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• School Science Video

             

 

          Science specialism                      

Science Specialism Co-ordinator: Miss T Stone

 

 

July 2010: science weeK     This year our Science Week events were combined with our Healthy School days to provide students with a full week of exciting activities. During the first three days of the week students in years 7, 8 and 9 took part in a variety of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) related workshops and participated in a range of performances. Selected students also had the chance to go on trips to Bedfords Park, the Centre of the Cell Exhibition and the Big Bang Science Fair. Highlights of the science events included some of our students getting messy with Gooblex, seeing elephant toothpaste being made, igniting rocket fuel and handling some unusual visitors – this was definitely a favourite with staff, although I’m not sure if everyone took a liking to the Tarantula! Students participated extremely well in the workshops, completing tasks such as designing, creating and testing parachutes for eggs, creating and launching their own rockets and building towers from limited materials. For students to successfully complete these activities they had to work cooperatively in teams, communicate with each other, and use their problem solving skills. Some of our students were incredibly creative coming up with some very imaginative solutions to the task they were given                                 Finally, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all staff involved in the organisation and running of the week’s science events. All their hard work and support has been greatly appreciated by the students. T STONE

latest news: may 2010 Science News  Scientists of the Week The Scientists of the Week for this half term are:   Year 7 – Mohammed Alware, Christopher Riggs, Molly McNally, Danielle Staras, Teni Ogusanya and Neema Dedes. Year 8 – Tyler Morris, Darren Jefferd Shaun Le Sage and Stephanie Morris. Year 9 – Gurinder Mahal, Kevin Wilson, Sophie Turner, Tom Ford, Chloe Harrison and Corey Tomlinson. Year 10 –Shiann Evans, Theresa Ruskin and Samira Said. Year 11 – James Martin, Sam Hopwood and Rhakib Abdul. Congratulations and keep up the hard work! EcoSchools Project This term the EcoSchools committee have made great progress towards our goal of achieving the silver award for Eco friendly schools. On Wednesday 2nd April the team spent time planting 30 trees in front of the leisure centre to help off-set some of the school’s carbon footprint. The trees planted were all native British species; Cherry, Rowan and Silver Birch, and were given to the school by courtesy of The Woodlands Trust. The trees will be left to grow and flourish for future generations to appreciate. Special thanks goes to Ms Stanton, who organised the project, and three year 9 pupils Kevin Wilson, Corey Tomlin and Tyler Belcher, and other staff who gave up their time to help plant these trees. Joel Barnard   Year 9 Olympic Park Visit Earlier this month, several of our Year 9 students took part in a visit to the London 2012 Olympic park. The activity included looking over the Olympic Park construction site as it is now and how it will look when it is finished, as well as looking at information about the site as it was pre-construction.  Students carried out an argumentation activity, which gave them the opportunity to think about the sustainability of the construction of the Olympic Park. The activity explored issues related to scientific ideas, as well as social, economic and environmental aspects of the development of the original brown field site.  The activity was set up in conjunction with the Field Studies Council and Ruth Amos a lecturer in education from the Institute of Education.  A Davison Malaysia Expedition: July 2011   After the success of our expedition to Egypt last summer, preparations are now underway for our next expedition to Malaysia, in July 2011. Malaysia is a spectacular country, offering students the opportunity to visit some of the oldest rainforests in the world and spend time along stunning coastlines. A team of sixth formers will be spending three weeks in Malaysia, taking part in conservation and community projects, with some time at the end of the expedition for rest and relaxation. A big thanks to those parents who turned up to the information meeting last week in support of our students. Any student who still wishes to be a part of the expedition must return their application form to Miss Stone in L5 by Monday 7th June. T Stone

 

 

march 2010

 

                              Girls into Physics Project

 

On Thursday 25th March the science department held its second and final day of the Girls into Physics project. This day allowed the year 10 students from Robert Clack, Brentwood, Castle View and Eastlea schools to share with Dr Laura Grant all their hard work and achievements since the last meeting. Our work in school has been focused on promoting Physics to other female pupils within our school. Some Robert Clack students have decided to do a Careers in Physics advertising campaign, whilst others are working on planning a series of lessons.

 On the day itself we were asked to present our achievements to date in the form of a digital story, and so we were given the opportunity to use cameras to create a short presentation. In the afternoon we had a chance to watch the digital stories from each school. Each story portrayed what had taken place in schools and what they still planned to do. By looking at the stories we could clearly see how students had tried to promote Physics in their school. The project has improved our understanding of Physics and has also shown us that there are many career paths involving Physics. It has given us the opportunity to see that girls don’t have to be a minority when it comes to A Level Physics, and that we can achieve just as well as the boys! 

