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Wonderstruck Science Workshop 11/01/2023

What a great day exploring science with Peter Wright from Wonderstruck!
The day began with a presentation exploring rockets.  Peter used smoke and an air blaster to demonstrate how the forces affected how the air travelled.  Then, using plastic bottles, he helped them explore the chemical reaction that takes place in a combustion chamber, before demonstrating how gunpowder, which had been invented in China over 1,000  years ago, has to be confined to make it explode. After exploring liquid fuel, which is more controllable than gunpowder, he explained how jet engines, fueled by gas work. He also used a bed of nails to help them understand the relationship between force and pressure.
All the children then took part in a workshop to design and build their own rockets.  They had the opportunity to launch their rockets, using compressed air, to enable them to evaluate how successful their prototypes were.
In the afternoon the emphasis was on reliable fair testing and repeat readings as Key Stage 2 build fan powered cars. Once their car was working effectively, the groups worked to improve and modify their design to make them faster.  Following trials in class, the best 6 designs went head to head in an impressive finale, designed to discover the most successful design team.
Mrs Lunt said, “It was a fantastic day that really engaged the children and allowed them to immerse themselves in scientific ideas, principles and vocabulary spanning the breadth of the Science curriculum, as well as allowing them to become engineers for the day!  We would really like to thank our amazing PTFA, who funded the visit and provided this wonderful opportunity for the children. It was a really inspirational day.”
 
A huge thank to to the PTFA and thank you to the parents who were able to join us for the show- we hope you enjoyed it as much as the children did.
 
Anne Burns