FUNGI SPORULATION

 In this video you can observe the amount of spores released by only one mushroom!! 

NATURE SPOTTING 2015/2016!

Take a look at the collection of photos sent to Nature Spotting!
YEAR 2015/16

 Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
By Elier Galofre - E2

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
By Elier Galofre - E2

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
By Elier Galofre - E2

Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
By Elier Galofre - E2

Herons - Tenerife
By Macarena González - E1

 Black swans and hungry fish - Tenerife
By Macarena González - E1

 Dolphin - Tenerife 
By Macarena González - E1

 Geese and ducks - Jeréz
By Macarena González - E1

 Jellyfish - Tenerife
By Macarena González - E1

 Jellyfish - Tenerife
By Macarena González - E1

 Octupus - Almería
By Macarena González - E1

Orca - Tenerife
By Macarena González - E1

 Orca - Tenerife
By Macarena González - E1

Turtle and water lilies - Chiclana
By Macarena González - E1

 Yellow rose 
By Macarena González - E1

Sea cucumber
By Macarena González - E1

Seagull - Málaga
By Macarena González - E1

Jellyfish - San Antonio, Portugal
By Paula Martínez E1 and Laura Cózar E2

Red squirrel - Retiro Park, Madrid
Paula Martínez  - E1

Cat - By Silvia Pacheco E1

Cachalot - By Silvia Pacheco E1

Turtle - By Silvia Pacheco E1

Peacock - By Silvia Pacheco E1

Cachalots - By Silvia Pcheco E1

Cachalots - By Silvia Pacheco E1

PARTICIPATE!

We are surrounded by wildlife! We live together with many species of living things in our houses, in our gardens, in our local park or at school. We often don't notice the variety of species that inhabit our very near surroundings. In this section, I encourage you to look out for them. Carry a small camera with you and do some nature spotting! Take pictures and identify as many living things as you can. You can publish your photos in this section.Once you get started you'll be surprised to find the biodiversity around you!

You can send your nature spotting photographs to sciencemagazinesheilabastian@gmail.com

THINGS TO REMEMBER!

Here are some of the dates you should remember during this term. If you haven't written them in your agenda you should do it now.

GRADE EXAMS:

ESO 1 

GROUPS A,E,D - Monday 26th September

GROUPS B,C,F - Wednesday 28th September

GROUPS A,E,D - Monday 24th October

GROUPS B,C,F - Wednesday 26th October

ESO 2

GROUP C - Tuesday 18th October

GROUP B - Wednesday 19th October

GROUP A,D,E,F - Thursday 20th October

SCIENCE FAIR ESO 1 STUDENTS - MAY 2015

13 ESO 1 students worked very hard to have their science projects ready for the school annual Science Fair. These students showed a lot of interest and enthusiasm from the moment they were chosen to participate. The first step, as always, was to choose a suitable project. A project that above all suits their interests and with which they feel confident. We prepared a variety of experiments from models of houses and streets to illustrate electric circuits in series and in parallel, to cultivating onions vertically and making geode eggs.

The following posts will explain each of these projects in detail. In the meantime you can take a look at these pictures where you can see them making some last minute touches.

ESO 1 GRADE EXAM

These are the dates for the first biology/geology grade exam:

E1D - Monday 5th Oct.
E1A - Tuesday 6th Oct.
E1B,1C,1E,1F - Wednesday 7th Oct.

Contents: Unit 1
 Make sure you know really well the following contents:
                  + The Geocentric and Heliocentric theory
                  + The units of measurement.
                  + The characteristics of the planets of the Solar System.

What is a Supermoon or Perigee Moon?

  We were talking about what supermoons are, today in an ESO1 class. If you are interested, here is a great video that will help you understand what a supermoon is.

Size and scale of the Universe - Enjoy this interactive model of the Universe!

