For those who don't know, in between the 8th and the 17th of March, there is an important week for british science. It is the British Science Week. The british science week is 10 day long celebration of STEM - (which stands for) Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Across Britian, people had bizarre, fun and wierd discoveries of the topics of STEM topics which we use every day in life. This week was organised by The British Science Assocation to give some engaging activities and events across the week for aspiring scientists or engineers to take part.
At work, we did our part with having really engaging events. On monday, we launched a project with a primary school in wolverhampton. Some of our team (not me) went into an assembly, which we live-streamed to other particapating school, and spoke to them about careers. On Tuesday, we provided a forensic workshop - known as CSI Journey, for college students. There was a mock crime scene, fingerprint power and microscope analysis. All which are very fun for students to do.
But, I wanted to mention the best event that we did on British Science Week. For the last days of the week, from Wednesday to Saturday, the STEM Response team went to the Big Bang Fair at the NEC Birmingham. It was the Thursday and Friday, when I had the chance to work at to Big Bang Fair! The Big Bang Fair is a massive, really engaging event for young scientists and engineerers. It is based in the NEC in Birmingham. The NEC was crammed with loads of companies such as Virgin Media as well as organisation promoting their scientific side. Careers could be discussed with the Ministry of Defence, NHS and The Royal Navy or Army. Universities (like us - The University of Wolverhampton) as well as other educational organisations are there to discuss degrees and there are some amazing shows.
I - with my other colleges, were apart of the NHS careers stand (See photo: left). We were highlighting the scientists (Biomedical Scientists, haematologist, mircobiologist... The list goes on) which are within the NHS. We had an 'Infected Snot' activity (basically a DIY Slime stall!) which gathered hunderds of childrens and adults in. The person would combine green food coloured PVA glue with a very small dilution of borax to make a crosslink reaction - resulting in slime. It gives a great consistancy similar to mucus. So the students can explore the biology of mucus, why it is there and the function of it in the body. Plus, the chemistry of crosslinking reactions and states of matter are other avenue for students to understand.
We also had an anatomic model to test the young scientists' anatomy knowleague. We either use picture of cell structure and ask them to locate the organ. Or just quiz the student on the organs; What it is or the functions.
As well as our fixed stand, my supervisor and former personal tutor - Dr Martin Khechara was on the stage along with Stefen Gates - The presenter of Gastronaut TV. They were on the main stage - the National Geographic Stage, with their show - Weirdology. They were exploring the weird world of science as well as the priniciples of biology, chemistry and physics. The event on stage included the physics of farting and the biology of sphinters.
The NHS Careers stall is a great opportunity to us to outreach. The team, with me, spoke to and engaged with so many young aspiring scientists/enginneers, as well as their teachers and support staff. They came from all corners of the UK. I spoke to people from Leeds, Middlesborough and Devon. I just hope the students and teachers got loads out of us and the Big Bang Fair.
At work, we did our part with having really engaging events. On monday, we launched a project with a primary school in wolverhampton. Some of our team (not me) went into an assembly, which we live-streamed to other particapating school, and spoke to them about careers. On Tuesday, we provided a forensic workshop - known as CSI Journey, for college students. There was a mock crime scene, fingerprint power and microscope analysis. All which are very fun for students to do.
But, I wanted to mention the best event that we did on British Science Week. For the last days of the week, from Wednesday to Saturday, the STEM Response team went to the Big Bang Fair at the NEC Birmingham. It was the Thursday and Friday, when I had the chance to work at to Big Bang Fair! The Big Bang Fair is a massive, really engaging event for young scientists and engineerers. It is based in the NEC in Birmingham. The NEC was crammed with loads of companies such as Virgin Media as well as organisation promoting their scientific side. Careers could be discussed with the Ministry of Defence, NHS and The Royal Navy or Army. Universities (like us - The University of Wolverhampton) as well as other educational organisations are there to discuss degrees and there are some amazing shows.
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This was our table in the NEC Birmingham.
As you can see, there is our anatomy model with our beakers
for the slime. |
We also had an anatomic model to test the young scientists' anatomy knowleague. We either use picture of cell structure and ask them to locate the organ. Or just quiz the student on the organs; What it is or the functions.
As well as our fixed stand, my supervisor and former personal tutor - Dr Martin Khechara was on the stage along with Stefen Gates - The presenter of Gastronaut TV. They were on the main stage - the National Geographic Stage, with their show - Weirdology. They were exploring the weird world of science as well as the priniciples of biology, chemistry and physics. The event on stage included the physics of farting and the biology of sphinters.
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| This is Dr Martin Khechara's name across the NEC's large screen. I'm sure this was an exciting time for him. |
The NHS Careers stall is a great opportunity to us to outreach. The team, with me, spoke to and engaged with so many young aspiring scientists/enginneers, as well as their teachers and support staff. They came from all corners of the UK. I spoke to people from Leeds, Middlesborough and Devon. I just hope the students and teachers got loads out of us and the Big Bang Fair.
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