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The Competition
The activities in this pack have been developed to help students explore the topic of ecosystems through creative media. The activities will help students think creatively about science, enabling them to submit a piece of creative media into the BioMedia Meltdown competition. The piece of creative media that is submitted to the competition must address one of the following topics from the national curriculum.
This kit covers the following KS3 National Curriculum topics: •
Definitions of environment, habitat, population, community and ecosystems • Movement of energy from the sun into producers and throughout the food web • The relationships between primary, secondary and tertiary consumers • Food chains and food webs • The importance of plant reproduction through insect pollination for human food security • Pyramid of biomass, pyramid of numbers and alternative pyramids • Bioaccumulation
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The Kit
Digital Sound Recorder + SD Card Reader + Rechargeable Batteries x 1
Letter Stencil Sets x 2 Colouring Pencils © Trap Camera + SD Card Reader + Rechargeable Batteries x 8 Bungee Cord Powder Paint x 5 © Mixing Cups x 5 Straws © Pipettes x 10 Camera + SD Card Reader + Rechargeable Batteries x 2 Camera Tripod Stand + Mobile Phone Clamp Silhouette Sets x 3 Memory Stick Paint Brushes x 5 Sun-print Paper © Mathematical Set x 2 Fine Liners Sets x 2 © Sharpie Set Fish Stamp Hole Punch Glue Sticks x 5 © Coloured Scrap Paper ©
© - Consumables 3
Podcast
National Curriculum topic: Understanding of the key words environment, habitat, population, community and ecosystems
Equipment included in the kit: • •
Digital sound recorder Audacity software (free online download)
Additional equipment needed: • Computer
Context: Often when nature is discussed in both the scientific literature and in the news, the following key words are used; environment, habitat, population, community and ecosystems. In order to have a good understanding of these discussions it is crucial to have an understanding of these key words.
Activity: Get your students to show their understanding of the key words by using the digital sound recorder and Audacity software to create a “Nature & environment” news podcast. First, students should gather sound recordings from the playground. •Habitat sounds: walking on concrete floor, leaves rustling in the wind or the sound of rain •Population sounds: bird song, dogs barking or people talking •Community sounds: different organisms interacting such as a dog walker calling their dog. Students can create extra sounds if they feel it is necessary. Next, students should place these sound recordings into Audacity software (free online download). A second recording should then be made that can be overlaid on top of the sounds recorded. The second recording should be done in a news format (get your students to listen to the news on the radio) where students comment on how the sounds they have recorded are relevant to the aforementioned key words.
Download Audacity for free here: http://www.audacityteam.org/
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Podcast
Sound recorder: Switch the sound recorder on and press record when you want to capture a sound. It is best to record all your sounds within a single recording. Use the USB port to transfer the sound recordings to Audacity where you can manipulate them to make your podcast.
Digital sound recorder There are three important tools that students will need to use in this software:
Once you have finished making your podcast, click on file and export.
Submit this: This activity can be submitted into the competition by sending your audio file to us via the online service We Transfer.
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Typography
National Curriculum topic: Understanding of the key words environment, habitat, population, community and ecosystems
Equipment included in the kit: • • • •
Letter stencils Colouring pencils Poster map of London Camera trap (Take it further option)
Context: Living in big cities such as London we might think that an understanding of the following key words; environment, habitat, population, community and ecosystems are not relevant to our lives. These key words are in actual fact crucial in being able to make sense of our surroundings in big cities providing that they are applied properly.
Activity: Get your students to explore the relevance of these words to living in a city by using the maps of London and letter stencils provided to create a typographical map. To begin, stencil the key words on the map. Around these key words get your students to clarify their understanding by stencilling additional relevant words that show their understanding of how they are relevant within the context of a city.
Trap camera & bungee cord
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Typography
Poster map of London
Take it further: The camera will be provided with all the necessary settings prepared, so all you need to do is open it up and turn it on. To ensure that your camera trap captures images of urban wildlife try setting up the camera in several locations such as facing bins, hedges or areas where there is overgrowth. The camera can be left running overnight or as long as the rechargeable batteries last. In addition to stencilled typography students can then print off the images captured by the trap camera and place these onto their map.
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Paint Blowing
National Curriculum topic: Movement of energy from the sun into producers and throughout the food web
Equipment included in the kit: • Paint • Paint mixing cups • Straws • Pipettes • Food web templates
Context: The energy that is required for food webs to function is created by plants through the process of photosynthesis utilising sunlight. As this energy moves up through the food web, less of it becomes available at each succeeding trophic level. The amount of energy that is available at each trophic level has a great impact on the number and size of organisms that can be sustained.
