Stem Clubs Activities
WATER SYSTEMS
07th October 2009
STUDENTS HAVE BEEN GIVEN THE PROJECT TO RUN OUR GREEN HOUSE. STUDENTS WILL BE PLANTING A VARIETY OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES WHICH THEY WILL BE REPONSIBLE FOR. tHEY WILL ALSO WORK TOGETHER TO DESIGN AN AUTOMATIC WATERNG SYSTEM THAT CAN BE USED TO WATER THE PLANTS.
Lego Mindstorms
07th October 2009
Students have been working together to build and programme robots. Students have become confident in programming the robots and are working towards a competition.
STEM Club
07th October 2009
The STEM Club is an after college Science & Engineering Club to encourage more young people to achieve and understand the opportunities that a good Science, Maths and Technological education can offer.The theme of the club is how Science, Maths and Technology are applied to transport. It is dedicated to enriching, enhancing and extending the whole of the KS3 Science, Maths and Technology Curriculum. Aiming to bring all aspects of the KS3 Science and Technology Curriculum to life. The aim of the Club is to enhance the participant’s ability to see the real world context. The participants have the opportunity to get involved with various projects gaining hands on practical experience.
The club members have built two model cars, the first a kit balloon powered car and the second was designed & manufactured during the club by the students. The students first designed their car using 2D design CAD software, this was then outputted to cut out the car in acrylic using the college laser. The model was then folded in to shape using a strip heater after which the axles & wheels fitted and finally decals where cut out using a vinyl cutter and stuck to the finished model.
Maths in the Environment
06th October 2009
The objective is to use Maths to estimate and calculate the age and height of trees and also to calculate the area of irregular shapes e.g. leaves and determine which leaf shape and area loses the most moisture on a hot day.
On the 16th of September 2009, 11 STEM club members travelled to Kew gardens and did a workshop on how to estimate and calculate the age and hight of giant trees.
The students were divided into 4 groups and they chose their won tree in the Kew gardens woodland. They then used different techniques to estimate and calculate the age and height of their tree.
At the end of the session the students collected leaves from the tree they were investugating. These were taken back to school and pressed between books for two weeks until they were dry and flat.
The next session will be run by a Maths teacher Ms M Raveneau, who will teach the students how to calculate the surface area of a leaf. This is a follow up activity from the Kew gardens workshop on Maths in the environment.
The outcome will be to produce a display board showing pictures taken at Kew gardens and also posters showing how to calculate the surface area of a leaf. These will be displayed on the walls along the science corridors.
Worm World
05th October 2009
Students are studying the world of worms. They have set up a wormery and will be researching how the worms live. Students will prepare and present thier research to other members of the group.
Friends of Hampden Park
05th October 2009
Ratton students get close to nature in the Park.
Fourteen Year 7 students were privileged to take part in a unique scientific study of the ecology of Hampden Park and the Decoy pond in Eastbourne, East Sussex. Every Thursday evening students have donned wellington boots and their notebooks to get a close up of the creatures and plants in the Park.
The sessions have been assisted by the charismatic ‘Pete the Pond’ a local pond warden and water ecology specialist. Our students have enjoyed finding out about water creatures, harmful and edible wild plants, and problems of environmental pollution and damage.
This after-school activity has been supported by the ‘Friends of Hampden Park’ who look after the interest of the 100-year old park and woods. The arboriculturalist from Eastbourne Borough Council has also given a special talk to our students regarding the area of special scientific interest in the Ham Woods.
The environmental study concluded with students giving a presentation to their parents and ‘Friends of Hampden Park’ conservation group at a special evening event to cascade the findings to the community.
The ‘Lost’ Island Technology Challenge
05th October 2009
Students experienced the explosions of the aircraft, the sounds of the rainforest, and made a number of investigations into how electricity could be generated to make a mobile phone charger to escape the island.
The teachers all got into role-play of ‘Disaster Airways’ pilots and ground crew. By the end of the week all Year 9 students had taken a flight on ‘Disaster Airways’ and built a charger using alternative sources of energy.
STEM WIZZ- BANG
05th October 2009
A weekly science and technology club organised in the school labs for our target group of underachieveing and those who needed to be inspired by exciting science. Attendance to the club awarded by a visit to the Science Museum London in the summer term.
Zoolab
05th October 2009
We have booked Zoolab to come and visit our students. As well as our other wildlife projects, Zoolab will be presenting information on mini beasts and classification so that the students can have a hands on experience with the creatures.
Wildlife Conservation
05th October 2009
We have teamed up with an ex pupil Catherine Matthews who is a Cambridge Undergraduate to study wildllife conservation. Catherine will be working with our club throughout the year to provide research activities and practical tasks regarding local wildlife conservation. At the moment we are trying to contact our local wildlife ranger and organise some visits to local wildlife parks.
Mindstorms
05th October 2009
Pupils build various models with the mindstorms. We are currently working with the rubix cube solver. We are almost there with the programming but we have had too get a different rubix cube (the one with the colours as stickers) as the original does not fit properly with the mindstorm. Hopefullly we will be posting a video with it soon.
Making Gel Candles
02nd October 2009
Studnets designed and made candles with gel. Fantastic practical where studnes of have to control temperature for the wax to melt. Very good links to states of matter and when made candles can be sold to make some money for the club.