SWPS Science Departments are proud to have participated in British Science Week 2023, celebrating ‘Connections’ between science topics and everyday life.
SWPS Maths teacher Mr Alexander delivered a talk on Nature-Inspired Computing to our A Level Biologists, connecting his expertise in mathematics and computing to the study of nature.
Biology prefects Shyla and Keira expertly guided students through the dissection of a ‘pluck’ and sheep’s brain, investigating connections between organs and thoughts.
Post-graduate Chemistry researchers, Rob and Oliver visited SWPS from the University of Southampton to provide a fascinating ‘Spectroscopy in a Suitcase’ workshop to our A Level Chemists and Physicists. The students used a £15,000 infra-red spectrometer to identify unknown samples.
Prospective medics, dentists and vets in years 11 and 12 attended a talk by female members of the Army Medical Services to celebrate International Women’s Day and connect students with possible MDV careers in the armed forces.
They also took part in a practical workshop in which they used lancets to take blood samples and determine their own blood groups.
A group of Year 12 biologists visited the Emmanuel Centre in London for Biology in Action. The students were engaged by talks on gene editing, astrobiology, de extinction and food security.
Year 12 Biologists visited the Babraham’s Institute in Cambridge to complete a lab project. The institute’s research is primarily on ageing and specialises in immunology, cell signalling and epigenetics. The visit was an opportunity to meet in small groups with research scientists and complete a hands-on project.
This term, Year 7 students have been connecting their science subjects to plan and present a crewed ‘Mission to Mars’. As part of this and to celebrate British Science Week, Year 7 visited Winchester Science Centre where they interacted with hands-on exhibits about sound and space, programmed robots to dance in a coding workshop and took a virtual tour of the Universe in the planetarium.
Year 8 students were engaged in a ConnectPhysics careers workshop provided by visitors from Queen Mary’s School of Chemical and Physical Sciences. The students played the role of recruitment consultants, auditing skills required for physics job roles and competing to get their client hired.
Year 9 were tasked with finding and solving science clues posted around the school. Congratulations to Mia for connecting the solutions and submitting the correct answers in the fastest time.
Year 9 also made connections with their Solids, Liquids and Gases GCSE Physics topic to build and test barometers inside a vacuum chamber. The students correctly applied their knowledge to predict changes in the height of water in response to pressure differences.
Year 10 have been studying Forces and Motion in Physics. They connected their knowledge to build and race gliders, a British Science week activity sponsored by our neighbours at Brooklands Museum. Well done to Emily and Lyla for their class record flight!
The whole school took up the challenge of answering questions in a science quiz during their Form time. The students had to connect their microscopy, elements and space knowledge to successfully answer the questions. Congratulations to the following students who were the fastest in their year groups to achieve the highest score and to Dr Mercer for the highest non-science teacher score.
Arzu S (Y7)
Elsie C (Y8)
Ellie R-C (Y9)
Darcie B (Y10)
Heather Y (Y11)
Ria Pl (Y12)
Maria R (Y13)
SWPS Science departments would like to thank all of the teachers who coordinated, planned and ran events, the technicians for supporting the practical work and the students for throwing themselves into the activities.
For more information and photographs see the British Science Week pages on Firefly and follow us @SWSPSTEM on Twitter.