Activity: Get your students to use the paint, straws and templates provided to show how energy is lost as it moves up through the food web. Mix very little water with the green, red, yellow and blue powdered paint in separate cups until a thick consistency is achieved. Use the pipettes to measure out the correct volume of paint (energy) for each coloured circle (that represents an organism) as indicated on the template. Next, demonstrate the availability of energy for the next trophic level by blowing the paint to connect organisms that are in the same food chain. Use a cup of water to clean the pipette between use.
Take it further: Once the paint has dried use the supplied colouring in material in the loan kit to illustrate the environment in which the food web might exist or annotate it with further information about how energy is lost as it moves through the food web. 8
Paint Blowing
Example of a paint blowing diagram
Energy lost through heat loss Energy lost through movement
Energy lost through faeces Energy passed onto the next trophic level
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Paint Blowing
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Paint Blowing
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Paint Blowing
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Illustration
National Curriculum topic: The relationships between primary, secondary and tertiary consumers
Equipment included in the kit: • Template • Colouring in pencils
Context: A food chain describes a sequence of organisms that eat each other within an ecosystem in order to obtain nutrition and energy. Food chains consist of producers, primary consumers, secondary consumers and tertiary consumers. Producers such as grass are responsible for energy entering the food chain via the process of photosynthesis. The producers are eaten by primary consumers which are herbivores, such as grasshoppers. The primary consumers are eaten by secondary consumers which are predators, such as frogs. The secondary consumers are eaten by tertiary consumers which usually are top predators, such as snakes.
Activity: Get your students, in groups of four, to use the templates provided to play the food chain illustration game.
Example of the illustration game
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Illustration
In groups of four, each student must start with their own template and play the game by following these steps:
Step 1 - Illustrate an organism as fast as possible under one of the titles; producer, primary consumer, secondary consumer or tertiary consumer.
Step 2 - As soon as you are finished your first illustration pass the template to the right hand side.
Step 3 - Under one of the remaining titles, illustrate another organism that might be found in the same food chain as the previously illustrated organism.
Step 4 - Repeat step 2 and 3 until the template has been comple complete their template correctly wins.
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ted. The first group to
Stop - Motion
National Curriculum topic: The interdependence of organisms in an ecosystem
Equipment included in the kit: • Camera • Tripod camera stand • Silhouettes • Memory stick • Monkey Jam software (free online download)
Context: Ecosystems are highly dynamic and constantly in flux as a result of the interdependency between the organisms within these systems. The increase and decrease of certain populations of organism within an ecosystem can have a great impact on other populations within the same system. Such an increase and decrease can be seen in the relationship of predators and their prey. The loss of certain organisms such as producers, which include all photosynthesising plants, can have a much more profound effect on an ecosystem than the loss of organisms such as consumers.
Activity: Use the silhouettes, removable chalk pens, camera and free software - Monkey Jam, to create a stop-motion film that shows the affect that population changes have in an ecosystem. Example video on memory stick: 5 - Stop-Motion
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Stop-Motion
Stop-motion films are made up of lots of individual photos that when played in quick succession, show motion. A stop motion film is made by moving, drawing or changing one small thing in between taking each photo. Students must begin by choosing one of the ecosystems provided and cut out the organisms provided.
The camera should be set up as shown in the image
To begin their animation students must “upset” the ecosystem by removing or adding one of the organisms from the food web. As seen in the example video, you must then show how the first change will impact upon the other organism in the ecosystem, by either adding or removing organisms that are affected. In order to make a 1 minute long video at 5 frames per second (FPS) students will have to take 300 photos. Once students have finished taking photos they must then be placed into the software, Monkey Jam.
Software instructions: Use the link below to download the free stop-motion software, Monkey Jam. Plug the camera into the computer using the USB cable. Open up Monkey Jam. Click settings>FPS>Other and enter 5. Click file>Import>Images Locate the images on your desktop. Holding down shift click on the top image and bottom image so that they are all highlighted>Add Files>Import. Click on the film roll icon “ export exposure sheet as an AVI movie” – change ONLY the untitled to the name you want to call your film (must have .avi at the end of the file name) change the movie size to 640x480 . For the video compressor option select none and then click save.
Download Monkey Jam for free here: http://monkeyjam.org/download
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Prints 1
National Curriculum topic: The importance of plant reproduction through insect pollination for human food security
Equipment included in the kit: • Paint • Paint brush • Pollinator identification card
Additional equipment needed: •
Fruit and vegetables
Context: The majority of the diversity found in plants relies on insect pollinators to aid the process of sexual reproduction. Without this free pollination service, provided by pollinators, biodiversity would be under very serious threat.
Activity: Get your students to use the paint, fruit and vegetables to create a stamp print of various pollinators to symbolically portray the importance of pollinators to human food security. Mix the powder paints to the consistency and colours that you wish. Cut the vegetables and fruit into the shapes that you require to print your pollinator. Use the paint brush to paint the side of the vegetable and fruit you intend to use as a stamp and then place it paint side facing down to make a stamp.
