If you are a teacher new to having transition year students for Science and want to engage students outside the main curriculum, or may be teaching Horticulture and don’t know where to start. This blog is written with you in mind. Having studied Horticulture in college and gone on to teaching Biology at second level, I found that I often had TY students on my time table, so the following suggestions have been tried and refined over the years.
Also it’s possible you have one class a week, then there’s trips, matches and all the other extra curricular activities, so the class activities need to be short and completed quickly or continue over the full year with very little minding.
September:
Tree project… Identify the trees in the school grounds/locality/town park…..Know the scientific name/common name/ name in Irish/other language….take photos/drawings of leaves and seeds….gather as many seeds as you can….Activities re seeds identification from outside, dissect, record % germination…plant correct way up in peat free compost with grit added.
Variations: investigate geotropism by planting seeds in different directions….Clay v’s compost for recording %germination….compare different trees to see if the %germination is the same….check if conkers are going to germinate by placing in water and remove the ones that float… Why would this be so?
Expand research into the uses of timber and production of the same.
Research placenames… Irish legends and stories involving trees
The seeds can be left to germinate which would be later in the year, the seeds can also be left outside, once strong the seedlings can be planted out next April and/or given to each student to take away…..Could also create a small area in the school grounds 2m x 2m plant a mixture of the saplings and record growth with future year groups, this would also great a small area for biodiversity investigations.
Forestry: Deciduous v’s Coniferous… % Forestry in Ireland compared to EU….Killarney national park, Oak trees, their competitors, the deer population, the invasive species of Rhododendron investigate the backstory to why this plant was introduced… this now brings you to a discussion/ research project on other invasive species… movement of species….advantages/disadvantages…could then move into genetics… Refer to wind pollination/insect pollination,
Take an indepth look at the production of pine cones on Scots pine as per the old biology syllabus..Senior Biology by Siobhan Scott if you can get your hands on it,
Christmas trees… Decorations fake v’s real …economic importance of trees at this time of the year, combined with a visit to a garden centre…Visit to a forest to test soil pH/ flora and fauna…compare deciduous in winter to coniferous in winter… revisit in Spring
Why do we put up decorations at this time of the year?….What happens in other countries? Are there similar customs and traditions if so what might be the possible reasons for this
