St Mary's Calne
We were delighted to welcome the group of Primary School students back for the second and third weeks of their Science Workshops. The children very much enjoyed the inspirational sessions and the lovely treat of a cookie, juice and time to play in the garden before being presented with their certificates at the end of the final week.
One of the attendees, Summer, from Hilmarton, wrote a wonderful thank you with a lovely request at the end of the email to the Science Department:
'Thank you for having us at St Mary's and teaching us about Science. My favourite thing in Biology was when we were looking at water fleas and one jumped out! When it was under the microscope, I could see it breathing. In Chemistry, my favourite bits were when we got to light our hands on fire (safely!) and we burnt the jelly babies called Jeff and Bob and they made a pink flame.
I liked it when you taught us about static electricity in physics, it made our hair stand up. Please do this next year so that other people can experience as much fun as me.' Summer
Here are the wrap ups of the Session Two and Session Three:
Session Two - Chemistry
The pupils were initially treated to a stunning display of the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen, demonstrations of magnesium flares and the bright blue flame of burning sulphur, which led on to an investigation of the 'elephants’ toothpaste' experiment, as is popular on TikTok.
The session concluded by setting the children and teachers 'on fire', all of whom we are pleased to report are safe, well and intact. One of the children was kind enough to say 'it was the best lesson of my life!' - and who are we to argue?
Session Three - Physics
This time, Physics was leading the session entitled ‘Bright Sparks’. The concepts of electricity were reviewed; observing the sparks from the Van der Graaf generator and working through activities where they investigated the factors affecting the amount of current induced by electromagnetic phenomena. The students seemed fully engaged in the tasks and really enjoyed getting their hands on the equipment. Some really promising scientific thinking was communicated and they were very grateful to have the opportunity experience experiments in a real school laboratory.