Archive of Science Specialism Extra Curricular
Science from junk
Inspired by Design and Technology teacher Mrs. Booth's ‘Junk Sculptures', the Science and Engineering Club, a selection of Year 8 students who meet each Tuesday, have been busy making some fascinating nanobots recently ... made of junk. The club benefitted from a lecturer coming in to school to talk to them about the subject and with artistic support from Miss Dolley, they set to work on their inventions. Old springs, screws, nuts and bolts were imaginatively transformed into mini scientific sculptures.
Nuffield Bursary Scheme
Robert Lowry and Li-Ke Li, two Year 13 students, spent their summer taking part in the Nuffield Bursary Scheme to help them with their university applications and career aspirations. On November 27th they both displayed the work that they had done in presentations before the British Academy of Science. They were asked very taxing questions by the panel and both have now received their Gold Crest Awards. Curriculum leader Mrs Elder said "This is an ideal opportunity for Year 12 students to experience research at a level not normally experienced by undergraduates and stands them in good stead when competing for university places." In January, the Science Department will be selecting suitable students and securing placements for summer 2009.
Sustainability challenge
During November, two teams entered this Year's Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society's Challenge (this Year concerning the issue of sustainable lifestyles), a Year 12 team and a Year 13 one. The Year 12 team was successful and has progressed to phase 2 winning £100 each and £100 for the school. Phase 2 involves devising a number of possible solutions to the challenge and presenting their findings to a panel of judges sometime in March next Year.
Astronomy
On Wednesday 19th November, Dr Taylor and Mr Priest took their GCSE Astronomy group along with Miss Hall and some of her Year 13 German students to Keele University's Astronomy Department. Miss Hall has contacts with Keele University's Astronomy Department having studied there for part of her degree. The GCSE Astronomy group is composed of Year 9 Gifted and Talented students who are studying the GCSE in one Year as an extra curricular activity. The visit was interesting for the students as they were able to see real, working telescopes first hand and see how professional astronomers use them to study the spectra of stars and identify extra-solar planets.
Nuffield Bursary Celebration
Heather Reynolds in Year 13 gave up six weeks over the summer to complete her research - partly at the University and partly at Christies hospital on her Nuffield course.
Most of the Nuffield Bursary students from across the North West displayed their work and they were visited by several evaluators and asked lots of questions. As a result Heather was presented with the BA Gold Crest Award.
The standard of the research being undertaken by these students was well above the standard that most
undergraduates would ever have the opportunity to work at. In Heather's case the investigation she did for her project had not been studied previously and she also had to do a lot of work to understand the imaging techniques etc. The findings of her work are confidential, but they are significant and she will be named as a second author when a paper on the work is published - it is hopefully to be presented at a conference in Montreal, so there is a possibility that she may be invited to attend!
Physics
The physics department has been busy recently, with lots of interesting opportunities for students. The Year 10 GCSE triple groups were invited to the annual Institute of Physics lecture again this Year, which was held at Loreto Grammar School. Our physics groups go to one of the Institutes lectures every Year and, always seem to return with positive feedback and enthusiasm. A total of 70 students attended the lecture and they all seemed to enjoy learning about the way in which an electric guitar works.
The Science and Engineering Club, which is a selection of Year 8 students who meet each Tuesday, has been busy making some fascinating nanobots recently... made of junk. They had a lecturer come in to talk to them about the subject and they set to work on their inventions. A lecturer from Manchester University's School of Electrical Engineering has also been to see them in the last couple of weeks about the Black Box Challenge, which they are digging into already.
AS Physics students had the opportunity to go to a revision conference held by Keynote Educational in the City Centre on March 7th and everybody came away with a slightly better understanding of what was expected and how they could make the most of the time they have left before exams.
Royal Society Book Judging
Liggy Mae Stefaniw, Eddie Bruce, Ewan Hill Norris, Surabhi Desai, Kate Hewer, Lauren Pryer, Robert Leury, Alice Stephenson and Charlotte Daffern were all chosen this Year as Sale Grammar's Junior Judges and in their role helped to choose the Best Science book aimed at young people this Year. Each judge had to read the six shortlisted books and judge them based on layout, interest and effectiveness.
Our 9 students each received a certificate from the society to thank them for taking part and on June 16th, ‘The Big Book of Science Things to Make and Do' by Rebecca Gilpin and Leonie Pratt was announced as the winner of the Junior Prize 2008.
Year 8 ASSEC Science Trip
In mid December, science teacher Dr. Taylor accompanied keen members of our Science Club in Years 7 and 8 to the main science museum in Birmingham where students were given the opportunity to visit the ‘Think Tank'. They thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience and were keen to look at all the exhibitions on display. A highlight of the trip was when the students were able to live life as a simulated doctor, participating in an activity that involved them performing a hip replacement operation. It's fair to say our hospitals are in safe hands for the future! Tom Anderson, Year 8, said ‘This was such a great day out and I learned so much. The ‘Think Tank' was awesome".
