team at the Northern General.
Click here to see online artwork being exhibited by The Wellcome Trust.	Click above to explore The Wellcome Trusts collection.

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Year 8 Strike Oil! 

Oil prices may drop – our Year 8 students have learnt about extracting oil from wells deep underground and successfully drilled into an £80 million oil well that had been newly discovered in a lorry parked on the College car park.  The ‘Lab in a Lorry’ visited the College on Friday 13th, students were involved in three different experiments. The lorry was manned by scientists from local industries who helped the students to carry out their practical investigations. 

Resonance Students made a wine glass resonate using electromechanical energy conversion i.e. the resonant frequency of a wine glass was found using a spectrum analyser; loudspeakers were then used to make the glass vibrate, and eventually shatter at the resonant frequency.
Hele Shaw cell   The oil well! Students explored tribology and lubrication theory by using glycerine between two Perspex sheets. The goal was to extract as much glycerine as possible although many groups experienced a ‘greed curve’ as it is known in the oil industry. This experiment allowed the students to understand and simulate how oil is extracted using sea water, and why a large reservoir of oil remains in the ground.
Scattering   Dettol was added to water in a tube illuminated with polarised light from below to illustrate scattering. Dettol was then added to a similar tube containing a sugar solution (fructose + water) and the shape of the fructose molecule scattered the light to create a spiral rainbow.	A fructose solution viewed through a polaroid filter.
The Lorry is a joint initiative between the Institute of Physics and the Schlumberger Foundation and one of several Institute of Physics outreach programmes. It aims to make physics and scientific careers more attractive to young people.
Further details can be found at http://www.labinalorry.co.uk/

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