Secondary Science & Technology News
This week in Science sees the students having the opportunity to learn through a global context as part of the DBIS international week.
Learners across KS3 are exploring some of the big issues that affect our world and developing and applying their scientific understanding to a range of real global issues.
The focus in Year 9 is world hunger. Students are exploring the causes, effects and consequences of undernourishment and malnutrition in various regions around the world. They will be focusing on developing their critical thinking skills to consider complex issues from multiple perspectives and relate the science they are learning to current world events. This will lead them into an enquiry about the process of photosynthesis, developing their investigative and practical skills and applying their understanding to deepen their understanding of how we can use science and technology to feed our growing global population.
Year 8 are focussing on epidemiology over this international week. They will be focussing on the global role of the World Health Organisation in managing the spread of infection. Through enquiry they will look at the recent ebola virus outbreak in East Africa as a case study and then apply their scientific understanding to a scenario based problem here in China, aiming to develop their research and problem solving skills to create a strategic plan to prevent the spread of an infectious disease, supporting their learning about microorganisms.
Year 7 are considering the global effects of acid rain. This enquiry will focus on deepening their understanding of acids and the pH scale and applying their learning in a real life international context, and how we can use science and technology to solve the environmental problems we are creating. They will be developing their practical skills by carrying out chemical analysis of water samples and then working critically with their evidence to develop theories and conclusions.