They also enjoyed a trip to an IMAX theatre where they watched a film about the evolution and extinction of dinosaurs. Dr. Taylor added that ‘It was nice to see that there were nothing but smiles on the coach back to school".
Physics Olympiad Winners
High achieving physicists, Andrew Parker, Christian Greenstreet and Ian Brocklebank were recently entered into the British Physics Olympiad. The Olympiad is run by the British Olympiad Committee, and selects the most able physicists, those who display a natural flare for the subject and challenge them with some incredibly tough, advanced questions. The questions the students faced were far beyond A level curriculum level, requiring a lot of advanced preparation. All three students performed exceptionally well with Ian gaining a commendation, Christian a bronze award and Andrew achieving a silver medal award - a first for the school. Head teacher, Mr. Wilson, personally congratulated them and awarded the certificates issued by the Olympiad Committee.
Physics Lecture
At the end of last term, the Physics Department took 25 of their sixth form students to a lecture by Dr. Jim Al-Khalili, a theoretical nuclear physicist and academic. Dr. Al-Khalili has been involved in various BBC television series relating tothe study of the sciences, including Tomorrow's World and Horizons.
The lectures, which were held at the Daresbury Laboratory in Warrington, an impressive and relevant setting, were based upon the theory of special relativity and focussed on blackholes, wormholes and time machines. All the students who attended the event commented on how interesting, informative and enjoyable the lecture was. Head of Science, Mrs. Elder added ‘In school we always strive to provide students with the opportunity to grasp a wider knowledge of the sciences, and the chance to learn different aspects of topics outside of their normal classroom environment."
Stargazers rewarded
The Physics department has been awarded a telescope, thanks to our science specialist status. Hundreds of schools applied for the opportunity to receive a telescope, but only a select few were awarded one. Naturally, our young astronomers were over the moon and couldn't wait to try out the new piece of equipment.
Dr. Taylor, who runs the after school Astronomy club took the telescope for a test drive and was very impressed by the high quality of the gift. Perhaps they may even discover a distant star.
Bronze Crest Award
The Science and Engineering Club has been meeting after school on a weekly basis to take part in activities they are passionate. As last Year, the students had the fantastic opportunity to participate in the Bronze Crest Award for Science. It involved a great deal of work but all students at the club agreed the outcomes were well worth the 10 hour research project that obtaining the award involves. Eddie Bruce commented, ‘I have so much fun at the Club. I definitely want to study one of the sciences when I get to Year 12". It's good to see our students thinking about their future already during their Key Stage 3 Years. The research involved them working in one of the three different sciences, researching and carrying out experiments on Microbiology, crash dummies for Physics or investigating the affect of fizzy drinks on teeth for the Chemistry element of the research. Hopefully this will aid the students in their quest to be our future scientists.
Poetry Competition
As part of National Science & Engineering week (6th-15th March) students in Key Stage 3 at Sale Grammar School have been invited to enter a poetry competition being held by the Institute of Chemical Engineers.
The Science Faculty performed the Institute's ‘Top Ten Flash Bang Demos'. The demonstrations lived up to their name as students in Key Stage 3 enjoyed the huge flames, amazing squeaks and pops, foam snakes and flying cake tins all produced by the teachers' work.
All the experiments were carried out under safe conditions despite one flame reaching 5 feet in the air to the students' joy and thanks to Dr. Davies.
After being shown these exciting experiments, students were then asked to write an individual poem about what they had seen and how they felt, having seen the thrilling sights.
The poems are to be judged by Kate Bellingham formerly from the BBC's ‘Tomorrow's World" and the winning poem is to receive an IPod Nano.
Explore the Universe
This month saw our Year 10 students attend the annual Institute of Physics lecture for Schools, this Year held at Altrincham Grammar School for boys. This Year the lecture was centred around the topic of Astrophysics and was delivered by one of Europe's most well known astronomers Dr. Andy Newsam. Using his experience of the robotic telescope Dr. Newsam entertained and captured the imagination of Year 10 students from eight different schools in Trafford. All agreed that the lecture was a fun way to develop their learning and understanding of Physics. Kiana Thorpe commented, ‘I enjoy physics and this lecture helped me develop my knowledge further to understanding why things happen in space".
Bird Watching
Students from Sale Grammar School were offered a chance to take part in the RSPB Big Schools' Birdwatch. Their annual survey was to keep track of the bird population in Britain. A Year 9 class was selected to acquire enough information to help with the research to record the trend of the species of birds.
Students enthusiastically watched our Key Stage 3 quad during a science lesson and sent their findings off to the RSPB.
Dinosaur Lecture
At the end of April leading palaeontologist Dr. Phil Manning visited Sale Grammar School to speak about his fascinating research on dinosaurs. The talk was well attended by pupils and staff from several local schools and by members of the general public.
With infectious enthusiasm Dr. Manning, who is based at Manchester University, achieved the difficult feat of presenting cutting edge research in an entertaining and accessible way. The audience followed him on a scientific journey beginning with the discovery of a dinosaur fossil in Montana, and ending with the tantalising prospect of studying dinosaur proteins!