Showing posts with label students. Show all posts
Showing posts with label students. Show all posts

Thursday, 17 December 2015

ENRICHMENT PROJECT SCIENCE

Quin plaer observar i ajudar als alumnes a que gaudeixin fent ciència!


Els treballs  aquest trimestre han estat els següents:

Líquids no Newtonians
Pollets a Oak House
Conills, pollastres, bens, s’assemblen a nosaltres?
Qui ha estat l’assassí?
Hi ha alguna relació entre el coeficient intel·lectual i la capacitat física?








Els alumnes han triat el projecte i l’han desenvolupat per complet. Han après com posar a la pràctica la seva recerca  seguint el mètode científic i finalment han exposat els seu treball.
A continuació teniu els enllaços per poder accedir a algun d’aquest treballs.
Us recomano que hi cliqueu són molt divertits!








Mobile phone collection in January 2016



Dear parents/students

In Spain more than 52,000,000 mobile phone lines exist today, for just over 46 million inhabitants. This impressive number of terminals must be added those older phones that are replaced and that citizens have kept or thrown away, with the recycling rate of less than 5%. If we multiply these numbers to the countries of the "developed world ", the figures are staggering. At the same time, the exploitation of Coltan, a valuable mineral from which the technology of our phones, computers and consoles are made of, is at the center of the conflicts that produce hundreds of thousands of victims and refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Illegal mining uses slavery work also destroying the habitats of many species such as chimpanzees and gorillas in true danger due to poaching and deforestation.

For this reason, if we recycle our old mobile phones, less Coltan will need to be mined and fewer forests will have to be destroyed, therefore we will be able to reduce the rate of deforestation and protect the habitat of many species in danger.

As part of the school’s consistent approach to minimise its environmental impact, it has been decided to support the Jane Goodall Institute in their campaign to recycle mobile phones.

The school will be contributing to this campaign by hosting a collection of used mobile phones that you might not need anymore. Chances are that you have at least one old mobile phone somewhere around the house, so this is the perfect opportunity to finally get rid of it! The collection will begin on January 11th and will last for a week. Students will come to your classes in the morning to collect your old mobiles.

We just need the mobile phone with the battery,

NO charger, NO SIM card!

By participating in this, the school will enter a raffle with the chance to win the adoption of a chimpanzee. If you’d like to learn more about the institute check out their website:


http://www.janegoodall.org/

We would truly appreciate your collaboration and please feel free to contact us if you have any doubts!






January 11th to 15th 2016


for more information look at http://www.mobilerecyclingday.org/





Bojos per la…../Crazy about……?

Who is bojos/crazy and what are they crazy/bojos about?

The answer is that Adriana C. (does she seem familiar) and Isabel L. (and her too) have both been accepted onto a bojos course. So what is it about?

Isabel L.  has been accepted onto the Bojos per la Natura program. It takes place two Saturdays a month from February to November 2016. There is both fieldwork and visits to laboratories and research centres throughout Catalunya. Some activities include marine biology, paleontology and going to the Delta del Ebro. The activities are directed by researchers working in the ICTA (Institut de Ciencia i Tecnologia Ambientals) which is in the UAB. For more information follow this link: http://ictaweb.uab.cat/natura.php

Adriana C. will be doing the Crazy About Biomedicine program
It's a year-long program directed to students in the first year of baccalaureate and it takes place in the labs at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine of Barcelona (IRB). The course combines practical and theoretical lessons to cover 12 hot topics in the area of biomedicine, ranging from rational drug design to the study of novel cancer treatments, and allows students to get a taste of what it's like to investigate in an international research institute such as the IRB. 


Well done to the both of them again! These ladies will go far in the world of Science!



Friday, 23 October 2015

Oak House School Environmental Committee

Oak House School Environmental Committee


We have 7.3 billion people currently living on our planet and that is due to increase to 9 billion by 2050. To feed and entertain this number, non-renewable resources are running out and renewable ones are being used unsustainably. Carbon emissions continue to rise, leading to greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change.

We must do something to slow and stop these changes that we are making to our planet otherwise we and our children will pay the price.

So what can we do? Well it can start with this:

We are currently looking for students and teachers who wish to form an Environmental Committee.

The roles of this environmental committee will be many, including:
·         Environmental assessment of the school and its environs.
·         Development of an environmental action plan.
·         Involvement in projects deriving from this action plan.
·         Transmitting the findings and the work of the committee to the students and wider public.

