Pupils took part in a number of activities including the Faraday Challenge, named after Bristish scientist Michael Faraday, and a speed dating style event where students’ interviewed school guests who work in science or engineering based fields with the aim of guessing what each guest did for a living.
The ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths is a great opportunity for students to work with their peers and develop their existing subject knowledge.
The week kicked off with Year 8 pupils taking part in the Faraday challenge. The students were asked to design a communication code that could be used between two cities, one with electricity and one without. Students created an alphabet code to communicate words using a range of sound and colours to differentiate between individual letters and words.
Students worked in teams of six and were each given a role to play throughout the project ranging from Accountant to Project Manager to Cryptographer. Pupils worked together to come up with the best way to communicate using limited resources and budget. Once students had agreed on a communication code they were able to purchase equipment from ‘a shop’ using the funding allocated to the task.
Year 8 student Jess took part in the challenge and played the role of Cryptographer which involves creating the code to be used to communicate. Jess said: “I enjoyed the Faraday Challenge as we had the freedom to be able to develop an idea from nothing. So far the day has been challenging but fun as everyone on the team is working well together.” Science teacher Miss Webster said: “The students have come up with some really great ideas for the Faraday Challenge. They are taking facts they have been taught in science lessons such as light traveling faster than sound and applying that knowledge to enable them to create the best codes. I’m so impressed with the level of creativity and knowledge the students have demonstrated.”
Once the students had created their codes they were marked in five areas. Points were gained for the quality of the prototype, teamwork skills and budget management. Students also gained points for delivering a presentation explaining their prototype. The highest scoring team were treated to Easter eggs as a prize.
Following the Faraday Challenge students took part in a ‘speed dating’ style event where students’ interviewed people who have a career in science or engineering. The guests included the Director of the Wildaid Foundation, a Reader in Astronomy, a Biomedical Scientist and a member of the Assembly Line at BAE. All the guests were North West based and volunteered their time to help students learn about the different career opportunities available in scientific and engineering fields.
Students worked in groups to interview guests using questions they had prepared earlier. The groups had three minutes with each guest and asked questions such as ‘What did you study at university?’ and ‘Do you work in a lab?’
Year 7 student Heather took part in the speed dating event with her friend Kierra. Heather said: “This activity has shown me how many different jobs you can do.” Kierra said: “The people we interviewed were very friendly and let us ask lots of questions. We managed to guess everyone’s job and learnt lots.”
The week will finish with a solar eclipse viewing. Students in Year 7, 8 and 9 will gather to watch the eclipse, which will cover 80%-95% of the sun, on Friday. The last viewing like this happened in 1999 and there won’t be another for over a decade.
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Carr Hill students enjoy a series of exciting activities to mark British Science Week 2015
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