Category Archives: Sciences

Argyll & Bute, Learning & Teaching, Renewables, Schools Showcase, Sciences

Port Ellen Primary at the Celebration of Science and Engineering

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On 9th June six of us from Port Ellen Primary School; Scott, Ewan, Jason, Emily, Ellen and Eilidh, went to Glasgow Science Centre for the Celebration of Science and Engineering. On the journey there we got to travel on the new MV Finlaggen ferry and had a tour round the bridge to see all the shiny gadgets and gizmos. The next day we got up early and set up our presentation at the Glasgow Science Centre along with 53 other primary and high schools from around Scotland. We went to see a science show, where they made things turn invisible, and got to play with the amazing science exhibits, finding out loads of information in a very fun way.
Next we had to present our science project to 4 judges from science industries around Scotland. Our teacher was told “Bye, Bye!” by the judges as she wasn’t allowed to see what we were doing. Our presentation was Mission SOS! Save our seas, and talked about biodiversity, the marine tank we set up in class, oil spills, beach cleans and tidal turbines. We had made a tidal turbine and wired our own electronic quiz on rock pool biodiversity. I think the judges really liked the puppet we made to help present, called Jim the Scientist. We also had videos of the lobster and crab we had in our tank.
Afterwards we had to compete in 5 STEM challenges put on by companies around Scotland. This included a Shell oil change task, a Lloyds Register ship’s ballast test, working with lasers and operating a mini ROV. The challenges were fun and we did quite well.
Finally we went to the IMAX for the presentation of awards to schools. Heather (the Weather) Reid was presenting the awards, along with Fergus Ewing, Minister for Energy. There were nine awards altogether, and we hadn’t entered most of them. Then she announced “And the award for the best presentation of a showcase, sponsored by BT, goes to Port Ellen Primary School.” We were extremely amazed, and our faces showed it! We had to go down and get a cheque for £250 and had our picture taken. At last we got home, having enjoyed the best trip ever!

Mathematics, Renewables, Sciences, Technologies

STEM elibrary – The solar spark

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The Solar Spark educational resources are produced by the SUPERGEN Excitonic Solar Cells Consortium. This is a group of research scientists from eight UK universities working together to do scientific research on Excitonic Solar Cells. Researchers work in the areas of polymer solar cells, dye-sensitised solar cells and tandem cells. They explore lots of relevant chemistry, physics and engineering behind the structure and design of these cells.

The educational resources in this collection include practical activities that illustrate how solar photovoltaic cells work, future applications and the need for sustainable energy.

http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/collection/788/the-solar-spark

Mathematics, Resources, Sciences, Technologies

STEM elibrary

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The key objectives of the National STEM Centre are to:

  • House the UK’s largest collection of STEM teaching and learning resources, in order to provide teachers of STEM subjects with the ability to access a wide range of support materials.
  • Bring together STEM partners with a shared mission to support STEM education, thus supporting the government’s STEM Programme

Thousands of resources for learning and teaching relating to sciences, technologies, engineering and maths can be found at the STEM elibrary. 

http://www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/elibrary/

Mathematics, News, Sciences, Technologies, What's On

Celebration of science and engineering

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Organised by the Scottish Council for Development and Industry. Young Engineers and Science Clubs across Scotland will showcase their projects.  In addition, new Scottish Government Junior Saltire Prize Awards and a range of Green Energy Awards will be presented by the First Minister.  The jam-packed programme includes STEM challenges, science shows and a 3D IMAX movie. 

Glasgow Science Centre
P7-S6
Fri 10th June
9:30-2pm
Participation by Invitation only, but spectators welcome. Please contact jane.martin@scdi.org.uk for further information.

 

For more information click here.

Highland, Learning in Context, Renewables, Sciences, Technologies

Renewables project

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In 2010 S1 pupils at Inverness High were involved in an interdisciplinary learning project relating to the learning context of Renewable energy.  This involved the sciences, social studies and technologies departments in planning for learning relating to a scenario where the learners were presented with the scenario of an island which had been cut off from its fossil fuel supply and had to find the best solutions for generating electricity by harnessing energy from renewable sources.  The power point shared here was presented by Ben Sparham from Inverness High and Real Project at the Learning and Teaching Scotland Climate Change seminars during a workshop seminar to share with other practitioners the thinking and experiences behind this project.

Click below to see the learning journey.

Energy Challenge

Argyll & Bute, Energy-saving house, Learning & Teaching, Learning in Context, Sciences

Energy Efficient Housing

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Sheena Telford, Physics PT from Tarbert Academy, has shared this photograph diary of primary 7 and first year pupils who were involved in a project to learn about energy transfers and energy ‘saving’ devices.  Learners carried out a range of practical investigations before applying their learning to a challenge where they had to build a model energy efficient home.

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Electric Transport, News, Sciences, Technologies, What's On

CUER Future Car Design Competition

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To celebrate their new solar car design, Cambridge University Eco Racing (CUER) are launching a national competition, for school pupils aged from 6 to 14, to design a car for the future. Unlike CUER’s car, the designs will not be restricted to solar power, but the team will still be looking for some exciting and innovative ideas.

Competition entries will be judged, in three age categories, by some of CUER’s technical team. Those shortlisted will be invited to the CUER design launch and ‘solar fun day’ event in May. CUER’s cars are developed to race in the biennial ‘World Solar Challenge’, the ‘Formula One’ of eco-friendly motorsport, which is a 3000 kilometre race across the Australian Outback. In 2009, CUER entered the race for the first time as the only UK team. This year, having developed a much improved car design, CUER will be unveiling their design at a special event in Cambridge. This design launch event is to be combined with an educational ‘solar fun day’, giving attendees the chance to design own solar powered vehicles, and an award ceremony for the design competition winners. Category winners will be announced at this event, alongside CUER’s new design, and the overall winning design will feature in pride of place on CUER’s completed car when it races in Australia in October.

 Materials and information on the competition can be found at www.cuer.co.uk/future or can be obtained by emailing outreach@cuer.co.uk

Click to download the Poster