Who should join this committee?
If you are someone who is interested by the environment and what we are doing to it.
If you are concerned about the nature of consumerism and its negative effects.
If you like the applications of Science.
If you are planning to study IGCSE Environmental Management or IB Environmental Systems.
If you are thinking about a career in the area of environmental sciences.

What should you do?
Contact your tutor.
Contact your Science teacher.

When by?
We need to know who is interested by Friday October 30th
First meeting: Wednesday October 4th @ 11am!


“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors: we borrow it from our children.”

Friday, 16 October 2015

Why is the ground so white and bright?


With the addition of the new Bachillerato/IB building has come a new colour scheme for the walkways outside the laboratories and going down to the main gate. They say it is in keeping with the colour scheme of the new building, but is there a more environmental reason at play?

Students have said that the surface is too bright and they find it difficult to see. Students and teachers using these walkways have to squint on very sunny days making us all look a little more stressed than we would normally look.


So how is this surface having an environmental impact?

The fact that the surface is reflecting the light (hence very bright) it means that not as much light is being absorbed and converted to heat. The surface is therefore cooler meaning the air above is also cooler. This reflected light should hopefully head off into space and not affect the planet again. The previous surface was red in colour and used to absorb a lot of sunlight energy converting it to heat. This heat would be radiated as infra-red (IR) radiation that would heat the air making it warmer outside the labs. More importantly, this heat would also be trapped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and increase greenhouse effect and global warming which is a very serious problem we are currently facing. So is Oak House reducing global warming by painting its walkways a very light colour?



A test of the difference in the temperature of the surfaces is to check the light surface and red steps outside the labs. Come and feel the difference yourself to see!



First in Combined Science in Spain 2014

Adriana C. was awarded her certificate for achieving first place in the IGCSE Combined Science exam in Spain for June 2014. This is the third consecutive year that students have managed to achieve this accolade. Let’s see how this year’s group does.


Well done to Adriana! Another achievement to add to the long list!


Wednesday, 29 October 2014

IB Environmental Systems: Biotic components of an ecosystem

This week saw the students of IB Environmental Systems surveying the biotic components that make up an ecosystem. (Biotic refers to the living part of an ecosystem like plants, animals and microbes).
The students started this part of their studies by learning to identify organisms using dichotomous keys. They also created their own keys for animals found in the Collserola and plants from around the school (thanks to Nicanor).
Even though these students would have used identification keys in both primary and in ESO, they found it tricky to be able to create their own. To be able to look for features of an organism that can be used to distinguish it from another is a skill that needs practice to perfect.

Still, this is just some of the skills that the IB gives and expects from these students. Onwards and upwards!





Tuesday, 4 March 2014

Is it time for the electric car?

I received a link from one of my students (thanks Bruno) about the plan to introduce electric cars into a Chinese city in order to tackle the awful air pollution they have there.

To read the full article (in Spanish) go here!!

So is it time for other cities to do the same? In China it is Shanghai that are leading this initiative with electric cars being made very much affordable compared to their pollution causing counterparts.....but what about Barcelona for example, we have an air pollution issue here too due to the large volume of traffic (though not on the same scale as Chinese cities). Now the infrastructure is being put into place with charging points throughout the city but what about beyond? Will we now have battery changing stations in place of the common petrol station? And what about battery technology....at the moment the battery takes up most of the mass of the car and they can only get you a limited distance before they need to be fully re-charged....

You'll notice I'm asking a lot of questions whilst giving no real answers but this is the debate that is currently raging over the future of transport and the dwindling supplies of fossil fuels, particularly petroleum...What's you position? Read more and find out for yourself!

Friday, 14 February 2014

Olimpiada de Biologia de Catalunya



Dissabte 8 de febrer, com ja us anunciàvem en la Newsletter de la setmana passada, vàrem assistir a l’ Olimpíada de Biologia de Catalunya. Entre pares, professors acompanyants i alumnes  aspirants es respirava l’emoció de participar. Per a mi va ser una experiència molt gratificant estar entre els futurs estudiants de carreres biosanitàries. Especial emoció em va generar veure que alguns es coneixien entre ells d’altres activitats compartides, com “Bojos per la ciència”.
Em va fer pensar en la importància de participar en activitats on els alumnes amb els mateixos interessos troben un espai d’intercanvi  d’idees.

Espero que puguem participar en properes edicions!

Member of the Oak House Science department Eulàlia Rovira with our star student, Pepe Amich

Pepe Amich showing off his certificate from the Biology Olympiad with pride.

