Milking on the farm helps students get to grips with microbes
The farm is an extremely valuable resource in the study of science; it is used across all year groups and across specialisms.
One of the real benefits of the farm is providing a practical or visual focus for topics which would otherwise be seen on TV, read in textbooks or just discussed cold.
Some of the uses really encourage students to apply their knowledge of science, for example prevention of contamination during milking or use of seasons in greenhouses.
The science department and the farm have been traditionally closely linked not least of which is due to the presence of a fully equipped science laboratory on the farm.
Below are just a couple of examples of where the farm is explicitly used in the teaching of the Science curriculum:
Nutrition in Year 7– Looking at what animals eat everyday on the farm including pigs, sheep, cows, piglets, calves and chickens helps students get to grips with this topic.
Microbes in Year 9 – Students watch a demonstration of a cow being milked and then discuss the ways in which microbes are prevented from infecting the milk. They learn about the helpful bacteria in the cow’s stomach. Students can watch a cow ‘chewing the cud’ if it is in the summer and the cows are outside. Students can then draw a diagram of the cow’s stomachs.
Food Pyramid of Biomass in Year 11 – To reduce the amount of energy expended lots of farms keep chickens in small cages so that they do not waste energy moving around. A debate on battery farming against free range hens can then develop with each group given a role, RSPCA, farmer, supermarket buyers, government scientists, customers/the public.