The extremely big size of the Universe is often difficult for us to understand. The distances and sizes are so far beyond our everyday experience. Zoom in and out with this interactive model of the Universe to discover the existence of both the big and small elements. You will be able to zoom out from the Earth to the Sun and then the Solar System, then to galaxies and all the way out to the rest if the Universe. You will also be able to zoom in to the smaller components of matter and discover an entire world of structures and particles that the bare human eye can't see.

Click here to start! 

Scale of the Universe

NEXT GRADE TESTS

ESO 1 - Unit 12 - Matter and it's properties and elements and their symbols.
Groups A,B,C,E - 6th May
Groups D,F - 7th May

ESO 2 - Unit 11 - Heat and temperature 
              Unit 12 - Light and sound
Groups A,C,D - 4th May
Group B - 5th May

Read, learn and enjoy more!!

For more interesting things related to science, join Science Magazine on twitter:  @sciencebastian

ELECTROMAGNETS - MAGNETS THAT CAN BE TURNED ON OR OFF

WHAT IS AN ELECTROMAGNET?

 An electromagnet is a magnet that is created using an electric current. When an electric current flows in a wire it creates a magnetic field. By winding the wire into a coil we can strengthen the magnetic field. We can make an even stronger electromagnet by winding wire around a metal core, for example, an iron nail.When electricity passes through the wire, a magnetic field is created around the nail. The advantage of electromagnets is that, unlike ordinary magnets,  they can be turned on or off, by connecting or disconnecting the electric source. This makes the applications of electromagnets endless. The magnetic force created by electromagnets can strengthened or weakend by increasing or decreasing the electric current or by adding more turns to the coil.

  Electromagnets are used in many electronic devices including hard disk drives, speakers, motors and generators.

 This experiment was presented two years ago in the school science fair. It is a fun way to explain and understand how electromagnets work. To make this device a shoe box, card, string, a match box were used. For the electromagnet, a nail, wire, and a battery and a piece of card and paper clip to make a switch. How to play? Switch on the electromagnet and stick a small metal to it. Push the match box, until it begins to swing. Now try to make the metal fall in the box by switching the electromagnet off.

New Nature Spotting pictures!

Spider with its abdomen covered with offspring - Araña con las crías en el abdomen
By Adrián Rodríguez Bastian - E2A

SCIENCE RESIT EXAM ESO 1

The science E1 resit exam is on the 15th January. You must revise units 1,2,3 and 4. I recommend that you concentrate on the summaries in the text book that appear under the title "What should you know". These will you help you revise the basic concepts to pass.

 For extra knowledge, read the units in the book and the notes in your notebooks. Some of the activities we have done will help you too. You will find the information we have organised in tables and diagrams also useful for revision, for example, "Characteristics of the five kingdoms" or "Differences between animal and plant cells".

Good luck!

Praying mantis eats a cricket!

 We have various praying mantis in the class. Some are green and some are brown. The green mantis have been found on the school grounds in the plants and bushes. I found the brown mantis one morning wandering on the classroom floor. Praying mantis camouflage and change colour depending on where they are. So you can now guess the colour of our classroom floor!

 We are feeding them on live insects like flies, crickets and also other mantis. They are predators and eat their prey in only a few seconds. They can eat once every few days. 

 Female mantis have wider abdomen and two white spots on their wings. The one in this picture is a female and she has laid her eggs on the top of this blue container. We will wait until the spring to see them hatch. Male mantis have a narrow abdomen.

AN EXTRAORDINARY SWEET POTATO

We have an amazing sweet potato growing in our laboratory. This astonishing sample weighs over 3kg and is covered with long shoots and leaves that have grown from the tuber. Sweet potatoes are rich in carbohydrates, sugars and carotenoids, which give them their orange colour. They have heart shaped leaves and funnel shaped pink or purple flowers. It would be good to see the flowers and fruits grow on our sample.
  Mrs. Ana Buggle kindly gave us this extraordinary sample that had grown in her garden plot in Puebla de los Infantes.

  The scienctific name for sweet potato is Ipomoea batata, you can click on this link to read more about this species. It contains a lot of interesting information. CHECK IT OUT!

Ipomoea batata