Chafyn pupils to become space biologists!

Published by Chafyn Grove School on Monday 22nd of February 2016

Pupils at Chafyn Grove School are preparing to become space biologists and embark on a voyage of discovery by growing seeds that have been into space. In September, 2kg of rocket seeds were flown to the International Space Station (ISS) on Soyuz 44S where they will spend several months in microgravity before returning to Earth in March 2016. The seeds have been sent as part of Rocket Science, an educational project launched by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and the UK Space Agency. Chafyn Grove will be one of up to 10,000 schools to receive a packet of 100 seeds from space, which they will grow alongside seeds that haven't been to space and measure the differences over seven weeks. The pupils won't know which seed packet contains which seeds until all results have been collected by the RHS Campaign for School Gardening and analysed by professional biostatisticians. Alice Lyons our school nurse and gardener, and Stewart Bell our science teacher have teamed up to conduct this experiment and they say “We are very excited to be taking part in Rocket Science. This experiment is a fantastic way of teaching our pupils to think more scientifically and share their findings with the whole school"