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The Circulatory System - How does the human heart work?
The Circulatory System - How does the human heart work?
Inspired by the work of the artist Sofie Layton, who worked collaboratively with bioengineer Giovanni Biglino, Year 6 created scientific models of the human heart and lungs. Have a look at our videos below to see how we made them. Perhaps you can have a go too!
How can we make our hearts healthy?
How can we make our hearts healthy?
Measuring and weighing the ingredients, we worked collaboratively to make heart healthy pizzas. Did you know that vegetables such as broccoli, peppers and tomatoes are full of nutrients and vitamins that a good for our hearts. We discovered that even those of us that aren't big broccoli fans enjoyed it after roasting it on the pizza. It was delicious! Interested in making your own? Here is the recipe we used!
STEP 1
To make the base, put the flour into a large bowl, then stir in the yeast and salt. Make a well, pour in 200ml warm water and the olive oil and bring together with a wooden spoon until you have a soft, fairly wet dough. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until smooth. Cover with a tea towel and set aside. You can leave the dough to rise if you like, but it’s not essential for a thin crust.
STEP 2
To make the sauce, mix the passata and oregano, then season to taste. Leave to stand at room temperature while you get on with shaping the base.
STEP 3
Roll out the dough: if you’ve let the dough rise, give it a quick knead, then split into two balls. On a floured surface, roll out the dough into large rounds, about 25cm across, using a rolling pin. The dough needs to be very thin as it will rise in the oven. Lift the rounds onto two floured baking sheets.
STEP 4
Heat the oven to 240C/220C fan/gas 8. Put another baking sheet or an upturned baking tray in the oven on the top shelf. Smooth sauce over bases with the back of a spoon. Scatter with cheese and any heart healthy vegetables you can find! Drizzle with olive oil and season. Put one pizza, still on its baking sheet, on top of the preheated sheet or tray. Bake for 8-10 mins until crisp. Serve with a little more olive oil, and basil leaves if using. Eat and enjoy!
Biophyllic design and our mental and physical wellbeing
Biophyllic design and our mental and physical wellbeing
During lockdown, it became very clear that the opportunity to spend time in the outdoors during our daily exercise, was paramount to our wellbeing and mental health. We spend many hours a day on technology and up to 93% of our time indoors. 66% of the developed world will be urbanized by 2050. Now more than ever, harnessing Biophilia in the design of our urban living and working environments is vital to our health and well-being.
With the help of Chloe, an engineer, who works at Arup, we were introduced to the principles of biophilic design and shown how these could be applied to interior design. We were then set off on a task to incorporate these principles into our very own designs. The starting point was using an existing template of a kitchen and an office space, moving on to then applying this on to our chosen space, using scaled hand drawings and watercolour accents to highlight the nature features.
Biophilic design is a concept used within the building industry to increase the people's connection to the natural environment through the use of direct nature, indirect nature, space and patterns.
Still not sure what biophilia is? Have a look at some of our designs for yourself!
2-biophilic-design-primary-v4.mp4
Virtual reality calm spaces
Virtual reality calm spaces
Have you, as a patient, ever had the feeling that time just stops in the hospital, there is nothing to do, you miss your family and friends and you are constantly worried about your condition? Anxiety while in hospital, the constant worry about an upcoming procedure and the actual pain that one can suffer during or after a procedure are understandably taxing on anyone. VR is presenting itself as an enticing solution to help patients relax and suffer to a lesser extent in such situations.
In a recent pilot study, patients undergoing surgery at St George’s Hospital in London had the option to use a VR headset prior to and during their operation to view calming landscapes during the procedure. 100% of the participants reported that their overall hospital experience was improved by wearing the headset, while 94% said they felt more relaxed. Furthermore, 80% said they felt less pain after wearing the headset and 73% reported feeling less anxious.
Our brief was to create a virtual reality space that can be used to calm users. Initially we worked with the CLC to create an environment using code that was calm for our users. Using the website CoSpaces, we selected our environments, characters and then set about coding the different elements so they could interact each other to create the best possible virtual reality experience.
To have a look at some of our calming designs, download the the CoSpaces Edu mobile app to explore. You never know, you may just need it!
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