Group 4 Science project group - Bavani Dhinakharan, Grace Gaffey and Joanna Solomon.
As part of the IB Diploma Programme, all students undertake a Group 4 Science Project. Last week, we highlighted how the first group researched the effectiveness of the different campaigns in helping people to understand the measures necessary to try and stop the virus from spreading. Read the feature here.
This week, we are focusing on how the second group compared the action of different strengths of ethanol (alcohol) solution with different hand-gels on bacteria.
Grace Gaffey (Lower Sixth) reflected on her group’s project: “Our group researched what hand gel is the most effective at killing bacteria and what percentage of alcohol it should contain. This has been a key issue during the pandemic, and we wanted to find out whether hand gel is effective or not at reducing the spread of the virus. We tested different concentrations of ethanol on bacteria growth.
“Although not all of our results went to plan, we found that hand gel that contains alcohol is much more effective at killing bacteria than hand gel that does not contain any alcohol. We also learnt a lot about how to be better scientists by having the opportunity to improve our skills like teamwork and resilience.”
Mrs Smart (Head of Science) added: “Every year I am impressed by the standard of the Group 4 projects, especially as we run them relatively early in the Lower Sixth, and this year was no exception. This year, the role of scientists in everyday society has been thrown into sharp relief and the ability of scientists to collaborate and communicate clearly have been shown to be key in both tackling the virus and informing the public on how to keep safe.
“Our students demonstrated these attributes in abundance during this project, often having to push themselves out of their comfort zone: talking to members of the public and handing scientific equipment they haven’t used before, as examples. As an added benefit this year, the findings of their research on the best hand sanitisers to use and the most effective methods to communicate with students can be used in school to help keep us all safe.”
