As part of our exciting Scientists at Work unit in S2, pupils are given a homework task to design a building. A gallery of some of the best ones is now available by clicking the link below.
Mars Rover Races!
Just before our Christmas holiday saw the climax of the STEM project, which had been designed to test the programming of the Mars Rovers. There were three teams and they each had to programme the Rovers to complete an obstacle course in the shortest time possible. This was to simulate the Mars Rovers exploring Mars itself.
The contest took the form of a time trial, with each team having three attempts before and an average of those was taken. All of the team put their problem solving skills to the test as they each were allowed to tweak their programmes between each run. It was a highly skilled and competitive race, only 0.5 seconds the winners from the second place team.
All of the STEM club would like to say a huge thank you to our STEM ambassador Ken Maxsted for all of his valuable time, hard work and enthusiasm for the project. Without Ken, this project would not have been able to run, with his knowledge and guidance helping put STEM into action for all of our members.
We would also like to thank our second STEM aambassador Lindsey Yuile for his support. Lindsey helped us gain the funding for our project through a generous grant from the Royal Society Partnership Grant scheme.
The renewable Mars Rover Racers will take on a new phase in January 2013, as the Williamwood Design and Modelling club will take on the challenge of designing and building the exterior casing for the rovers.
For a picture gallery of the Rover races, click on the link below:
The Visit of the Primaries
The penultimate STEM session of 2012 celebrated the success of the meticulously planned P7 workshops.
A dedicated team of STEM club members delivered three workshops to over 40 P7 pupils.
The sessions involved:
- Making a model hovercraft
- A presentation of our Mars Rover project
- A challenge to design and build a Mars Rover landing pad
- A fun maths quiz
- Identifying mystery objects using a microscope.
The team of STEM members who led the session thoroughly enjoyed themselves and showed fantastic communication and leadership skills throughout all of the sessions.
Feedback from the P7 pupils suggests that they also had a superb experience of all of the STEM areas.
For further pictures of this fantastic day, click on the link below:
Photographs
Several new images of the STEM team at work have been uploaded to this site. Click on the link below to find these!
Scroll down to the bottom to see the latest images.
Many tasks for many people
This week the STEM group started a new project. We split into two groups: one to look at programming the Rover, the other to devise experiments for the P7 science club.
The programming group was split into a further two teams, with both looking to to program the Rover through a U-shaped maze/track.
The P7 group have split into a further three groups. One is creating a PowerPoint presentation about their experiment and the Mars Rover project. Another team has an engineering theme and their P7 workshop is to create a bridge able to hold the weight of the Mars Rover. The last group is doing a Biology experiment and Maths Bingo.
Some pictures will follow early next week!
Setting some challenges…
Due to a breakdown in communication, this update is arriving several weeks late!
Towards the end of October, the STEM team changed into different groups; Science, Technology (and Design), Engineering and Maths. Each group was given the task of creating an experiment or activity for the visiting P7s who are coming up to school soon.
The Science group are looking to perform the magnesium ribbon experiment, where a piece of magnesium is placed into a Bunsen burner flame, causing it to emit a bright flash of white light.
The Technology group are intending to do a “crash barrier” challenge, where pupils will need to design a barrier that will reduce the forces acting on a car that runs down a slope and into a wall.
The Engineering group intend to design a maze for the Rover. The P7 pupils will put down cards that represent coding to allow the Rover to move through the maze.
Finally, the Maths group is coming up with a maths relay.
Overall, the P7 pupils have plenty to look forward to!
S1 and S2 Revision
Any S1 and S2 pupils looking for revision materials can find them on this website.
Simply click on the appropriate “year” in the tabs above, then select your topic.
Good luck to all our pupils, especially the S1 who are now on the verge of their first big assessment!
Integration
This week, our two groups finally joined together.
Originally, the plan for the project had been to have an endurance race between Mars Rovers containing different energy sources. However, further research told us that solar energy (to power the Rover on the way to Mars) and wind energy (to power the Rover on Mars – yes, there are winds on Mars!), were the only options.
Instead, we have decided to test our programming skills by programming three robots and racing them against each other.
In the club this week, Ken explained to the whole group how the programming works, whilst our S6 mentors gave us a quiz on renewable energy. Undeniably, an exciting and busy week in STEM club!
Curiosity and the Mars Rover
At the last STEM meeting, we split into teams looking at NASA’s Curiosity rover and comparing it with our own. Their rover also uses solar power and is programmed in a similar way to ours. NASA have Engineering and Science teams, whereas ours are categorised as Energy and Engineering but in general, there are lots of similarities with how the project is being completed.
We have seen a few changes in personnel this year and our new teams are listed below:
Energy
Leader: Robbie
Co-ordinator: Alex
Team Members: Jordan, Bilal, Beth, Euan, Alistair, Jenny and Tyra.
Engineering
Leader: Steven
Co-ordinator: Megan
Team Members: David, Andrew, Francois, Dougie and Helen.
P7 Science Club Dates
Mrs Gibson, the organiser of the P7 Science club, has provided our website with the dates that pupils from our feeder primary schools will visit to take part in some exciting experiments and learning experiences.
The club is run over two blocks on either side of Christmas and the dates for these are shown below.
Block 1 Block 2
24th October 2012 9th January 2013
7th November 2012 30th January 2013
12th December 2012 20th February 2013
19th December 2012 13th March 2013
For any further information, please contact Mrs M-L. Gibson at the school. We look forward to seeing you all!
