A group of Year 10 students attended the Seagate Science Conference on Friday 16th October at St Mary's College, accompanied by Mr D. Phillips. There was opportunity to attend a variety of interactive workshops giving students a flavour of some STEM related career opportunities.

Having participated in the Scifest event at St Mary's College in June, Year 9 returned to school in september to be awarded BA Bronze Crest awards for the projects they completed. These awards are part of a well established scheme run by the British Science Association. They focus on fun and transferable science skills involving at least 10 hours work on a single project. Pupils have the opportunity to experience the project process, improving their enquiry, problem solving and communication skills- well done to all involved and i hope this will inspire other Yr9 pupils to get involved this year when the opportunity arises.

Yr 9 Castlerock visit 

The weather was not kind to us on Monday 01 June as we set out on our Science visit to Castlerock.  Banded snail populations, marram grass adaptations,  the physics of the black glen and dam followed by some Using Maths to prove that Lady Erne's Seat is indeed circular were all investigated. Mr Phillips.even managed to give the schools drone its first test flight over the sand dunes before a the storms really hit at lunchtime. I have placed a couple of photos here but check out the gallery and also fronter for  more pictures, video clips and footage from our ' drone'. 

Yr 9 are reminded that their Castlerock project is to be submitted by Friday 19 June to the preproom and this year a poster presentation or alternatively an iMovie project is acceptable. Use of drone video footage or images taken using the iPads during the visit are available via fronter. Check out other photos from castlerock visit via the Foylenet gallery also!

Year 8 junior science focus week took place week beginning 03 November. All pupils had the opportunity to sign up to a range of lunchtime workshops and visits. As usual these attendance was high and the Science 2 Life presentation on the world of forces was a great start to the weeks activities. A few photos below show the Year 8 at some of the workshops but by navigating   to the gallery you can see many more.

nnnn  

Yr8 STEM ckub met for the first time on Thursday 16th October in S21 after school. We linked up with the geology department to mark earth science week in the calendar. Pupils found out about different rock types and crystals which Ms Sloane supplied. They then enjoyed making copper sulfate geodes and completed a limestone enquiry using acid to investigate which rock sample had the most calcium carbonate. The club will continue to meet weekly with the next meeting on Tuesday 21 October.

Year 8 STEM Club will begin on Thursday 16th October and meets weekly after school at 3.50pm in S21. If you are interested please pick up an information sheet from the preproom in the science corridor. Some of the 'fun' experiments planned this term include:

• Investigating the effect of acid rain on limestone (geology week)!
• Fire writing & sparklers1
• Rockets and popping canisters
• Making the ultimate bath bomb
• Dissecting owl pellets.

Science staff accompanied all Year 9 students to the Waterside theatre on Friday 19th September to experience the 'Ministry of Science' show. .  The show was developed by the creative team behind the ‘ Brainiac  Live’ & ‘Guinness World Records Officially Amazing Science Live’  and proved to be an educational show with an anarchic  twist. pupils thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon :

Taleylah Coyle 9D:

"they performed  scientific illusions/tricks - many of them included explosions! these involved liquid nitrogen, balloons, cannons and hovercraft construction".

Jarvis Bell 9D:

" the guy put flowers in liquid nitrogen at -189oC and they crumbled! My favourite experiment involved the mixing of hydrogen and air in different amounts in balloons - then exploding them!".

Yr8 STEM club continues to meet each Thursday after school in S21. This year Yr8 have completed a host of practicals from making bath bombs, rockets and sparklers to investigating owl pellets using binocular microsopes for the food they have eaten (gross!), chromatography of plant pigments and fire writing. New members are always welcome and it is hoped in the spring and summer term pupils can complete some projects for the bronze science crest awards. 

Primary Science Workshops:

On Wednesday 12 February we were able to welcome four primary schools to Springtown for a very exciting and fun packed STEM Aware science morning. Primary six pupils from Lisnagelvin P.S, Eglinton P.S Ebrington P.s and The Model P.S attended and pupils had the opportunity to work with Yr13 Foyle College mentors to complete Robocup investigations. Pupils built a small robot from a drinking cup, a small motor and other electrical components. They considered the design and had the opportunity to make adjustments to make their Robocup operate differently from the original design. Feedback from both the Yr13 mentors and the P6 pupils has been very positive and we hope to see the primary school pupils back at foyle college in the future?! A few photos below give you a glimpse of the fun taking place: