Over the last weeks Biodiversity has shifted its focus from the larger aspects of life, Australia’s extinct megafauna and the big ideas expressed in poetry to focus on the smaller building blocks of life: cells, genes and chromosomes.
Initially students explored cell structures, including practising the art of preparing their own wet mount slides. We were lucky to have the loan of Scanning Electron Microscope in the school at this time and this added an extra dimension to our exploration of the microscopic world.
Students have now moved on to focus on the inheritance of genetic characteristics and we were fortunate to have Meg Bourne, a genetic counsellor from the Royal Adelaide Hospital visit to give students insight into this fascinating career which blends genetic science and psychological counselling.
This visit provided perspective for students examining the inheritance patterns and mathematics of probability associated with genetic conditions.
