Last week, pupils in Year 12 studying for the IB completed their Collaborative Sciences Project. This project involved researching a theme that had a local, national and international context, as well as designing and carrying out an experiment related to that theme. After 10 hours of planning, research and preparation, each group then delivered a presentation to their peers and other academic staff.

This year, the theme was plastics. We had experiments that investigated a range of factors, including how far different plastics travelled in moving water, how UV light affected plastic breakdown, whether different solvents could help with plastic degradation and whether recycled/biodegradable plastics were significantly weaker than others. They also made bio-friendly plastic from corn starch.

The ideas were varied and the research detailed. Not only was this excellently done by all involved, but the projects gave everyone a sense of conviction about how we can solve the scale of the problems caused by plastic waste. As one group asked in their presentation: “To what extent does knowledge about the harms of plastic create an obligation to act?”