May 01 2013 | Kent & Medway | Views: 1953
Following the National Science & Engineering Week Training Twilight session that we ran for teachers in late February many schools enjoyed STEM Activities throughout March and NSEW.
The Marsh Academy
Supported by STEM Ambassadors the students at Marsh Academy enjoyed a STEM Day with activities including Egg drop challenge, making Bath Bombs, DNA necklaces, Rocket cars, build a playground, STIXX Challenge, Roundhouse design, Xbox Kudo, Kinnet and Kite Making.
From STEM Ambassador Mike Brooks:
The head of science was a really good teacher and had clearly put a great deal of effort into planning and organising the egg drop event. She started one exercise by showing a video of the Mars Lander “Curiosity” landing on Mars and explained how important it was to land the probe gently so that all the delicate instruments would not be damaged. After encouraging the pupils to think about differences such as the force of gravity and the density of the atmospheres between the Earth and Mars she then introduced them to the “egg drop” activity and explained how they would need to design and build a structure that would allow them to land an egg gently without it breaking when dropped from a first floor balcony onto a hard floor.
I think the kids got a great deal from the exercise including experiencing working together in teams, coming up with interesting names for their teams and for their “Egg Landers”, brainstorming ideas and then deciding on which design to build, designing and drawing a picture of their egg packaging/ landing system, writing a little about what they hoped to achieve with their particular design, working out the total cost of the different priced materials from which they could choose within the limit of a 60p budget, testing and refining their designs and then finally launching their eggs over the balcony.
I helped with three different classes during the day with around a dozen or so pupils in each class and I then judged the many different designs. It was particularly interesting to see how even those pupils who were clearly not at all keen at the start of the class became interested and involved once the exercise got under way.
Invicta Grammar School
Invicta Grammar School celebrated National Science and Engineering week with a week of STEM Challenges. The students made cannon balls at Chatham Historic Dockyard, built jelly bean towers, a Civil Engineer career talk, balloon tower construction, STIXX chair construction, the Incredible Machine, K’Nex building bridges activity, bath bomb making and testing and a STEM debate. The STEM debate considered issues such as “Should fossil fuels be kept in the ground” and “Should machine take over from man in manufacturing”.
Simon Langton Girls School, Careers Fair
Simon Langton Girls School enjoyed a successful careers fair. STEM Ambassador Brian Dury attended: “I have been attending careers events since 2009; this was the best I have ever attended…The students attending were all very well behaved, polite and interested – very nice to meet them.” To find out more about the careers fair click here. In the same week they also launched a new Robotics Club, visited the Bloodhound SCC at Swale Skills Centre, and ran a STIXX Chair Building Challenge.
Sandwich Junior School
Pfizer’s Ambassadors arranged a finale to the schools Science Week supported by the Royal Society of chemistry, the Wolfson Foundation, and STEM. The scientists encouraged creative thinking like inventors and told stories of accidental science discoveries. Students look part in 8 sessions throughout the day including:
Maidstone Grammar School for Girls
Maidstone Grammar School for Girls celebrated with a Science Week with activities including Science quiz, STEM Aspire Careers Event, STIXX Challenge, Recycling Talk, Big Reptile Show and a visit to The Big Bang Fair for the Science Club. Later in the month Year 9’s also visited Canterbury College for at Tech Challenge.
Dover Christ Church Academy
Dover Christ Church Academy borrowed the Incredible Machine from Kent & Medway STEM and had STEM Ambassadors visit to talk about physics. If you do not know what an Incredible Machine do you remember the Honda Advert The Cog or Artists Fischli & Weiss The Way Things Go? The Incredible Machine is an assortment of wood, pulleys, leavers, weights, and dolls which are laid out across a classroom to teach the transfer of energy amongst other things.
St Anselms Catholic School
The STIXX Machines were loaned to St Anselms Catholic School who, with STEM Ambassador Support, ran a STIXX Challenge for National Science & Engineering Week.
Phoenix Primary School
STEM Ambassadors visited Phoenix Primary School to support their competition entries to the British Science Association What A Waste poster competition
St Simon Stock Catholic School
The students at St Simon Stock Catholic School enjoyed STEM Ambassadors visiting to talk about Science related careers.
Dartford Grammar School for Girls
The school ran a science fair for year 6 and 7 students with the support of STEM Ambassadors.
Mersham Primary School
The day involved demonstrations from Pfzier STEM Ambassadors and activities for children to participate in. The favourite for all was the water rockets, firing them over the classroom, or exploding pots adding water to Vitamin C tablets!
Kent & Medway STEM would like to thank all of the STEM Ambassadors who supported NSEW events in March. Congratulations to all the hard working teachers who organised the events and we look forward to supporting more Kent & Medway Schools next March with National Science and Engineering activities.
