This week, the biology department has been a hive of activity as all the students had an opportunity to take part in Biology Week. The Royal Society of Biology organises this annual week to bring together people from across the biosciences sector to celebrate all the biosciences.
The theme of this year’s Biology Week is “Biology for a better tomorrow.” As a result, the biology department encouraged students in all year groups to participate in as many biology-related activities as possible. Upper III were excited as they participated in the National Biology Spelling Bee. All the students tried their hardest to learn some new complicated terminology- a huge feat for our talented new senior school students. This was swiftly followed by a general knowledge biology quiz, which generated much laughter and definitely needed some strong neuron connections.
Students had a chance to test their knowledge of microscopy by looking at pictures of a plethora of different organisms ranging from simple onion cell slides to much more complex slides of the retina. The images were designed to be challenging and it has been fantastic to see groups of students engaging in discussions about what the photo could possibly show. This has been even more important than getting the correct answer, because it sparked curiosity and that is an essential quality to being a good biologist. I hope you also will test your biology skills by trying to guess the images below. Please tune in next week where all the answers and winners will be revealed.
Students will have a chance to take part in the Biocraft competition where they have an opportunity to produce a 3D biology inspired artwork on any subject ranging from the smallest microbe or an organ or maybe even a whole ecosystem. The teachers are very excited to see the amazing creations and submissions have to be completed and a photo sent by 4th November to the Royal Society of Biology.
Other activities have included the opportunity to attend lectures online and learn more about the huge variety of careers for future biologists by looking online on the A to Z of Biosciences. I am sure there are so many careers that they have never thought about and we hope this enlightens our students. They have also been inundated with fascinating articles about plants or dolphins or flying ants, to name but a few.
As biology teachers we are passionate about our subject and you would only have to listen to the breaktime conversations to know that we love discussing biology topics, especially what are the new developments in biology. We are always so excited when our students come back from university to tell us about their research projects and we then realise we have inspired another generation of biologists. For that reason, we were so pleased to welcome back alumna Georgina host a discussion about her time at Imperial College completing a Biological Sciences degree. Such a fantastic talk enjoyed by all.
Biology Week has been a resounding success, with students actively engaging in a diverse array of activities that enriched their understanding of biological concepts. The Biology department is confident that this week has not only deepened the students’ knowledge, but also inspired them to pursue their own roles in building a better tomorrow.
The Biology team