Students at BISL have been working on MyMachine project for some months now. This started with our primary school students in the Autumn term that produced a range of ideas and concepts for their own machines. At the end of December three ideas had been chosen – The Bin that Eats the Rubbish by Ela from Y3, A Circle that shows Endangered Species by Artem from Y4 and The Ocean Cleaner by Carlota from Y4.
The next stage began in January when secondary students from different year groups have then developed the chosen ideas. Year 7 8 and 9 Science students worked on background and research of the themes for the chosen ideas of pollution, conservation and extinction. These themes have evolved into extinction and biodiversity with a great deal of research and finding presented throughout school and linking into the current Science curriculum.
Our students have found out that Biodiversity is typically a measure of variation at the genetic, species, and ecosystem level. Terrestrial biodiversity is usually greater near the equator, which is the result of the warm climate and high primary productivity and is not distributed evenly on Earth, and is richest in the tropics. These tropical forest ecosystems cover less than 10 percent of earth's surface and contain about 90 percent of the world's species. Students have learnt of the impact deforestation is having on extinction rates and the scale of deforestation.
Our students are learning also about the concerning facts, that ¼ of animals are on the extinction red list and that we are on the edge of food chain supply. Some 90% of insects have disappeared in some regions of the planet. As students have incorporated their research into curriculum projects they have written blogs and articles for our newsletter.
By the end of February My Machine project concluded Stage 1 – Idea, Concept and Invention and moved fully to Stage 2 – Design, Detailed Plan, Technical Drawings and Proof of Concept.
In last weeks the students created Art Students Impression and showed a great collaboration between Art and Science department and between Primary and Secondary students.
Next step is to proof one of the concepts and create technical drawings.
Some impressions are gathered in the gallery.
