Year 11 Geography ecosystem creative task

Year 11 are studying tropical rainforests this term. The boys were set the group task of designing a solar-powered water tower, which must run entirely on solar power, be 50 metres tall and be capable of pumping and storing 50 gallons of water a day. This led to much creative thinking and sketching out of their designs.

The groups then presented their designs to the rest of the class. The ideas put forward were very imaginative and clever. However, the boys were quite surprised to be told that their designs were not as good as nature’s own.

The Brazil nut tree is a large tree, reaching 50 metres tall and with a trunk one to two metres in diameter, making it amongst the largest of trees in the Amazon rainforest. It gets its energy from sunlight. It absorbs 50 gallons of water a day which it then releases into the atmosphere. It has a large network of roots to stop it falling over.