SCIENCE WEEK
Bigger Than Ever!
Science Week was bigger than ever this year with activities every lunchtime! We had the student-led initiatives of Laura Cuthbert from Science Club and our STEM captain Sam Pringle as well as a double bill for the staff Science Show. Special STEM projects ran in the Year 7 and 8 science classes, and Nicholas Johnson concluded the week with a presentation for the Year 8’s – “The Bad Science Show”.
On Monday, Laura Cuthbert led students in extracting DNA from strawberries and passionfruit in room 14. Students were delighted by the simplicity of the procedure and intrigued by the white globular form of the DNA.
Tuesday and Wednesday lunchtimes saw the ever popular Science Show, with tea-bag rocketry, magic beakers, liquid nitrogen fun, dancing flames, balls of fire and delicious liquid nitrogen ice-cream presented by the Science team with help from the STEM captain, Sam Pringle. More than fifty students crammed into Room 11 to enjoy the show each lunchtime!
On Friday at lunchtime, the library was converted into an aircraft hangar, becoming home to a serious paper plane competition, under the supervision of Sam Pringle and Laura Cuthbert. Contestant vied to propel their planes, constructed from an sheet of paper no larger than A4, through a Hula hoop. Students from Year 7 to 12 competed fiercely for the prizes on offer.
During class time, Mr Goodridge-Kelly’s Year 7 class took up a STEM challenge and experimented with building flood resistant housing, while the year 8’s worked on earthquake proof building design, creating prototypes using spaghetti.
The Year 8’s wrapped up the week with the “Bad Science Show” incursion by Nicholas Johnson where they were encouraged to analyse information and to make the call – good science or bad science? The show ranged from spoon bending to walking across broken glass and challenged students to think critically. The long queue of students waiting to speak directly with Mr Johnson after the show testified its success!
Barbara Mckinnon
Science Coordinator