Ecology and Exploration in Year 9
Year 9 students are making great use of the green areas on campus to dive into their exploration-themed ecology lessons.
Having first built their knowledge about the journeys of famous explorers, including Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace, these exploration lessons provided an opportunity for students to embark on their own learning journeys around the school grounds. Year 9 focused their explorative journeys on observing and measuring the biotic and abiotic factors that affect organisms.
They used various fieldwork equipment to measure the abiotic factors, including light intensity, humidity, air temperature, canopy cover and wind speed, among other factors, across various areas of the school. This exploratory lesson was then expanded upon in the Outdoor Classroom where students observed how diverse organisms interact with each other and their habitats.
Through this learning theme, Year 9 are also developing skills in safely and ethically sampling organisms using a variety of techniques, including pond dipping and sweep netting, in order to carefully observe these organisms’ adaptations.
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