Welcome to Sunderland Recovery College. We wish you a wonderful life.

Natural Science

We all know that it can be good for our mental health to get out an spend time in nature. But did you know that it call also benefit your mental health to take an investigative approach to nature to? And bring nature into your own home?

Meet Your Teacher

My name is Chris Colclough and I have taught Biology for over 40 years.

More recently, whilst working at the University of Sunderland in the Biomedical Sciences department, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

I had suffered from regular bouts of depression for 35 years but this was still a surprise.

I was referred to the Recovery College in 2016 and found great benefit at a time when even leaving the house was difficult for me.

I attended a range of courses including Exploring Poetry, Mindfulness and Music appreciation.

After two years as a student my depression and anxiety had reduced significantly and I had gained enough confidence to become a volunteer and lead a course myself.

How Biology helped me with my Recovery.

Knowing your body has a key role to play in reducing anxiety and can therefore contribute to good mental health.

I wanted to provide an opportunity for students to find out a bit more about how the human body works and how to keep healthy by dispelling myths and encouraging confidence through developing understanding.

Since my first “Heathy Body Healthy Brain” course I have also led courses in Botany, Biochemistry and Ecology.

There was no expectation of prior knowledge and the level of participation was flexible.

I used fun activities to engage students and we enjoyed plenty of discussion.

An increased awareness and understanding of nature and plant life in particular, has helped me to relax and focus my mind on the present.

During lockdown, engaging in activities that offer a bit of a challenge has helped me enormously.

Developing online courses for the Recovery College has been very therapeutic.

I hope that the materials and activities will do the same for you and that you enjoy trying them out.

Here's an example of the sort of workshop I facilitate

Here I use a simple set up to demonstrate some of the science behind a flower, whilst at the same time providing a fun yet simple exercise to engage both adults and kids.

Watch and see how the flower takes in and moves liquid from its stem into its petals:

Natural Science with Chris

Chris has produced an amazing course with activities that can be done at home. The Natural Science Course consists of several Mini-Courses which can be done in any order.

Enrol on Course

Course 1: How plants work

We know that growing plants has been linked to relaxation and reducing anxiety which can both contribute to good mental health.

This course is designed to help you to understand more about plants and how to grow them successfully.

The course consists of 10 sessions, each of which includes:

text, which gives you information about a topic
explanatory diagrams
optional questions to answer
optional tasks using simple equipment
videos to support some of the tasks
answers to all of the questions so that you can check out your answers and keep a record of your progress.

We will explore the structure of plants, dissect and grow them, investigate their reproduction, defence and survival. I hope that you can be “hands on” and have a go at the activities. No prior knowledge is required.

An increased awareness and understanding of plant life has helped me to relax and focus my mind on the present.

I hope you enjoy spending time with plants.

Enrol me on the course

Course 2: “Have you ever wondered?”

To relax and reduce my anxiety I love to do activities that give me a bit of a challenge and focus my mind. The activities in this course do just that and if you have an interest in science I think you will enjoy them. As you will see, some of them are designed for children and they will enjoy doing them with you. Some of the activities come from other courses that I have led at the college such as “Health body healthy brain”.

The course contains a variety of activities from investigating “Why beetroot stains you” to “Which invertebrates live in your garden”.

There are 10 optional sessions to choose from, each of which includes:

text, which gives you information to complete the activity
explanatory diagrams
optional questions to answer
optional tasks using simple equipment
videos to support some of the tasks

No prior knowledge is required, just an interest in getting hands on to answer a question. Find out how caffeine affects your heart rate for example.

Relax and focus your mind on the present with these science activities.

I hope you enjoy investigating.

Enrol me on the course

Course 3: “Know Your Organs”

Understanding how our organs function and how to do our best to keep them healthy can help to reduce anxiety and improve our wellbeing. This course is designed as a recap of GCSE biology and to help you to understand more about the human body and fitness.

The course consists of 10 sessions, each of which includes:

text, which gives you information about a topic
explanatory diagrams
optional questions to answer
some optional tasks using simple equipment
videos to support some of the tasks
answers to all of the questions so that you can check out your answers and keep a record of your progress.

We will explore the anatomy and functions of the major organs of the body including some simple dissection using items from the butcher. I hope that you can be “hands on” and have a go at the activities but they are all optional. No prior knowledge is required.

The mental stimulation required for new learning, challenges and improves your brain's function. Producing this course has certainly helped me to relax and focus my mind on the present.

I hope you enjoy the challenge. Best wishes

Enrol me on the course

Course 4: “Know Your Genes”

This short course covers information to answer questions you might have asked about your genes and how they work as units of inheritance. How we inherit characteristics from our parents and how this can impact on our health is now well understood. The course is designed to refresh your knowledge of some aspects of GCSE biology. No prior knowledge is required.

Know your genes consists of 8 sessions, which include:

text, which gives you information about a topic
explanatory diagrams
optional questions and the answers
some activities using simple equipment

The course will explore the structure and function of the nucleus, chromosomes, genes and DNA. It will cover the following questions:

Where are the genes that control inheritance?
Are your characteristics only controlled by genes? How many chromosomes are in each of your cells? How is the gender of a baby decided?
What is cloning?
What is gene therapy?
What are genes made of?
What are chromosomes?
What are genetic diseases?
Boy or girl, what are the chances? What is genetically modified food?

The mental stimulation required for new learning, challenges and improves your brain's function. Producing this course has certainly helped me to relax and focus my mind on the present.

Enrol me on the course

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