Example of a vegetable printed pollinator 17
Prints 2
Equipment included in the kit: • •
Sunprint paper Tub full of water
Additional equipment needed: • Plant material to create print • Cardboard
Context: The majority of the diversity found in plants relies on insect pollinators to aid the process of sexual reproduction. Without this free pollination service, provided by pollinators, biodiversity would be under very serious threat.
Activity: Get your students to use the sun-print paper and plant material that they collect to create prints of pollinators to symbolically portray the importance of pollinators to human food security.
Example of sun-printed pollinators
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Prints
Step 1 - Collect different plant matter with which to create your pollinators. Step 2 - Out of the reach of the sun, place your sun-print paper on a solid piece of card with the blue side facing up. Arrange your plant matter in the shape of a pollinator on the blue side of the sun-print paper.
Step 3 - Place your sun-print, now with your design on it, on the windowsill in the direct sunlight for 2 – 5 minutes or until the blue paper turns pale blue/white.
Step 4 - Rinse your paper in water for 1-5 minutes (the white will turn blue and the blue will turn white). For a deeper blue colour leave the paper in the water for a while.
Step 5 -
Lay your sun-print on an absorbent surface and allow it to dry.
Polysiphonia affinis from Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions by Anna Atkins (1853), over 160 years ago!
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Mandala
National Curriculum topic: Biomass pyramid, pyramid of numbers and alternative pyramids
Equipment included in the kit: • •
Mathematical instrument set Fine liners
Context: Pyramids of numbers are a form of bar chart that are used to show the population of each organism in a food chain. The more organisms there are within a population the wider the bar is and so the bars are drawn to scale. The bottom bar of the pyramid is always the producer in the food chain.
Activity: Get your students to use the mathematical instrument set and fine liners to create a mandala representation of the pyramids.
Hand Drawn Example of a Mandala
Birds Worms Trees
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Mandala
Students must first decide which of the three pyramids they wish to present as a mandala;
Use the diagram provided below to create the basic layout of a mandala. As shown in the above diagram the pyramid bars must be represented to scale within the mandala. Once the basic structure has been achieved, students can then decorate the rings of their mandala using relevant patterns, shapes and/or small illustrations of the animals that each ring represents. Lastly, students should label the organisms that are represented in their mandala.
Use the half circle protractor to draw the basic shape.
Decorate each ring with shapes Using the ruler, mark out and illustrations of the organisms different lengths along the horizontal line, making sure the that each represents. After you width is to scale with the width have completed your illustrations label them with the name of the of the pyramid bar. organism that each represents.
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Stamps
National Curriculum topic: Bioaccumulation
Equipment included in the kit: • • • •
Animal palm stamps Hole punch Multi coloured paper Glue stick
Context: Bioaccumulation describes the process whereby substances accumulate in a food chain as the organisms that ingest them are unable to excrete them. When these substances are poisonous, bioaccumulation can cause damage to organisms throughout the food chain. Predators are particularly affected by this process as they are at the end of the chain, thus have the highest concentrations of the poisonous substance. Mercury compounds that were used to make insecticides and barnacle repellent paint for ships as an example of a poisonouse substance that caused bioaccumulation. Mercury bioaccumulation often occurs in marine life as it is taken up by small plant plankton before moving its way up into big fish. Mercury, once in the food chain, causes damage to the nervous system and reproductive system of mammals.
Activity: Get your students to use the animal palm stamps to create a diagram that demonstrates the process of bioaccumulation. As indicated in the diagram, follow the steps to discover and demonstrate how the process of bioaccumulation occurs:
Take it further: Make a bottle of the toxin that caused the bioaccumulation (i.e. DDT in birds) out of all the excess cut offs of paper and label it to remind you of the name of the poison.
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Stamps
Use the hole punch to cut out a minimum of 20 circles of the poisonous mercury compounds, making sure to choose a colour or pattern that will stand out from the colour or pattern that you choose for your fish. Use the palm stamp to punch out a minimum of 40 fish, making sure to choose a colour or pattern that will stand out from the colour or pattern that you choose for your circles.
Use the glue sticks to glue a circle of poisonous mercury to each fish. This represents the first stage in bioaccumulation. Some of the fish will carry the poison while others will not.
Use the fish to create bigger fish. These bigger fish have consumed the smaller ones and as a result have also accumulated their toxic mercury compounds.
Use the fish you have made in the previous step to create even bigger fish. Students should start to notice that as they move further up in the food chain the toxins become increasingly concentrated within a single species thus illustrating how bioaccumulation occurs.
