Activities tagged Technology
My idea for a waterproof music device/radio
06th November 2011
I am thinking about designing a radio, to sue in the shower. I was originally going to build a radio that will work underwater, but radio waves do no travel clearly underwater. So my idea is now to build a sound device to use in the shower. I was think possibly a waterproof mp3 player, Or a you could connect up an ipod to some speakers insinde a waterproof container.
Making Hovercrafts
05th May 2010
Pupils have made their own hovercrafts, decorated them, raced them in the Sports Hall and then calculated their speed.
Combustion Engine
20th March 2011
Students built a model combustion engine from scratch using a modelling kit. This gave the students the opportunity to learn all about the different components of the engine as we went along. The project took around 6 hours (6 weeks) to complete and lots of patience!!
The Charlie Duke Lecture - Leicester Space Centre
25th November 2009
Pupils at Hanhan High School ASSEC were invited to attend the Charlie Duke Lecture at the Leicester Space Centre.
After a start that no pupil in club has ever seen before (they had to be on the minibus at 6am in the morning!) we set of on the long journey to Leicester. A small stop at the motorway services and 3 hours later we arrived safely and were greeted by STEMNET and Space Centre Staff. Nine schools in total from around the UK were present and the morning’s activities were all spaced themed. STEM ambassadors were at hand to do all the hard work of leading the workshops and entertaining the pupils all morning so all of the teachers were able to engage in some excellent CPD provided by STEM and Space Centre staff.
The workshops pupils were involved in were as follows:
10.00 – 12.50 3 × 50 min workshops supported by STEM Ambassadors:
o Astronomy activity workshop o EADS Astrium Mars Rover activity o National Space Centre workshop
After lunch staff and pupils were treated to an excelllent theatre show called ‘We are Astronomers’ narrated by David Tennant. More information about the NSC’s award-winning theatre and state-of-the-art shows can be found at http://www.spacecentre.co.uk/Page.aspx/224/SPACE_THEATRE/
‘We are Astronomers’ is also showing at other theatres and 360s around the UK – we definitely recommend you see the show if you get the chance – it was absolutely amazing! (see http://weareastronomers.com/ for other venues near to you).
After the show we were then taken into a lecture theatre for the event of the day – Charlie Duke’s Lecture on his accounts of his time as an astronaut for NASA. Charles Duke is a retired USAF Brigadier General and was a United States astronaut and engineer for NASA. He is the youngest of only twelve people who have walked on the moon. He spoke with passion, humour and verve about his adventures and really was an inspiration to the pupils assembled. He’s clearly an advocate of STEM technologies and mentioned several times the importance of education and technology for the future of mankind. Using original NASA pictures and video footage he took us on a complete voyage from training through lift off to living on the moon’s surface for 72hrs and back to Earth again.
After his talk pupils were allowed to ask him questions all about how he saw the future of space travel, how hard the training was and whether or not he believed in aliens!
After photographs, pupils were allowed to have a brief tour of the museum before leaving for the long trip back home (not quite as long as the 3 days it took to get to the moon though!).
Big Bang Regional Fair Model Volcano
15th July 2010
“As a new club this was a first real project, and we had lots fun showcasing it at the Yorkshire and Humber regional Big Bang fair in Sheffield.
Our learners built a model volcano over a number of weeks using chicken wire, paper Mache, clay, paints and varnish and then used their chemistry knowledge to make it erupt! The inspiration came from the erupting Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland that formed the dust cloud that grounded flights all over Europe and caused travel chaos. The chemical reaction that causes the eruption is a simple neutralisation one with simple reagents vinegar ( an acid) and bicarbonate of soda ( an alkali). The two are mixed together in five tubes at the summit of the volcano and the reaction produces copious amounts of carbon dioxide gas that bubbles up and looks like lava! To make the lava look even more authentic a few drops of washing up liquid and food colouring are added to the vinegar before the reaction starts.
The group of year 7 learners took great pride in making our volcano and displaying it at the fair, we made it erupt over 40 times and they answered lots of questions around the science and technology involved. Although the science is fairly straight forward the results are very rewarding and you can have your very own erupting Eyjafjallajokull!!”
brush monsters
06th September 2010
A really fun exercise. Students enjoyed decorating the brushes to make them into monsters/dogs. They added a motor, battery and off centre cog to enable the brushes to move.
We raced them all in the gym when they were finished.
Added task was to get the brushes to move in a straight line – students were give Blu Tack and masses to do this. Great fun!
Robot Bugs
23rd July 2010
“Our mission was to investigate and design a spacecraft capable of travelling to Mars, and able to explore the natural surroundings of the ‘Red Planet.’
We decided to start off with a simpler, seed project – robot bugs – to experiment with the best way to design the spacecraft.
The steps we used to design and make these robot bugs were:
-Thinking of ideas and designs.
-Getting the equipment needed.
-Started making the bugs by using soldering techniques and sticky pads.
-Making them go!
This therefore concludes that our experiment was a success.
Our next step is to design a robot craft for space craft…
We have recently been to the Think Tank in Birmingham, to exhibit our project to other schools. A video of one of the shows is included..”
School Open Evening
11th November 2009
Our club helped organise and run the autumn open evenning for the Science and Engineering faculties. Our group illustrated the work that they have been doing in ASSET and helped the visitors conduct their own Key styage 3 practicals whilst explaining the theory behind them.
Thermo Chromic Art
19th October 2011
Project 4:
Takes the students to the next level. They are to re use Smart materials and this time they are to produce Thermo Chromic Designs. These Designs will change according to the temperature of the rooms. Through the project they will gain an understanding of polymers and the monomer forms then they will develop their understanding of the smart materials in order to Create their final design.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK1XCWvBJlQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb_1F6_PTno&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYmU5i9skLg&feature=related
STEM Air-challenge
12th October 2009
A short project designed as an introduction to aeronautics and aerospace engineering. Including a competition for rubber band model planes and a brief history of aeronautics.
