face to face , many of the groups had produced short videos in which they communicated research and experimentation they had done clearly and effectively .
New events such as the STEMagination Week Treasure Hunt , which was designed especially for the online format , set this Science Week apart from those before . The scavenger hunt challenged competitors to find 30 obscure names , dates and facts , each of which could only be answered with information from the previous question . This tested students ’ online research skills as they sifted through hundreds of webpages in search of the answers they needed . Another novel challenge was the guess-the-picture competition in which participants had to identify what household object was photographed in a close-up image . With only textures and small details to work with , it was an exciting moment as it became clear what it was a photograph of .
allowing us to learn about the incredible properties of liquid nitrogen , and witness Mr Tate explosively covering his classroom in hundreds of bright orange ping pong balls ! Not even dissections were off the table as Ms de Villiers and Mr Witton invited us into their classrooms by video link to explore the anatomy and adaptations of rats and squid , explaining in detail as they extracted organs and tissue .
The much-anticipated Science Fair was unimpeded by lockdown . If anything , the swathes of time students found themselves with resulted in projects of an even more ambitious nature . This student-led initiative saw over 30 participants contribute towards experiments and research which were shared with the school on a Firefly webpage . Posters and videos documented the processes of building trebuchets and programming robots while others explored complex concepts , including leptogenesis and fear-conditioned memory . While students were unable to wander around and ask questions about each other ’ s projects
While students and staff of Sevenoaks widened their knowledge of science and technology , teachers in the Technology and Art departments produced a series of workshops for the next generation of STEM students . Primary school students from the local area were invited to learn about the exciting and quickly developing technology of 3D printing and how it is being used to break the land speed record with the Bloodhound project . They were then challenged to build and test their own air-powered rocket car with assistance and advice , so that they could develop their own effective designs .
With science now governing our road out of lockdown , its importance will only increase in years to come . Sevenoaks School has incredible facilities to allow students to explore science and the potential for STEM projects is immense . Having seen the projects conducted by students virtually with little in the way of equipment , and the way students now engage with STEM , despite having been out of the classroom for so long , I feel very confident that we will be able to build a better future through incorporating science and technology into our daily lives .
Henry Hollingworth , Lower Sixth
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