From the 4th of June until the 9th, our
Year 12 went to a trip in Istra,which is situated at around 40 km far from
Moscow.The main task for all of us was to complete the Group 4 coursework. In
this group i'm taking Biology SL,so i found the Istra trip really helpful.
During our stay in Istra we did several
investigations,experiments and we had time every afternoon to write up our data
.For each day we had to do 2 experiments ,except on the last day ,when was our
individual investigation.Here is what we did during the 4 days:
On Monday we had 2 tasks-First ,we had to
improve our orientation skills by finding 10 flags with the help of a compass
and GPS and second we had to draw a map of the district and make a legend for
it. On Tuesday we also had two investigations -the first one was to take
samples from both the pond and the lake and to measure the pH of each and see
what is the difference . The second one was to build a line transect ,but as we
had to do it on a really steep slope it was really hard for our group.
On Wednesday we did another investigation
using quadrats. We divided in several groups and each group was working at a
different area.My group and I were first near the lake and after that we went
in the forest. We had to investigate what is the difference in the populations
of clover,speedwell and dandelion and what are the levels of moisture and ph
between both areas.We did it all day.
After dinner we had to build a boat . I
was in a pair with Sabina,but our boat didn't win,because we didnt have enough
time to finish it and make it sale correctly. It was fun though.
On thursday we did our own
investigations. I actually did two-the first one was to investigate how does
the light intensity affect the length of the leaves taken from both shady and
sunny side from a tree and the second one was to investigate whether firebugs'
movements are changing or not due to the light from a lamp. The first one went
well -it turned out that the difference between both groups was significant,but
for the second one -the firebugs weren't moving as much as i thought they would
so the experiment's result wasn't so interesting.
Every day after dinner we also had other
activities ,e.g games.We had a music quiz ,which we miserably failed ;we played
hide and seek in the forest while it was pouring rain;we also played something
like blindfolding and we had to put traps ,which also didn't work out to be
really successful.
During Istra trip i have achieved all 8
learning outcomes as i have
1.developed new skills by learning how to
deal with all the experiments and how to orientate better
2.I have engaged with issues of global
importance
3. I have been working collaboratively
with others as most of the experiments were done in groups or pairs
4.I have considered the ethical
implications of my actions by taking care of the nature
5.I have showed perseverance and
commitment as i was taking notes of my investigations
6.I have planned and initiated activities
especially for my own investigations
7.I undertook new challenges during most
of the experiments
8.And last but not least i have increased
my awareness of strengths and weaknesses.
And of course i want to thank all the teachers -Mr.
O'Connor,Mr.Gray,Mrs.Gray,Mr.Harper and Mr. Mann,for supervising and helping us
24/7 ,during Istra trip.! Thank you very much ! :)
