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STEM 5
L6 Biology Fieldtrip
Zoe Webb, U6W, Theva Swarnaprabha,
U6W and Yoma Toweh, U6W
On a sunny Saturday morning
twenty brave explorers and five
dedicated teachers set off for the
slightly less sunny Norfolk. Our
first afternoon consisted of trying
(with varying success) to find
limpets along the rocky shore, and
settling into the hostel. We were
each ‘coupled up’ for the duration
of the trip, which resulted in some
interesting matches.
On the second day we travelled to Cley to
sample some freshwater invertebrates, but
hit a small problem upon arrival. All the
equipment that we needed was still back at
the hostel! After a quick drive back by Mrs
Hampson we were reunited with our kick
nets. We looked at the rate of water flow
by timing how fast oranges travelled one
metre, and counted the species diversity in
two sections. Among those found were some
mating shrimps, mollusc shells and even
some leeches. After all that hard work, the
teachers quite rightly felt that we all deserved
some ice cream. Following lunch, we returned
to our favourite rocky shore to carry out
investigations that we had been allowed to
design ourselves.
Luckily for us we didn’t need to take our own
equipment for day three as it was provided
to us by Holkham Hall. There we met Sue,
our educational advisor for the day, who
took us to a remote part of the beach. The
scenery was beautiful, but we didn’t get
long to admire it as we had work to do. We
took a profile of the beach identifying how
the frequencies of different species changed
to show evidence of succession. We also
measured other factors, such as soil pH,
temperature and the height profile of the
beach. We wandered back through the pine
forest to the hostel to write up our results.
We returned to Holkham the following day
to have a look at the differences between
managed and unmanaged woodland. We
heard about how Holkham is completely
sustainable. They burn wood from felled
trees to provide energy and manage the
woodland using continuous cover forestry,
which enables parts of the forest to have
multiple layers of trees. They also grow
a large number of different crops which
they sell to companies, such as Adnams
and Mars. The data we collected will be
sent back to the forestry contingent at
Holkham to help increase biodiversity. After
the work in the woodland, we enjoyed a
tractor trailer tour, where they showed
us the beautiful estate, including some
resident fallow deer. In the evening we
wrote up results, just in time to see England
scrape through their World Cup match on
penalties- Halleluiah!
After all our hard work, we shared the fruits
of our labour and presented the findings
of our individual projects to the rest of the
group on our final day. It was great to hear
about the work our friends had been doing.
Many thanks to Mrs Graham for organising
such a successful trip, and to Miss Grimwood,
Mrs Carter, Mrs Hampson and Mr Raw for
giving up their time to take us.
New Scientist Live
Thevaguru Swarnaprabha, U6W
As a lover of all things science I have
attended New Scientist Live for many
years now but only as a visitor. This
year, however, I was lucky enough to
be invited by the company BioGrad
to attend the event as an exhibitor
for the four days from Thursday 20
September to Sunday 23 September.
This was the first time when I had to exhibit
to such a large audience, ranging from
scientific professors at universities to primary
school children. I was there as a company
representative having been on one of the
company’s courses as part of my Gold Duke of
Edinburgh Award. I spent most of the event
talking to the public, letting them know about
the courses, and scheduling meetings with the
company lecturers to get career advice. I also
had the opportunity to attend interesting talks
and meet many intellectuals. My most notable
interaction was when I met Henry Marsh,
author of
Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death
and Brain Surgery
, having previously attended
his fantastic talk about brain surgery. As a big
fan of his book and applying to study medicine
this year I think it is safe to say that I was over
the moon to meet him. On Thursday and
Friday Mrs Thompson was also at the event to
represent the UKMT Maths Challenge at a stall
called ‘Maths in the Real World’ where visitors
could take on fun and complex maths puzzles.
We both greatly enjoyed being exhibitors,
especially because we enjoyed the privileges
of VIP access. I made sure to get a look at
every stand at the event, with some highlights
being the Virtual Reality Rollercoaster,
Doughnut Shaped Storm and the Quantum
City. The whole show was so much fun, and I
can’t wait for New Scientist Live 2019!