Science Week

From 9-13 March 2009 we celebrated National Science and Engineering Week at Ashmount. Our Science Week was packed full of fun and educational (of course!) science-based workshops and activities. We launched the week with an inspirational assembly of science songs and dances representing solids, liquids and gases. After school we held a 'parents and pupils challenge' to build a marble run. Lots of budding engineers took part, and well done to the winning team - The Buzzers - whose marble took the longest to complete the run. A neuroscientist worked with Year 6 on activities to do with the brain. A scientist also worked with Year 4 on extracting DNA from onions! Reception had fun making nature cards with Key Stage 2 children, and Nursery enjoyed a science story about Spot.

Tuesday was Green Day, when we had fun making outfits entirely out of rubbish, and then had a fashion show with a catwalk for the models. Well done to all the children who took part - it was very difficult to choose the winners! Congratulations to Benjamin, Anushka and Jahii who created an amazing robot costume. We then had a hour when the school switched off all the electricity, and we wrote green pledges, which are on display on our Green Noticeboard. Lots of children entered the 'write a song about the environment' competition, and the winning entries were revealed on Wednesday 25 March in assembly. (Click here for more details of our green activities!)

Wednesday was the first of the teacher workshops. Everyone had a great time engaging in all sorts of science fun, including dissecting owl puke, making boats, exploding things, creating parachutes, making musical instruments, space investigations ... a real mix!

On Thursday we had a visit from a cancer researcher who told us what life is like as a scientist. He then did some fun workshops with pupils, which included exploding coke and mints, as well as making an electric circuit out of lemons, apples and potatoes! That afternoon we had the teacher workshops again that were enjoyed by all.

Friday began with a fantastic assembly by Year 6 all about micro-organisms, and then Years 5 and 6 took part in a forensic science workshop with Dreda Say Mitchell, a famous crime writer. Other children in the school had an excellent time with Dr Kathy Weston and her students from the Institute of Cancer Research, who came to run workshops in most year groups.

To end the day, Mr West came to do a flying workshop in Key Stage 2 that involved making planes and flying contests. We had fun watching films of disastrous early flying machines, flying squirrels and Hawker Hunters.

A big thank you to everyone who gave up their time to raise the profile of science. We all had a fantastic time and learned so much.

Jo West
Science Co-ordinator