Woodlands Academy - Science Department

Science Department

	Introduction	News & Events	Curriculum

Stargazing at Woodlands Academy!
Students from Years 7 to 12 joined Mr Nangreave for some stargazing! Over the winter they have observed a number of nearby stars and planets, including seeing the weather on Jupiter and craters on the Moon. Mr Nangreave said "We are now aiming to use the internet to access telescopes in La Palma, Hawaii, and Australia. We intend to have many more stargazing experiences over the coming term." Mr Nangreave added "All students are welcome to come along to Astronomy Club. The days the club runs will be announced via school Notices as the use of the telescope is dependent on good weather conditions." The students have really enjoyed using the telescope which was generously provided by funding from the Institute of Physics. Some staff and students attended a 'Stargazing Live' event hosted by Ernesford Grange School and we intend to extend our activities here at Woodlands Academy. Watch out for details or please see Mr Nangreave for more information. In the meantime, why not go to the BBC Stargazing Live website and explore the online stargazing opportunities including the search for new planets? The website address is :www.bbc.co.uk/tv/features/stargazing.

Solar System Models are out of this world!!
As part of the Year 8 Science curriculum, students have been looking at how ideas and evidence are linked to the development of scientific theories. In the Space topic they have looked at how people originally believed the earth was flat with domed heavens above it. Then, through careful observations and advances in equipment to look at the stars, this theory was adapted to one in which the planets and sun were thought to orbit the earth. This was the accepted idea until Copernicus came up with the idea of the planets revolving around the Sun which is still the present day accepted model. From this work, students were asked to make a model to explain the present day model of the solar system. Dr Berry said “All of the students really put enormous effort into their models and the results of the homework were genuinely out of this world!” Click here to to go to the gallery page where you can choose to see lots more photos of the wonderful models.

Reaching for the Stars!
In science we really are reaching for the stars!! We have had some fantastic news! We have been lucky enough to secure funding from the Institute of Physics to buy a “super whizzy” telescope that even Professor Brian Cox would be proud of! It has arrived! From September, the Astronomy Club will run! Using this telescope we should see good views of nearby planets, like Mars and Jupiter, and we should clearly be able to see Saturn’s rings. We will be able to view clusters of stars, like the Pleiades, and may be able to see binary star systems of two different coloured stars orbiting each other. We will be able to observe nebula – clouds of gas in space where stars are born or the remains of stars after they have died – such as the nebula in Orion. We may even be able to see Andromeda, another galaxy 2½ million light years away. The club will be run by Mr Nangreave in the winter, when we can take advantage of short days to observe in the late afternoon and early evening. All Welcome!

The Year 8's in Mr Hancock's (8ySc1) science group have been learning about the Solar System. and for their homework project, they had to make a model of the Solar System. Here is a photo of Hadley Davies with his model. Click here to see some more photos.

Woodlands Academy - Broad Lane, Coventry, CV5 7FF Tel: 024 7646 2634

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