Growth

Year 7 and 8 students have been carrying out independent research projects to investigate the growth of plants.  The students investigated a range of different questions:

• If light intensity affects the growth of plants? Students have learnt how to use a propagator to speed up the rate of seed germination.  They learned about the dispersal of light to decide that placing a lamp at different distances from their groups of plants will alter the light intensity. 
• Are greenhouses the correct colour? Students are investigating the effect of using different coloured filters on the rate of seed germination.  They have decided to extend this investigation by carrying out the experiment on Kale, Pepper and Carrot seeds.
• Does organic fertiliser cause an increase in the yield of a crop? Students are investigating if Horse manure or Guinea pig droppings cause runner bean plants to increase their yield.  Students are also trying to find out of the manure needs to be decomposed before adding this to fields. They identified a problem in that the animal droppings are different sizes so decided to use a blender to ensure that all the droppings had the same start surface area and then used a top pan balance to control the mass of each.

These projects will be running over a few weeks are we are all interested to see the results.

Mars Day

Students celebrated Mars Day 2022 at Stretford Grammar by learning about why Mars is not just red but various shades of red and how this links to the types of rocks on Mars. They created their own ‘Mars Scapes’ using different coloured spices. They also learnt how scientists are using the Mars insight Lander to find out if Mars has a liquid core by spinning two eggs (one hard boiled and one not). Which one represents a liquid core and how does it spin differently?

Optical Illusions

The Magical Mr Turley amazed groups of students with a range of optical illusions.  Students learnt how light reflected from the images can cause the brain to misinterpret what is being viewed.  Great fun was had by all.

Spaghetti Towers.

Year 10, 11 and 12 Students competed in an engineering challenge to see who could raise a Crème Egg to the greatest height.  Students had a lot of fun trialling various designs; but best of all they got to eat their creme egg!