This house proposes that: 'Britain is a Racist Society'.

It has been suggested that over the past 10 years Britain as a whole has become more intolerant and specifically more racist. With Morley recently being in the national press after the publication of the BNP members list it seems an appropriate time to try and confront this question head-on. Please comment with your thoughts on this topic.

The Industrial Revolution

Between 1750 and 1900 Brain underwent a huge change. This has become known as the Industrial Revolution. The changes brought about during this period impacted all parts of day-to-day life and has been seen as one of the most important periods in British history. In Learning Challenge we have been researching what exactly these changes were and what caused them. Please comment on what you believe to be the most significant part of this period or just leave links to useful sites for other students to visit.

Ecover - worth paying for?

Ecover cleaning products use plant-based ingredients instead of phosphates. This reduces their impact on the environment because they do not speed up the growth of plants in lakes and rivers. You can also refill your bottles so that less packaging is wasted! However these products cost almost twice as much as normal cleaning products. Is it worth paying more to protect our environment?

Morley Through Time

Year 7 Leaning Challenge are researching how the Leeds town of Morley has changed over the past 250 years. Here is your space to share your memories of Morley and the changes it has seen. Is there an interesting building you are keen to find out more about? Any statues or memorials that have sparked your interest. Please let us know anything you know about Morley or any key questions that you think would be interesting for us to research.

Sites of interest;

http://www.morleyarchives.ik.com/

http://www.leodis.org/

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/gee-bee/morley/index.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/leeds/content/image_galleries/image_gallery_morley_gallery.shtml

http://www.wakefieldfhs.org.uk/morleyfhg/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/63/a4423763.shtml

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/domesday/

If you find any more useful site drop me a message and I will put them up.

Could we be more self-sufficient?

The population of St. Kilda was a self-sufficient community. Nothing was wasted. When sea birds were caught for their meat, for example, their beaks were used for nails, the oil in their feathers was burned to provide light, and their feathers were sold to the mainland to make pillows.
Today most people waste things and do not make the most of the resources they have. However, some people use their gardens to grow fruit and vegetables. Others might recycle their household rubbish. What do you do? Do you think we could do more to use the resources we have? Can you suggest ways that we could do this?

Repeating Past Mistakes?

We have found out that the demolition of terraced houses and their communities in the 1960s was a big mistake, leaving isolated and vulnerable people living in poor quality high rise flats. In recent years, however, we have seen a huge number of new tower blocks being built in Leeds to house young professionals living in the city. Are we repeating the mistakes of the past? Can high rise living work today when it failed in the past? Try to comment on the views of others.

Election Predictions

With Obama taking a ‘break’ from campaigning and McCain wishing Sarah Palin would, this seems like the perfect break in the pre-election festivities to use our in-depth knowledge of the Electoral College to make our predictions. Analyse the polls (that polls! Fred), watch the debates or simply guess a number and post below how many Electoral College votes you belief the President elect will receive. Here is a tip, make sure the number is greater than 270 and please explain how you came to this decision. There will be a prize for the student who gets closest to the final result! Make sure all comments are posted by 2359 on 31/10/08.

This blog has a great reputation for sourcing reliable and accurate political predictions.

http://politicalbetting.com/

Industrial Revolution

History is littered with important individuals that we spend time studying in class, but how important can one individual be? We have looked at Robert Owen, Richard Arkwright, Mathew Boulton and James Watt and what their impact was on the Industrial Revolution. The big question we need to be asking now is which one was most significant in making this period of British history so important or even if the work of these individuals is relevant to the study of this period. Would the Industrial Revolution had have been the same without the work of these men. Leave your views below and explain your answers. Do you agree with what others have posted?

Obama has it in the bag?

In this map compiled on an average of all the major American polls Obama has 264 electoral college votes while McCain has 163 (remember the magic number is 270), there are still 111 votes up for grabs in toss up states where neither candidate has a lead greater than 5% in current polls (see this link for info on which way these states are polling at the moment).

Do you think Obama is on course for an easy win or do you see some way the electoral college system could turn in favor of McCain?

My Learning Brain

As the video shows the human brain is a very complicated thing. In Learning Challenge we have been looking into how it works so that we can make the most of ours. Why don't you tell us what you know about the brain and how you plan to get the most from yours.