The ‘Group 4 Project’ is an interdisciplinary science investigation and a requirement of the IB Diploma programme, in which all Year 11 students are expected to work together to solve various science-related problems.
Students first explored scientific solutions in the event of a zombie apocalypse: only Year 11 were left in the school after a virus has eradicated the rest of humanity. They were tasked with making the school secure, providing food and water as well as making electricity. They were expected to plan out the day (10 hours in total) to include a range of experiments to help them best decide on solutions to these problems.
In one scenario, students were tasked to consider purifying water for human consumption from the river or rainwater throughout the time they are confined to the campus grounds.
Many chose to try and distil the water after filtering large organic matter. They could then research how much water a typical person needed to stay alive and how much energy required to distill the required amount.
In addition, they needed to consider how they would chemically treat the water so that they could store it and subsequently not poison themselves while consuming the water.
Equipment was provided but students had to safely distill the water and make their own calculations.
Many found that this method would require high amounts of energy, and concluded that rainwater would also have to be considered as a suitable source, implying the need to research the typical expected rainfall in the area.
The day ended with a display of each groups’ work.
