Big Bang Interactive Event at Leighton Park School
04 Aug 2017
Berkshire’s Inaugural Big Bang!
An explosive morning of interactive Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) workshops and presentations from some of the UK’s leading scientific organisations was the order of the day on Tuesday 7th March for excited pupils from ten local schools. Leighton Park School, Shinfield Road, Reading was delighted to host the ‘Big Bang Interactive’ event, the first to take place in Berkshire, in conjunction with seasoned organisers, STEM Sussex and part of a bid to move towards Leighton Park School becoming a Centre of STEM Excellence.
PunkScience, the Science Museum’s resident comedy team, charged with making science thrilling and accessible, promised to deliver “the most horrible show in the world”. From eating crickets and scorpion legs to following the progress of a micro-camera through your digestive system there was plenty of high-energy educational entertainment! The groans, grimaces and guffaws which accompanied each of the three sessions they led, offered the team lots of audible appreciation for their revolting demonstrations and gross experiments!
Pupils from the ten schools, which included Caversham Primary School, Churchend Primary School, Dolphin School, Emmer Green Primary School, Farley Hill Primary School, Manor
Primary School, Oaklands Junior School, St Edward’s Prep, St Mary’s School Henley and Whiteknights Primary, joined Leighton Park’s own Year 7 students for the fun. Event initiator and Deputy Head (Academic), Karen Gracie-Langrick, said “This event has very much been part of a collaborative process from its inception and we have welcomed the opportunity to work closely and in partnership with committed and enthusiastic STEM Ambassadors from Industry and Higher Education. We very much hope that this will become an annual event – developing young students into creative, critical thinkers and providing opportunities to learn problem solving skills. If noise and excitement levels are good gauge of success – then I would say that today’s event has taken a tremendous step forward in achieving this aspiration!”
The Year 5, 6 and 7 students from the eleven participating schools were split into ten scientifically appropriate groups such as ‘Stephen Hawkins’, ‘Sir Edward Jenner’ and ‘Marie Curie’. Each group enjoyed two out of a possible ten interactive workshops led by industry experts from global companies such as Bion, Pfizer, Cisco and INTEL Corporation (UK) together with scientists from RSSL at Reading University and the University of Reading’s Biological Sciences Department. The activities ranged from designing a compressed air powered vehicle to travel over 1,000mph, building molecules in the drug development process, creating an architect’s model from mega blocks and using a (blunt!) hacksaw blade to power a small car! Leighton Park’s Computer Science Department delivered a Robotics session, the Physics, Biology and Chemistry staff teamed up to offer a ‘CSI-Crime Scene Investigation’ on the theft of the Head’s Christmas Selection Box and the Maths Department created a number based quiz covering several locations across the 60 acre park. “It was great fun!” said Francesca from Caversham Primary School, “I’ve made DNA this morning and am taking it home as a necklace!”
The children went home with a wonderful selection of science related goodies including seeds, 3D puzzles, stationery sets, straws and magazines. Some lucky prize winners even took away speakers, yoyos and maths card games and each school received a Sparkle Wand, all kindly donated by the generosity of the participating organisations.
Jo McKinney-Green, Operations Manager, STEM Sussex and Manager of the Big Bang programme for the South East, commented, “The Big Bang programme inspires young people to consider the interesting careers that are open to them when they study science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects. I was delighted that Leighton Park School organised the first Big Bang in Berkshire for their own students and those from neighbouring schools, and am looking forward to future STEM careers events there”.
The event is one of a series of STEM initiatives at Leighton Park which will welcome the Big Bang back in June for a careers event for students in Years 10-13 featuring workshops, seminars and stands for industry and academic partners in stem related careers, apprenticeships and Higher Education courses.