Yr 7 Project: How healthy is our relationship with nature?

This project was a joint expedition between STEM and Humanities and Arts

The learning targets were:
 I can explain the interdependence of organisms within an ecosystem
 I can explain how changes in an environment can impact upon its ecosystem
 I can describe the ways that cells are similar and different in humans and plants
 I can describe how genetic inheritance results in species variation
 I can explain how natural selection and evolution results in characteristics of different species
 I can use a range of mathematical principles to describe patterns found in nature
 I can critically appreciate a range of poetry to develop and construct my own poetic writing
 I can produce a first person narrative of my species
 I can produce a lino print of my species
 I can identify key concepts of Creationism and Evolution

As part of their Immersion students visited Potteric Carr where students walked around the site and were introduced to different bird and plant species. Students also did a ‘Solo’ where they spent time in solitude, reflecting upon their place in nature, drawing their surroundings and describing what they could hear.

Another part of the immersion was looking at cave art, which got students thinking about how man has been inspired by nature from as far back as history is able to tell us, and spent time in sites of natural beauty.

In STEM students went to learn about patterns in nature such as sequences, in particular the Fibonacci sequence. They also learned how to look at adaptations and variations between and within species, and how to analyse data about these variations. They learned about heredity and how species adapt to their environment over time through beneficial adaptations being passed onto the next generation i.e. evolution through natural selection.

Students also went onto look at the ecosystems including investigating food chains and food webs, and pyramids of number and biomass to further their understanding about how Humans relationship with nature is a delicate balance. Student were assigned a particular species which could be found in their locale. They studied their species during fieldwork and wrote a scientific description of their specimen including a biological illustration that was proportionally accurate.

In Humanities and Arts students critically analyse a range of poetry by a number of different poets although students concentrated on the Horses and Pike by Ted Hughes. Students went onto produce a poem and a first person narrative of their specific species.

As part of Human Geography students continued to build an understanding about how humans relationship with nature is both positive and negative and students investigated how we could develop a healthier relationship.
In Art students went onto produce a lino print of their species. They had to produce a drawing of the species in proportion before transferring it onto Lino and then cutting away at the lino before a number of layers of colour have been produced.

Final Product – Information Panels for around school

Learners produced information boards for their individual species which include selections of their work such as their lino prints, biological illustrations, scientific writing, first person narratives and poems. These information boards will be on display around the school site, facing out to the public, so that they can learn about the many species found in our locale, and the importance of respecting and being a steward of our ecosystem.