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  • SAPS Newsletter - September 2016

SAPS Newsletter - September 2016

Free 14-16 Biology posters, a new post-16 resource, and weird ideas

Welcome to the September newsletter from Science and Plants for Schools. This month, we're all about plant diseases. We've got the latest in our series of free biology posters to give away, this time on the topic of plant disease for 14-16 students. There's a new resource on plant disease for post-16 students - perfect for anyone teaching OCR A-level specification. Plus the latest CPD opportunities and intriguing science news.

Get our free 14-16 Biology poster  -  Fortress Plant and the Invading Pathogens

Another fabulous free biology poster for schools - this one focused on the new plant communicable disease topic in GCSE biology. 

This is particularly suitable for schools teaching GCSE biology, but will be a welcome addition to any science classroom wall. 

Request a free copy

  

New resource - Plant disease - Fighting for Survival (post-16)

In this worksheet and case study, for post-16 students, students develop their understanding of communicable plant disease and how plants respond to infection.

This activity is particularly directed at post-16 students studying A-level biology, but will be of use for all post-16 teaching on plant disease. It addresses the plant related learning outcomes in the OCR Biology A specification, section 4.1.1 ‘communicable diseases, disease prevention and the immune system’.

Download the resource

 

Join us at the ASE Annual Conference for hands-on CPD and inspiring science

For a chance to get hands-on with some of our core practicals, join us at the ASE Annual Conference in in Reading January 2016.  

We will be running two practical drop-in workshops, from 1pm-4pm on Thursday 5th and Friday 6th January. A team of experienced practical leads will take you through the tips and tricks to ensure your new GCSE and A-level practicals work smoothly. 

The Biology in the Real World lecture series will also be of interest, taking place all day on Friday. With a selection of leading scientists, keep a special eye out for Prof Gary Foster, on the topic of the human side of plant diseases: always an entertaining and memorable speaker, Gary will reveal how potato blight resulted in your local Irish pub, and much more. 

View the conference programme

 

The Three Weirdest Botanical Techno-inspirations this Summer  

1. Substituting pollen for graphite in lithium batteries

Pollution from graphite mines is a serious environmental problem in China. Now three scientists have demonstrated that pollen from the cat-tail plant could offer an alternative source of carbon for the anode.

2. Spruce cones as CO2 scrubbers

Trapping CO2 emissions at their source - whether car exhausts or factory chimneys - could play a role in fighting climate change. A team of British scientists set out to create a low-cost and abundant carbon sorbent from renewable materials. By burning and grinding up cones from spruce trees, they produced a plant-based material able to absorb up to 21% of its weight in CO2.

3. Peanut shells to degrade air pollutants

In the right hands, there's no such thing as waste. Our love of peanut butter and peanut snacks mean that there's a growing pile of surplus peanut shells in Mexico. But microbes on the shells utilise methanol and other air-borne solvent products of industrial processes for their own growth. A Mexican researcher has taken crushed shells and has created a prototype biofilter for factories.  

Find out more about all of these at the AoB blog

 

SAPS welcomes a new Head of Programme: Dan Jenkins  

Following the departure earlier in the year of the previous SAPS Director Ginny Page, the new Head of Programme, Dan Jenkins, was appointed over the summer break. Many of you will already know Dan from his work for SAPS over the past 6 years as Project Manager.

As a team we look forward to exciting new developments for the SAPS project and the wider Gatsby Plant Science Education Programme of which we are a part. Funded by the Gatsby Charitable Foundation and based at the University of Cambridge the Programme runs three interlinking projects:

  • supporting School and College science teachers and technicians through the SAPS project with an aim to increase the interest and enjoyment of plant science throughout formal science education.
  • promote the engagement of 16-21 year old students with plant science through the Intobiology.org website (get your students to take a look) alongside a series of student engagement activities.
  • developing the interest in plant science of the UK's brightest undergraduate bioscience students through an annual summer school.
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