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BioMedia Meltdown 2016 – Official rules NO PURCHASE OR PAYMENT OF ANY KIND IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN THIS COMPETITION. PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT A PRIZE DRAW BUT A CREATIVE SCIENCE COMPETITION. BIOMEDIA MELTDOWN COMPETITION IS A SKILL CONTEST WHERE ELIGIBLE STUDENTS WILL BE INVITED TO SUBMIT THEIR PIECE OF CREATIVE SCIENCE MEDIA TO THE LINNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. BY ENTERING THE BIOMEDIA MELTDOWN COMPETITION YOU ACCEPT, PERSONALLY, THE CONDITIONS STATED IN THESE OFFICIAL COMPETITION RULES AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE DECISIONS OF THE JUDGES. The competition will comprise an open submission phase, judging phase and selection of winners, who will be joined by friends, family and other entrants at celebration evening at The Linnean Society of London, Burlington House, Piccadilly.
Competition dates and times: • • • • •
The competition will open to receive entries on the 1st of March 2016. Entries will close on the 15th July 2016. Judging will take place over the month of August 2016. Winners will be announced on the 1st of September 2016. A celebration evening at The Linnean Society of London, Burlington House will take place on the 14th of October 2016.
Eligibility: To be eligible to enter the BioMedia Meltdown Competition the following terms must be met: Entrants must attend a school in the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, Brent or Ealing. Entrants must currently be in KS3 or equivalent in schools that work with students that have moderate to severe learning difficulties. All entries must be submitted with a completed submission form. Entries must be a piece of creative media that is in line with the official rules of the BioMedia Meltdown Competition. It is the entrant’s responsibility to comply with these official rules.
How to enter the competition:
All entries must be submitted with a submission form. If possible, creative media should be physically submitted via post to the following address:
The Linnean Society of London, Toynbee House, Toynbee Road, Wimbledon, London, SW20 8SL For media that cannot be submitted physically, photographs or links to videos and audio files can be submitted instead. If a piece of creative media is being submitted physically the submission form must be attached to the entry. For entrants who are unable to physically send in their entries, the submission form should be emailed to Ross Ziegelmeier with a link to the video or attachment of the creative media to be assessed. The copyright for each piece of media remains with the entrant but the Linnean Society of London reserves the right to have all media displayed in an exhibition and/or publish images/videos in connection with the competition as it deems appropriate. Students may enter the BioMedia Meltdown Competition as either an individual or a group.
Entering the competition as an individual: • • •
Only one piece of media can be entered per applicant. All media must be originally produced by the individual entrant and not be a product of further collaboration. Submitted media must be in line with the terms and conditions of the BioMedia Meltdown Competition Official Rules.
Entering the competition as a group: • • • • • •
Only one piece of media can be entered per group. A group cannot exceed more than three members. All media must be originally produced by only the members of the group and not a product of further collaboration. All team members must meet the eligibility requirements of the competition. All team members must be from the same school. Submitted media must be in line with the terms and conditions of the BioMedia Meltdown Competition Official Rules.
Competition details:
All media entered into the BioMedia Meltdown Competition must be original, therefore, have no copyrighted material that does not belong to the entrant (this includes company names, music, photographs, works of art, television, movies, or other media).
The piece of creative media that is submitted to the competition must address one of the following topics from the national curriculum.
•Definitions of environment, habitat, population, community and ecosystems •Movement of energy from the sun into producers and throughout the food web •The relationships between primary, secondary and tertiary consumers •Food webs and food chains •The importance of plant reproduction through insect pollination for human food security •Pyramid of biomass, pyramid of numbers and alternative pyramids •Bioaccumulation
The following media may (but not exclusively) be used:
•Painting and drawing (any medium/mixed media, eg watercolour, oil, acrylic, charcoal, pen & ink) •Printmaking (e.g (screen-print, collagraph, cyanotype) •Photography •Sculpture •Film •Theatre (performance filmed and must have a dialogue) •Music (must have lyrics) •Dance (performance filmed and must have a dialogue) •Textiles/sewing (eg weaving, appliqué) •Story Writing
Judging:
All submitted media will be assessed by independent volunteer judges. The judges will be comprised of academics, education professionals and artists. The following judging criteria and associated maximum scores will be used to assess all entries made: • Artist statement (5) • Creative execution (10) • Scientific interpretation (15) • Understanding of ecosystems (15) • Succinct understanding of the National Curriculum topic chosen (5) 50 is a perfect score
Prizes:
The prizes are not transferable or redeemable for cash. Each individual and group member that is a first place prize winner will receive an experiential day out, to the value of £170. Each individual and group member that is a third and second place prize winner will receive an award, to the value of £50.
Celebration evening:
The celebration evening will showcase as many of the entries made as practicable and will take place on the 14th of October 2016, at the Linnean Society of London, Burlington House, Piccadilly. Prizes will be awarded to the winners at this celebration evening. The celebration evening will be attended by entrants, their teachers, and friends and family, indeed anyone connected with the BioMedia Meltdown Competition who would like to enjoy an evening of celebrating all the entrants’ creative efforts.