We’d like to thank the science department for giving us this opportunity, and we’d also like to give a special mention to Ms Stone, who organised this event and has been helping us with our advertising campaign.

 

Linnette Mukandatsama

A Specialist School of Science

 

• Science embraces virtually all aspects of our everyday lives.  Understanding it can help us to better understand the world in which we live.  It can also enhance our health and enjoyment of life itself.

• Studying science allows students to learn a vast range of highly transferable skills including: teamwork, practical skills, calculation, analysing data, critical thinking, imagination, explaining abstract concepts and many more.

• Science graduates are in short supply and high demand in virtually all job sectors.  Science is being made relevant at Robert Clack and being taught with rigour.

• Science specialism means all pupils have access to a very high standard of science education which they can use now, in all subjects, and into their future lives.

 

Success through Specialist Status

 

Having Science Specialist investment has lead to some significant improvements in aspiration and achievement among pupils.  It also allows us to provide invaluable enrichment experiences for our learners.  Examples include:

 

• OUTSTANDING FACILITIES

Providing each classroom with overhead projectors, interactive learning technology and some of the latest practical equipment e.g. visualisers, micro-cameras, digital cameras and DNA fingerprint kits.

 

• SUPPORTING OUTSIDE VISITS, including:

• Annual 5-day residential biology trip to Wales

• 18-day expedition to Indonesia (2007)

• 15-day expedition to Honduras (2009)

• Year group trips to Science Museum, London Zoo, Tower of London, local ecology parks

• Science week activities off-timetable to enrich classroom learning, including guest speakers, workshops and cross-curricula work.

• Easter outward-bound trip to Wales

• Subsidised tickets to local science events e.g. BodyWorlds exhibition for pupils, family and staff

• Supporting individuals for specialised projects e.g. summer placements or University workshops

 

• EXCITING & RELEVANT OUTSIDE SPEAKERS IN SCIENCE LESSONS, including:

 

- Business manager from Pfizer (Global drug giant), on drug discovery process

- PhD students in genetic research from Queen Mary’s University & Imperial

- Cystic Fibrosis sufferer who spoke with passion about his disease and fight for life

- Senior lecturer from Cambridge University on University life and entry

- Crime Scene Investigator to support unit on scientific detection

 

A new science building

The £1.6million investment in the new 6 lab science block at upper school has revolutionised the teaching of science in the school.

Opened in October 2007, it has 6 fully equipped labs, two large preparation areas, three extremely talented and helpful technicians.  Equipment in each lab includes projector, automatic screen and sound, a visualiser, air conditioning, 4 PC’s and all essential lab equipment and ample storage.  The department has a class set of laptops which can be transported and fully networked in any of the rooms.  There is also a big display plasma screen in the entrance lobby allowing the display of pupil work, notices, news stories and photos.

Science Specialism supports and raises academic achievement throughout the school

 

Achievement and aspiration in science can be translated across the school into overall pupil performance.  The science department plays a lead in many whole school activities e.g. trialling the school’s new virtual learning environment (VLE).

 

Science Week

 

Science Week is honoured annually with an off-timetable week of learning around science themes.  In recent years, we have seen a raft of workshops to enrich learning, including:  engineering balloon-powered buggies and wind turbines; building shelters; the BP roadshow; talks from the RSPB etc.  It is also traditional for year groups to go on trips to places of scientific interest e.g. the Science Museum, London Zoo.

 

This year’s theme is ‘Planet & People’, where all departments will unite to deliver a cross-curricula week of Higher Level Thinking learning.  The week will allow learners to explore the real issues faced by humans living on Earth by analysing data, evaluating different ways we can do something about it and creating ways to explain what they know to others.  The week will commence with a keynote speaker, Mukti Mitchell, who single handed sailed an “eco boat” around the shores of Britain to promote a low carbon lifestyle.

 

 

Science awards

 

We award a weekly SCIENTIST OF THE WEEK AWARD for pupils demonstrating outstanding performance or effort in the subject.

 

There is an annual SCIENTIST OF THE YEAR award made at presentation evening to a single student in each year group who has demonstrated relentless enthusiasm, skill and exceptional achievement in the subject.

 

 

 

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