Stem Clubs Activities
Bubblin Bath Bombers 2010/2011
30th September 2011
Last academic year we ran an after school Science club targeting various groups of year 7 pupils.
We made Bath Bombs which we sold in school and at the Xmas Fair.
These one hour sessions ran for six weeks after school 3-4pm.
The pupils had a choice of fragrances and colours to choose from and we used various ice cube moulds for the different shapes.
Friday Lunch STEM talk
27th September 2011
STEM ambassadors come in to talk to Y10 and Y11 students about working in STEM subjects and their career paths.
Week 2, The McLaren Challenge, Part 1, Designing and Building
22nd September 2011
For the second week of Science Club, we decided to unveil the exiting news that we had been asked to participate in a competition run by McLaren. The task was to build a car that could travel 10 metres while carrying an egg. However, the catch was that we could not push, pull or electrically power this car. So as this was the first session for this task, we set about planning the size, shape and design of our cars, and more importantly, the method of propulsion we would use.
Of course we did have material limitations, these were:
Ballons
Paper
Wooden Dowels
Straws
Elastic Bands
Tape
Plastic tubes
Paper clips
While there are a few methods of propulsion that stand out as being achievable using only the equipment in the list, developing them to the point that they would easily travel ten metres with the added weight of the egg would not be easy. There have been several unique designs, that all show promise, and hopefully when we come to race them in the coming fortnight, we will find a team that could challenge at the regional level at the McLaren Tecnology Centre.
Next week…
The McLaren Challenge, Part 2, Building and Testing
Dan Townend
Science Prefect
Science Club Week 1, Flashes and Bangs
21st September 2011
We decided to start science club with a bang, and so we designed some of the most eye catching and exiting experiments we could. We set fire to to washing up liquid that had been filled with flammable gas from a gas tap. This created a flame that reached between 3 and 4 feet in the air. We then seperated into small groups. Every group of 3 or 4 had a bunsen burner, some wet splints and some sodium chloride, copper chloride and lithium chloride. The Sodium burnt orange when held in the flame, the lithium went red and most amazingly of all the copper went green! Overall, week 1 of cience club was a great success.
Next Week…
The McLaren Challenge!
Dan Townend
Science Prefect
Investigating bathbombs
19th September 2011
Yr8 spent 6 weeks investigating bathbombs and made their ultimate bathbomb, with the best ‘fizz’ to include colorings,glitter and essential oils in time for xmas presents!
Girls only Allowed Product Design Club
12th September 2011
We have a ‘girls only allowed’ club in our Product Design suite and the pupils can come along and participate in short themed project based activities. Typical projects include jewellry making, photo frames, personalised crafts. Laser cut and vacuum formed in a range of materials.
Microbiology
21st July 2011
Various items were purchased to enable the students to experience the world of microbiology. Various cultures were used to develop in petri dishes. The students learnt how to sterilise their equipment and to manage the control conditions.
Bob Skeleton
21st July 2011
The Royal Society of Engineers came and ran a Bob Skeleton project. This involved building models of the Olympic Bob Skeleton and racing them. The maths behind the design was explained and club members used this to fine tune their Bobs and to guide them to a particular place at the closing event competition.
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.
Space Camp STEM Day
20th July 2011
Last week all of year 7 took part in a a space themed STEM day.
They were put into teams and took part in a range of activities, including rocket science, solar system maths, building a solar oven and mars lander and designing mission patches.
All of the activities were based around the thinking skills they have been using all year in lessons and the teams were assessed based on how they worked as a team, as well as receiving awards for their individual work on the day.
Bloodhound SSC Air Powered Dragsters
20th July 2011
Competed in the Bloodhound SSC regional competition to design and build an Air Powered Vehicle from a single piece of A4 sized material. Our team won with a lasercut 3mm acrylic dragster design.