To modify or not to modify.

I can debate the moral and ethical issues associated with some controversial biological procedures. SCN 4-13c

S3 have been studying genetic engineering. They have been looking at the debate surrounding genetically modified food. To do this they have been using Democs resources produced by the New Economics Foundation.
This is a new approach to involving citzens in public policy issues. The pupils play the democs "game" which involves research, reading and discussion of the issues. They put themselves into "role play" positions given to them on story cards.

After this they vote on policy positions and send their results to NEF who will collate the results and use them to inform the government of the views of the public. They take this into consideration when making new policies on controversial issues. So when a policy is put in place Cedars biology pupils will have had their say!

Here are a few of the cards (there are too many resources to show them all here)

Photosynthesis can't get more exciting than this!

I have collaborated on investigations into the process of photosynthesis and I can demonstrate my understanding of why plants are vital to sustaining life on Earth. SCN 3-02a

Can you take a jug of water, some sunlight and some carbon dioxide from the air and make a bag of sugar? Can you produce oxygen needed for all life on the planet? S2 are studying the amazing Cabomba plant who like all green plants can do both these things without even a brick on the wall. Here are S2 investigating how different light intensities affect the rate of photosynthesis. If you click on the video you'll hear them counting the number of bubbles of oxygen being produced!

Photosynthesis

We were answering the question "How can we prove plants use carbon dioxide for photosynthesis" We used a plant called Cabomba put it into clear containers with hydrocarbonate indicator. One plant we put in the dark, one in the light and we had a control with no plant.

Hydrocarbonate turns from red to purple if carbon dioxide is decreasing and turns yellow if carbon dioxide is increasing. (Robbie's answer)

Here are our results. The one in the light turned purple because the plant was using up the CO2 for photosynthesis faster than it was producing it by respiration. (Andrews answer)

The one in the dark turned yellow because no photosynthesis was happening in the dark and the plant was respiring so producing CO2 (Kerr' s answer)

The control stayed the same showing that the changes were taking place because of the plant.

Here are our pictures showing our results - sorry they are a bit blurry!

Posted by S2 boys (as all the girls were absent today)

What was in the cave water?

We found out that there was a specially modified enzyme in the cave water. An enzyme speeds up a chemical reaction. It breaks up large molecules into smaller ones. Enzymes are found in your body (stomach) and washing powders.

If we put liver or kidney containing the enzyme Catalase into Hydrogen Peroxide it breaks it down quickly into oxygen and water. Here is a video clip showing the reaction.

Posted by S1

PS From Mrs Offord remember S1 to post for homework anything you think that you learnt doing this investigation.

It was the cave water!!

Here are the results from our experiment yesterday. You will see that one of the wells in the fleah has been eaten away. This was the cave water. Next week S1 are going to work out what the "flesheater" is. LOOK OUT FOR THE NEXT EPISODE OF THE INVESTIGATION!

Flesh Eaters!!

Two railway workers have met a horrible death in a tunnel. S1 are identifiying the cause of death. Was it the cave water or was it the slime that had a some sort of flesh eating chemical in it? S1 added these samples to wells in flesh and are awaiting their results tomorrow.

The flesh samples!


Adding the slime and cave water.

The flesh with wells and samples in them - tomorrow the well that has been eaten away contains the flesh eater.

RESULTS TOMORROW!!

Forensic Frenzy!

Our 4 "blood" samples

Placing the samples into the wells in the gel.

Sample C showing clearly the red evil "gene"!!

As Higher and Intermediate 2 are studying DNA we had a look at a technique similar to the one they use for DNA profiling. We were using electrophoresis to seperate out 4 different "blood" samples. Which one contains the evil red gene? The class loaded the 4 samples into a gel and then ran an electric current through them. The seperate parts of the "blood" samples travel through the gel at different rates. We found that sample C contained the evil red "gene"!