Carr Hill High School students have been celebrating National Science and Engineering Week 2014.
National Science & Engineering Week (NSEW) is a ten-day national programme of science, technology, engineering and maths events and activities that takes place across the UK aimed at people of all ages. The theme this year was ‘In the year 2114’, which aims to get students to think about what would benefit the world in 100 years’ time. NSEW also focuses on promoting the range of different jobs and careers that can come from studying a science or engineering subject.
Carr Hill’s Discovery cluster marked the national week with a range of exciting activities including a ‘speed dating’ style event where students’ interviewed people who have a career in science or engineering. The guests included the Director of Wildlife Foundation Trust and a mechanical engineering apprentice for Rolls Royce
The activity involved students working in pairs and asking the guests a list of questions. Following on from this the students were required to guess which industry or profession each guest worked in.
Year 7 student Jack said: “The speed dating event was fun. It was interesting trying to guest what people did for a job by investigating ourselves. It was a bit like a Guess Who game but for science.”
Adam is a Mechanical Engineer Apprentice at Rolls Royce and was one of the guests at the speed dating event. Adam said: “My colleague and I have really enjoyed meeting all the students, it was clear that many of them had researched and prepared for the event as they came along with some good questions. I wanted to take part in the event to show young people the different options open to them if they choose a career in science or engineering.”
The Discovery cluster also offered a lunch time club which took place throughout the week to give students the chance to make spaghetti bridges. To create the bridges students were required to use their engineering skills to construct a bridge out of spaghetti, elastic bands and sticky tape. The bridge also had to support a 250g bag of sugar. Prizes were given to the most successful designs.
Year 8 student Jack came along to the lunch time club with year six student Josh, who was visiting from a local primary school. Jack said: “I love science, it is my favourite subject as I want to be a doctor. I have been applying the things I have learnt in my science lessons to help me build the best bridge possible.”
Josh said: “I really like Carr Hill; it is different to the school I go to now. I liked the bridge making activity because it was challenging but fun.”
Science teacher, Miss Webster, had organised a number of the activities. She said: “For Carr Hill High School NSEW is about educating pupils in a fun and interactive way. We aim to get our students thinking about the different ways in which science and engineering can be applied to so many areas of life and, as a result, so many careers.
“The school has been running NSEW for a number of years with great success. The staff find that the pupils respond incredibly well to the alternative methods of learning that we provide and the activities really help to communicate the key messages of NSEW.”
STEM Club students also presented their crystal gardens in the HUB whilst other pupils were invited to come along and judge their favourite design.
Molly, a year eight student and member of the STEM club said: “Making the crystal gardens was really cool. We had to fill our jars with sand and then drop a crystal in the jar using tweezers. We put the jars away in a cupboard for a few days and when we took them out the crystals had already started growing.”
There were many other activities too, such as ‘Where’s the art in Science’ designed to help students think about science in a way they may not have done before and an ‘Around the School’ quiz that helped to educate students ion the different job roles within science and engineering
Students were also encouraged to enter the Royal Society of Chemistry Bill Bryson Prize 2014. The competition asks students to provide creative entries in the theme of science and art via any format, posters, puzzles or even podcasts. The top prize for the winning entry is £500.
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STUDENTS CELEBRATE NATIONAL SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING WEEK
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