The senior STEAM fortnight got off to a code cracking start when year -9 took part in a maths workshop on Tuesday. They were given a locked box, which had 12 compartments to open using code cracking, co-ordinates and maths calculation which gave them the code to open each padlock. The last compartment held key which opened the box to stop the clock. Each year group competed in houses and the overall winners were Year 8, Ridgeway house, who stopped the clock at a very impressive 28mins and 3seconds.
On Thursday year 9 and 10 travelled to St Marys University in London to visit the “Centre of the Cell”. They attended an infection, invasion and immunity workshop where they learnt about herd immunity and pathogens. They also got the opportunity to talk to a research scientist about what her job entails. After that they entered the “Centre of the cell”, a specialised pod which contained lots of hands on interactives games and demonstrations on cells and the way our bodies use specialised cells for specific functions.
Friday saw years 7-9 take part in an architecture workshop. Working in teams, pupils made pyramids or tetrahedrons that then joined together to make giant structures.
The second weeks started with 7 and 8 off to the “centre of the cell”. After visiting the “pod” they attended a Snot, Sick and Scabs workshop which they found gross, but thoroughly enjoyed, and the hands on experience made learning fun.
Then 7 and 8 were off to the RAF museum in Hendon. They got the chance to experience a thrilling simulator ride where they were virtually put into the pilots seat and experienced the view and movement of the plane as they flew through the skies. They then attended a workshop where instructor Mike talked them through the history of flight and then explained how we can survive and breathe a high altitude and how science and engineering have produced clothing and infrastructure to combat these issues. Audience participation was encouraged and even Mr Clair got involved, with Evan, year 7, demonstrating an exoskeleton made up of air tubes that stopped the effects of air pressure on our bodies. It was really funny when Mr Potato Head was filled with shaving foam and put into a vacuum and his insides became his outsides!
Finally, it was the turn of year 9 and 10 to visit the RAF Museum. After experiencing the flight simulators, they had a workshop challenge to make an aerodynamic plane wing using just paper, paste and cable ties. They were shown a really cool machine with turned flimsy newspaper into strong tubes called STIXX which they then used to make a wing of an aircraft that would be rigid enough to standalone and withstand a certain amount of weight. The winning team in Year 10 were “The Fokkers” (aptly named after the German war plane which used the tube technique to make their aircrafts lighter).
A busy fortnight, but one full of fun, learning activities and great experiences!