Wednesday, 11 December 2013

BOJOS PER LA BIOMEDICINA/CRAZY ABOUT BIOMEDICINE 2014

El Pepe Amich, alumne de 2n de batxillerat ciències, ha tingut l’oportunitat de participar en aquest programa. Ha sigut una experiència molt erriquidora i que li ha donat l’oportunitat de mantenir contacte i de seguir treballant vinculat a centres de recerca d’alt nivell.

Però escoltem les seves paraules a traves del video següent:       


Efectos curativos del Agua de Mar

Written by María Igualador 2nd Bachillerato Ciencias

            Poco o casi nada se sabe del agua de mar, de sus propiedades químicas, físicas, electromagnéticas o de su complejidad como Totum hidromineral (sólo conocemos el 1% de los órganos vivos que la componen) con sus propiedades curativas. Ha habido muy poca información sobre la terapia marina hasta
el siglo XX. A partir de entonces nace la auténtica Terapia Marina
basada en los trabajos de René Quinton y sus sucesores, como el
doctor Jarricot. En este medio nace toda clase de vida vegetal y animal, incluida la
humana. El medio marino es el ecosistema más importante de la
Tierra, donde la biomasa es mayor que en tierra firme y del que
recibe el nombre de Planeta Azul, ya que ocupa el 71% de la superficie terrestre. Curiosamente la misma proporción de agua que hay en nuestro organismo a la edad adulta y cuya similitud estudió René Quinton hace cien años.

            El agua de mar está compuesta, evidentemente, por agua y minerales en dispersión iónica, además de un sinfín de elementos de la química de la vida, la del carbono.
Cada parte es esencial en el desarrollo de la vida: el agua, los
minerales y el aporte vital del carbono. No se entiende el agua de
mar si se separan cada una de estas partes. ¡De hecho no se puede reconstituir agua de mar a partir de un residuo seco! El Totum hidromineral se hace imprescindible en el concepto del agua de mar.

El agua de mar se sigue extrayendo hoy del mismo punto que señaló en su día Quinton, a 30 metros de la superficie y a 10 metros del fondo del Océano Atlántico ya que ésta es la zona de penetración solar y en ella el agua es de excepcional pureza. Una vez recogida se transporta a los laboratorios mantenida a una temperatura de 4 grados centígrados. Antes de su envasado se esteriliza en frío para que no pierda sus propiedades terapéuticas y se pasa por un microfiltro con orificios de 0,22 micras. Con esta operación -que dura menos de 48 horas- se obtiene un agua de mar hipertónica de alrededor de 30 gramos de sales totales por litro que se comercializa en forma de spray o de ampolla bebible.



            El Plasma de Quinton se utiliza para tratar patologías como:
    Problemas de próstata.
    Psoriasis y otras enfermedades de la piel.
    Quemaduras.
    Infecciones.
    Alopecia.
    Artritis.
    Osteoporosis
    Bronquitis.
    Asma.
    Gingivitis.
    Problemas gastrointestinales.
    Hemofilia.
    Obesidad.
    Sinusitis.
    Anorexia y bulimia.
    Depresión del sistema inmune.
    Fatiga crónica o aguda.
    Desórdenes de huesos.
    Dolores del crecimiento en niños.

    Estrés.


El Plasma de Quinton es uno de los mejores regeneradores de los mecanismos celulares. En Estados Unidos se está empleando para corregir problemas de próstata, psoriasis, quemaduras, alopecia, artritis, osteoporosis, bronquitis, asma, gingivitis, problemas gastrointestinales o desequilibrios del sistema nervioso central, entre otras patologías. Incluso se ha demostrado su eficacia para tratar casos de drogodependencia, alcoholismo y hemofilia.

    Y está además específicamente recomendado para problemas de piel, depresión del sistema inmune, infecciones, fatiga crónica o aguda, desórdenes de huesos en adultos, dolores del crecimiento en niños, embarazo y lactancia, abortos espontáneos repetidos, estrés y como normalizador de las deficiencias nutricionales.
En España algunos centros de medicina complementaria lo recomiendan también en casos de obesidad, estados de cansancio, sinusitis e, incluso, anorexia o desnutrición

    Y lo singular es que, a pesar de que esta terapia ha demostrado sobradamente su capacidad para curar enfermedades mortales ya en el siglo pasado, tanto en España como en la Unión Europea no se permite en la actualidad su uso más que como complemento dietético.