On Saturday 24th February, a group of girls from Year 10 and Sixth Form Science Outreach travelled to Bristol University’s Physics Department to represent Badminton School at the Festival of Physics.
On the Friday prior to the event, we checked over all of the equipment to ensure we were fully prepared. There were many boxes to check ranging from camera equipment to very dangerous magnets. We were all looking forward to the event the next day!
Once we had arrived, the first thing we did was unpack all the boxes. There were liquid nitrogen demonstrations in one room and magnetism in the other, which we had half an hour to prepare before the festival opened.
We had to learn all the information quickly in order to be able to adapt our presentation to audiences varying from small children to Physics professors! This was one aspect of the day in which we learnt a lot, not only about physics, but being able to present appropriately.
There was also many talks going on whilst we were presenting and there were other stands. Not only was Badminton was the only school there, but we were also the only students presenting, which I think the audiences were quite shocked by considering we were surrounded by industry professionals!
The liquid nitrogen ice cream which we made definitely went down well, along with all of our presentations! We enjoyed making it despite the arm workout that came with it!
We hope that everyone enjoyed our talks and that our audience have been inspired to engage in Physics in the future. This was a great experience that developed our public speaking skills as well as our scientific knowledge!
We would like to thank Mr Williams for this experience and can’t wait for our next opportunity to present!
Scarlett & Katie, Year 10
