Mould experiments planned and set to go

Today students worked hard on planning their mould-growing experiments using bread as the food base. We discussed the idea of a fair test again and students set about making their plan and preparing their bread samples. Some are looking the effects of moisture, others are investigating the impact of preservatives, ultraviolet light and other at the differences that may eventuate between the plain, wholemeal or whole seed varieties or brands.

We also talked about how to write up a background, revisited the mould vimeo film we half-viewed the other day and looked at the information offered in four books which focused on fungi.  http://vimeo.com/20196310 Hopefully this film will run faster at your homes than at school. I have watched it three times and think it is quite a useful base of knowledge. It has an excellent part on Florey and Fleming and beneficial aspects of fungi which we haven't see at school because the download fails. It is definitely worth watching. There are also two books totally dedicated to Florey and Fleming available in the classroom for reading.

Today, Students also learnt about the use of bibliographies or cited-sources and learnt how to write up one. They have taken notes in their Science books.

Most students cut their bread samples down to 100 square centimetres so mould growth can be more easily converted to a percentage.

Throw in an assembly and a music lesson, and suddenly the day was over. A big WELL DONE to those four students who shared their reports on the book and film The Lorax. The deliveries were clear, informative and pretty much flawless.

A big thank you to all parents who came to the discussions sessions. 

Tonight's homework is to design a cover page for their investigation inserting an image and to start drafting up the background information on moulds. Some students need to think about how they are going to collect the data and record their observations on the three samples they have prepared.