Stem Clubs Activities
FIRST Lego League
20th July 2011
We have set up our first ever FIRST Lego league club to enter for the first time this year.
We have a mixed age, mixed gender group of ten students.
CREST SuperStar
20th July 2011
CREST SuperStar Club – Now over 50 pupils have completed their investigations.
CREST MegaStar
20th July 2011
CREST MegaStar club – for pupils in years 5 and 6
Very popular investigations involving toothpaste, food and tea.
Race Car Build Project
19th July 2011
The aim is to design, build and test a ‘le mans’ style race car.
robot challenge
14th July 2011
we have been invited to a challenge involving Lego mindstorms NXT at QuinetiQ, Farnborough. we will be given 2 kits and some extra bricks to complete a series of challenges. we have no idea what the challenges might be so we have a pair who are specialists with each sensor so we can adapt to any task required. we are confident that our team of 10 can complete the challenges and emerge victorious!
we will update you with the results as soon as we can
Toyota Challenge
14th July 2011
The Toyota Technology Challenge is a fun and affordable national competition aimed at Key Stages 3 & 4 (age 11-16) for Design and Technology, ICT and Science students. The challenge invites you to design and build an environmentally friendly model vehicle and apply knowledge and understanding from a wide range of curriculum subjects including Mathematics and English. There are two categories to the challenge: the Solar power category and the PIC microcontroller category.
This was the first year the technology club had competed the Toyota Challenge, as only one entrance is allowed per school we selected team E-car solar.
St. Bede's Competition challenges, Big Bang Fair March 2011
13th July 2011
Our club aims to promote all elements of Engineering, Design and Technology through a range of projects and competitions. We aim for students to interact with real life problems, team building and working with the community. Our club runs with over 200 students undertaking a range of projects both in school, college or home and is regularly running 7 days a week with contact through email, telephone and pupils own home based team meetings. Older members mentor younger students and even do initial judging of teams to short list entry to competitions. A recent example would be with the F1 teams where last years members judged this years younger teams in the same way they were judged over previous years at the Nationals. We currently are Young Engineers Club of the Year, North of England Best Engineering Club, F1 in Schools Champions, Rapid Toyota challenge PIC winner and National finalists and have awards for various other competitions including KNEX, Goblin, BAA Gatwick Airport racing buggy challenge, East Durham Challenge etc.
Success breeds enthusiasm and the teams regularly meet both in school, at home and during holidays, with a major emphasis been on promoting independence, support targeted to team needs with the Team Leader and other staff regularly on hand to support team generated needs.”
Our greatest achievement was being named YEB Club of the Year at the Big Bang in Manchester March 2010.
Regional 2010/11 Big bang saw a number of teams entered in to 3 competitions. Go4Set, YEB and the Club showcase. Teams worked extremely hard with mentors and other links to develop solutions to several problems, 3 teams worked on reducing Carbon emissions with in our own school, researching and realising how much energy is wasted everyday and suggesting real solutions that will reduce the footprint with little expense, one winning a Silver Crest prize. Several of the other teams were working on safety related projects, a safety jacket, a fridge warning device, automatic night lighting and an automated child safety tap project. The projects did very well with one of them being invited to compete at the National Big Bang event in London March 2011, the team is buzzing with enthusiasm and can’t wait to compete and see all the views of London. We also were awarded best team display. On the day 18 students achieved their Silver Crest awards, and we won 4 other prizes. A fabulous day out.
Animation and timeslice
11th July 2011
For this project we looked at how film and television work – in that a series of still images flashed rapidly (24 or 25 frames per second) produce the illusion of movement assisted by our persistance of vision(the image remains on your retina just long enough to bridge the gap from frame to frame).
In the first week the students made Zoetropes. Zoetropes were developed in Britain in 1834 and were an early device for creating a short animated sequence of photographs or drawings.
The following week we attempted to create a “timeslice” movie by setting up 15 digital cameras in an arc with 8 students synchronised to press the shutters at the same time. With a bit of practice we produced a couple of interesting sequences, the best ones were of water pouring from a beaker. Dropping ping pong balls was less successful because not all the cameras fired at the same time so they jump around in the air from frame to frame as do the teacher’s arms!
This effect first appeared in Britain on BBC Tomorrow’s World in 1993, devised by Tim MacMillon, and it was later made famous in The Matrix movies.
Welding with Chocolate
29th June 2011
After seeing this fab activity at The Big Bang in 2010 we thought we’d have a go!
We used Dairy Milk chocolate bars and our technician built us some jigs to use to hold 2 bars of chocolate at a 90 degree angle.
We melted some chocolate and used it to weld together other pieces.
We formed square beams of chocoloate and then tested them to see just how much weight they would be able to hold.
it was a very messy activity but we got to eat our equipment!!
East Midlands Big Bang Science Fair
29th June 2011
A group of 50 Science Club and Gifted & Talented students in Years 7, 8 and 9 were taken to Nottingham University for the regional Big Bang Science Fair on the 28th June. The day provided an opportunity for students to see for themselves the fantastic career choices that can be accessed through Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). There was a whole variety of STEM demonstrations on offer, allowing students to gain an insight into how exciting a career in the world of science and engineering can be!
The trip also provided the students with the chance to see some of the amazing activities & investigations carried out in Science Clubs from other schools. On top of this were some excellent and engaging lectures/talks/demonstrations on a variety of scientific topics.
Students came away with a great sense of enthusiasm for Science, with many talking about going to university to study Science themselves. A well organised day out with plenty to do for everyone. We’ll definitely be applying for a place next year – possibly having a stand of our own to showcase our Club.
K'NEX Construction Club
28th June 2011
Running alongside STEM Club is our K’NEX Construction Club, in which pupils develop their logic and problem-solving skills by building models using K’NEX construction kits. Pupils begin with small models until they are familiar with the pieces and techniques, then progress to more complex models, before finally tackling the larger ferris wheel and rollercoaster models as a team.
Light Stitches
28th June 2011
This term pupils from Year 7 and Year 9 are using textile and electronics resources to make pencil cases, iPod holders, purses and mobile phone cases using textiles with LEDs sewn into them. Conductive thread, LEDs, coin cell battery holders were purchased from Rapid Electronics (http://www.rapidonline.com/Educational-Products/Textiles/Textiles-Projects) and felt, zips, needles, thread, press-studs and decorative accessories from craft stores.
