Interdependence PDP
This week we were lucky enough to get a talk from the soil association and visit a dairy farm where we learned in depth the inner workings of a technologically advanced farm. The farm visit was very surprising to see how extremely efficient they were at milking the cows. The main barn was highly advanced with special curtains along the side of the barn to keep the temperature right and a unique robot that would dispense and push food towards the cows. This robot used a laser to measure the height of the hay and adjusted the food accordingly. The cows also were trained to enter a machine that would automatically seek out there udders and milk them. The machinery was very hi-tech and we were told it would cost around £100,000 to purchase. However even with all the hi-tech equipment the price of milk continues to be low making it more difficult for the business to be profitable. The cows heritage also plays a large part of how much it is worth as it its family tree is tracked back many generations. Interestingly if the calf born is male it is sadly not allowed to survive as it is not cost effective for the business. Only one bull was kept in the whole barn and was chosen specifically for the next generation. The farm also had a bank of frozen sperm that would detail the bulls characteristics which could be required to fix a problem in the next generation. e.g If one cow has a history of blood conditions a bull with a higher immune system that could perhaps prevent blood conditions in future generations.
We also received a talk from the soil association which discussed how to identify different types of soil, who the soil association are and what they do. We also learned how crucial soil is in our lives as 95% of our food relies on healthy soil. Perhaps the most surprising fact we learned was the fact that soil helps combat climate change greatly, whether it is through filtering our water and purifying our air to storing large amounts of harmful carbon.
Study task
PDP
I recently attended a lecture on climate change which was followed up by two workshops one which focused on the practical activities that could be performed to teach children about climate change and the other gave a more in depth look into how big an issue climate change is becoming. Firstly the lecture outlined how serious climate change is with and how it can be taught in schools to help encourage children to do their part in helping the environment. The workshop led by Louise was interesting and I particularly enjoyed the video clip showing the CO2 gas moving through the atmosphere. It changed radically at spring time as a result of the plants absorbing some of the gas, I found the visuals of the video engaging and quite shocking to see such a large amount in the winter months especially. This shed light on just how serious climate change is and what has been done about it so far such as the Kyoto meeting which has had issues with america not ratifying it sadly. However success in preventing climate change has been made with the Montreal agreement which implemented the 5p charge for plastic bags.
The practical workshop provided a variety of practical tasks that could be used in schools and included activities on making a tornado, creating snowflakes, constructing a thermometer and show the differences of water temperature characteristics. Another less practical task that was available was a debate about whether climate change even exists which could be a viable activity for upper school primary children that would allow them to improve their research skills. The creating a tornado task was enjoyable and easy to carry out making it good for even the younger years. Caution should still be taken however as they may try and drink the liquid which would be harmful. The creating snowflakes task could was enjoyable and could be related to maths with regards to patterning and tessellation. Supervision should be still be given as the scissors are dangerous if you used carelessly. The constructing a thermometer task however proved problematic from the start and I would not advise allowing the children to attempt to create their own. Although a class demonstration could be given where the teacher makes the thermometer instead.
Study task
Upon completing the carbon footprint quiz and receiving a score of 105% I reflected upon why I got this score and what i could do to improve this score. Firstly I discovered the largest contributors to this score were by Food and Travel at 39% and 36% respectively. Firstly the Food score is attributed mainly to the large amount of takeouts and lack of locally sourced food purchased on a weekly basis. However, this can be easily be fixed by ceasing eating out and purchasing fresher food that is grown in the U.K. As for the large amount created by travel which mainly due to my use of the car it can be helped by taking less car journeys and walking more. Use of local bus and train routes could also help to reduce my carbon footprint. This score was surprising to discover that it was so high as I was unaware of how detrimental some activities are to the environment. I presumed I was good at helping the environment as I always recycle my bins at home and keep healthy myself.
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