On Wednesday 25th April, our Science Outreach team travelled to the Exeter Big Bang. This was one of our biggest events of the year and it involved Livia, Chloe, Erika, Lilian and Cherrin from the Lower Sixth and Ria, Scarlett, Katie, Amelia, Georgie, Ayaka, Charlotte, Isabelle and Ananya from Year 10.
The Big Bangs are a national series of Science Fairs aimed at promoting the Sciences and STEM subjects in particular to school children. There was a variety of different stands at the fair including Science experiments and as well as careers stands. There were designated Careers Captains available touring the show area to explain the options that STEM subjects can open. Our stand ran with a selection of our Liquid Nitrogen and magnets demonstrations, with the latter being based around the theme 'Is a Grape Magnetic?'. In the first portion of the day our team talked and demonstrated to school pupils from Years 7-11 and in the afternoon we demonstrated to pupils from Years 3-6.
Half of the team concentrated on four different areas of magnetism; ferromagnetism, paramagnetism, diamagnetism and electromagnetism. These included a variety of detailed explanations on the theory behind each type of magnetism as well as several demonstrations including the Ørsted effect, grape bar and MagnaProbes to illustrate a magnetic field in 3D. We had a huge variety of visitors from the tiniest of people all the way through to Physics teachers and it was especially impressive to watch Year 10s teaching pupils older than themselves about areas of Physics the visitors hadn't even come across before!
The other half of the team worked with a selection of liquid nitrogen demonstrations, ranging from 'Crumbling Flowers', to the 'Resistance Coil' and the 'Shrinking Balloons'. Each demonstration also contained an in-depth explanation of the Physics behind it. The Science in each explanation varied greatly due to the age of the audience members, to ensure it was suited to every group. The audience were able to participate in the majority of demonstrations which provided a hands on experience. The team being able to vary explanations in this was a testament to how much work they had put into learning and practising the material and the peer learning from the team members who had been in similar events before.
We all thoroughly enjoyed the experience, not only on the fascinating Science side but the unique opportunity to develop our public speaking skills and engage with younger students, answering their questions and inspiring them that girls do STEM. Special thanks must go to Livia, Isla and Chloe whose commitment to making the Exeter Big Bang work has been outstanding. They have given up a lot of time to help organise the event and to train the team, doing an amazing job!
A big 'thank you' must also go to Mr Wharton and Mr Williams for providing transport to the event and for their help and advice in getting everything set up and working smoothly.
Riana, Ayaka, Amelia and Scarlett, Year 10
