Design an Animal

It is the future, the year 3007, and it is now possible for humans to build planets, and genetically engineer plants and animals to live on that planet.

• You are one of the scientists working on the animals, and it is your job to design and create an animal which will be perfectly suited to its environment on this new planet.


• Your animal must be strong and resilient enough to survive in its environment.


• You need to consider how this animal is going to stay warm or cool, what it is going to eat, how it is going to get its food and water, and how it is going to care for its young to make sure they survive.


• Your animal must fit into the existing food chain - it cannot be the top predator.
  

The planet MARITT

This planet is dark and cold most of the time.
It is very mountainous.
It rains almost all day.
Because of the wet, dark conditions, the only plants that grow well are small mosses and funguses.
Animals on this planet include a type of mouse, a nocturnal hunting large cat, fish, and a variety of insects.




The planet Q’ENNIT

This planet is dry and hot.
Most of the planet is flat.
Water is found in underground streams but there is little water on the surface of the planet.
Most of the planet’s surface is covered in sand, although there are patches of dry grass.
When plants can get their roots down into the water table, they grow into tall trees with leaves at the top but not along the trunk.
Plants which are not connected to the water table are small and dry, but they are edible.
Animals on this planet include carnivorous insects that attack in packs, a species of birds which roost in the high trees, a harmless sand-coloured lizard and a type of rat that eats dead flesh.

The planet DHONI

This planet is tropical: wet and hot.
Most of the planet is covered by rainforest.
The planet is very flat. Water collects in large pools and lakes which have water in them all year round.
A species of poisonous plant grows thickly on the ground. The spines of this plant are poisonous, and any animal which steps on one is sure to die.
The vegetation is plentiful, and includes leaves, fruits and nuts.
Animals include carnivorous snakes, varieties of insects, monkeys, fish and birds.

6I Woodlice Habitat Experiment

Write the method and results for the experiment, and provide a diagram.

The method should be in bullet points. Give reasons where appropriate, especially to do with your health and safety, or that of the woodlice.

The diagram comes next. Use a ruler and pencil, and label it in pen. It is to make your method clearer.

The results are simply a list of where the woodlice ended up.

Checklist: does the method mention everything listed in the apparatus? Is your method clear enough for someone to repeat the experiment in your absence? Does your method include reasons?

Tanka

Write out your tanka (in landscape) on one of your cards. Rule pencil lines first and then rub them out when you have finished.

Punctuation: because tanka are trains of thought, we have decided to use ‘minimalist’ punctuation, like the tanka that we looked at. However, if it is necessary to avoid confusion then of course punctuate. You must still have a full stop at the end, and a capital letter at the beginning of every line.

Use blue ink.

Your title should appear at the top left, underlined.
Then leave a blank line.
Then your poem.
Then leave another blank line.
Then your initials. No date.

Example:

Song

Can you hear it now?
Soft and sweet upon the night
Seducing my heart
With sounds so pure and tender:
The song of the nightingale.

MM

Your picture should be landscape too. Use only these colours, to make our display more effective: Yellow Green Brown You can also use grey and black.

Conclusion to Mould Experiment

Your task is to write the conclusion to the experiment you have just finished.

This can be done by hand, or printed on the computer and stuck into your book.

A conclusion is much more than just stating the results. (That is what the RESULTS section is for!)

First, you need to look at your prediction and say whether this was correct. If it was, try to think of additional reasons why it was correct. If not, try to think of why.

You can provide a brief commentary on the results, but without repeating what the graph clearly shows. Perhaps things happened unexpectedly quickly with one of your pieces of bread? Or the growth of mould was faster as the days went on? Anything that you think is important and needs pointing out.

You should also mention anything that happened when you set up the experiment that wasn't exactly how you wanted it to be, or anything that you did in your observations that might have affected the results.

You could suggest what you might do differently if you had the chance to do a similar experiment, and why.

Examples by 6B:

Butter and Margarine are very similar. This may explain why the results were close, very close. We did predict this, although we can't explain why the mould took so long to grow. But when it did, the growth of the mould was rapidly promoted. Next time, I would like to use different brands of butter.

We did not expect it, but the fungi seemed to be attracted to the control instead of the sugar solution. We think this is because of the moisture in the bread. We think the fungi fed on the moist bread's cells instead of the sugar. You can see from our graph that the control rapidly grew mould while the sugar only steadily promoted it. Next time we would like to try to inhibit mould instead of promote it, perhaps with acid or alcohol.