Big Bang Fair
On 16th March, 48 Year 9 and Year 10 students and four science staff visited the Big Bang Fair held at the NEC, Birmingham. The aim of this visit was to attend the UK Young Scientist and Engineer Big Bang Fair.
The Big Bang Fair is an award-winning combination of exciting theatre shows, interactive workshops, exhibits and careers information from STEM professionals. It aims to show young people the exciting and rewarding opportunities available to them.
The group of students along with Mr Macan, Ms Purewal, Mr Pimentel and Ms Kaur set off at 7.30am from school.
During the day we visited over fifty interactive stands, shows and workshops such as
'Metabot' where students tried being a medical engineer, using light to measure brain activity and see through your hand. At 'Our radioactive world' they also discovered and measured radioactivity in everyday objects, from Brazil nuts to potassium rich bananas. They got to see how naturally occurring radioactivity is found in the most unlikely of materials and how simple techniques are used to safeguard people who work with radiation.
There were representatives from various universities who gave an insight into the endless exciting career possibilities that exist within science, technology, engineering and maths. Our day finished with the stage show ‘Not at’ Christmas lectures; based on the world famous Christmas lectures from the Royal Institution. This forty minute long show was a whistle-stop tour of the best bits, from superb ‘slo-mo’ to bouncing balloons, foam fountains and mind-controlled explosions. At 3.30pm we boarded the coach and on the journey back students shared their experiences through the day, proud of the prizes and badges they had won at various quiz shows and games.