Year 9 scientists visit Folly Farm
On Tuesday 30th September and Wednesday 1st October the whole of Year 9 had the opportunity to go to Folly Farm to complete their biology required practical on sampling in different environments. Students were able to go into three different environments to take samples of the organisms that were present there - woodland areas for plants, pond dipping for a variety of organisms and meadow sweeping for invertebrates. Using quadrats, students measured the percentage abundance of different plants at a variety of light intensities and humidities and identified these with the help of identification charts.
The sweeping for invertebrates brought some fascinating finds as well as some interesting reactions to the insects/arachnids that were found. Some of the notable finds were a Drinker moth caterpillar, a crab spider and many green capsids amongst many others! Walking into the long grass, students chose their position and took large sweeps of the grass to try and capture as many ‘bugs’ as they possibly could to have a closer look at - only letting off the occasional scream when these flew away…....
The favourite area of the day for both sides of the year group was the pond dipping. Students managed to catch a huge variety of organisms including dragonfly nymphs, caddisfly larvae, whirligig beetles, different species of snails, various other nymphs and larvae.
Students thoroughly enjoyed identifying these organisms and were very keen to see them up close with a varied reaction to these - mainly excitement. Everyone had a great time and thankfully the weather was kind on both days! The students represented St Katherine's fantastically and the tutors from Folly Farm were very impressed with some of the answers to questions and the excellent behaviour. Overall a great experience with students learning a huge amount about an important GCSE biology topic!
Mrs Lewis, Biology Lead