Go to Canterbury Christ CHurch University's website
Go to Canterbury Christ CHurch University's website
May 02 2025 | Kent & Medway | Views: 769
The Victory Academy, a mixed secondary school and sixth form in Chatham, Kent, was incredibly grateful to receive support from Engineering UK's Big Bang at Schools programme. Allowing them to provide an ‘Out of this world’ experience!
The science department at Victory Academy pride themselves on offering a range of activities for students to partake in and raise awareness of STEM (Science Technology Engineering Maths).
On Friday 2nd May, 395 students across years 7 to 11 participated in a Big Bang event themed around Space. This was selected to truly broaden the students’ horizons and provide insights into the need for Engineering and other Science related roles in this area.
The session began with a look at rock samples from the Moon, Meteors, Mercury, and places around the Earth, with how these are used to determine facts about space. With the use of a model the basics of Interferometry was explained and how engineering allows for its use to create images of celestial objects with finer detail than individual telescopes. Engineering was further delved into, when showing students how the Lunar Roving vehicle was transported to the Moon and how it works.
Students then entered the mobile planetarium, the largest in the UK, for a 360⁰ journey through space. They viewed what the stars looked like in live time, determining why we cannot see them during the day, and then fast forwarding to what they could look for that night. The history of constellations was told, where students said they ‘enjoyed seeing the pictures that were formed from the constellations.’ Black holes, Solar systems, the effect of gravity through space, Galaxies, the possibility of another Earth and so much more were discussed! It clearly piqued the curiosity of students and was lovely to see students across all year groups ask questions about space. Each session was tailored based on these questions, meaning each session was different and targeted at the needs and interests of the students.
Students were very excited by the opportunity: “It reminded me of when I loved space and reignited my love for it.” “It was very interesting to find out all of the planets and stars. The cool graphics made the experience more exciting and immersive.” Members of the school's science team said, “Seeing the students point out constellations and planets with such enthusiasm made this experience unforgettable,” and “The speaker was passionate and knowledgeable about the subject; the students were inspired by what they could see in the night sky.”
Victory Academy expresses its gratitude to EngineeringUK and The STEM Hub for the opportunity they have allowed us to give their students. We hope those students who attended the session now know of the many STEM roles in Space science.
