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The Clubbers’ Guide‘Be inspired, inspire others’Liz Carter

‘Be inspired, inspire others’ is our school motto and also something I aim to achieve by running the Science Club at The Warwick School in Redhill, an 11–16 specialist technology comprehensive. The Science Club is but a part of our extensive science, technology, engineering and mathematicss (STEM) programme that has developed over time through the involvement of a large number of staff. It extends from outreach activities with our feeder primary schools and a summer school for rising year 7 students (age 11–12), through our own students with events including a renewable energy day, and on to parents and other adults in the community with technology challenge evenings, bat walks, annual lectures and so on.

The Science Club is open to all students but mainly attracts a certain type of year 7 member, the ‘boisterous boys’. They are not the most academic students but enjoy the practical side of science, especially anything that involves using Bunsen burners or some kind of fire. Therefore, to start with, we:l make and test oxygen, carbon dioxide and hydrogen and practise collecting oxygen over water following established methods (Figures 1 and 2)l do flame tests and make soda snake fireworks around bonfire nightl extract iron on a pinheadl make plastic out of milk and vinegarl model volcanoes with red wax and sand

Figure 1 Learning how to collect gas over water Figure 2 Testing for oxygen

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SSR September 2012, 94(346) 2726 SSR September 2012, 94(346)

The Clubbers’ Guide‘Be inspired, inspire others’Liz Carter

The Science Club is open to all students but mainly attracts a certain type of year 7 member, the ‘boisterous boys’. They are not the most academic students but enjoy the practical side of science, especially anything that involves using Bunsen burners or some kind of fire. Therefore, to start with, we:l make and test oxygen, carbon dioxide and hydrogen and practise collecting oxygen over water following established methods (Figures 1 and 2)l do flame tests and make soda snake fireworks around bonfire nightl extract iron on a pinheadl make plastic out of milk and vinegarl model volcanoes with red wax and sand

l carry out the classic ‘sucking’ eggs experiment using air pressure to push hard-boiled eggs into a conical flask (Figure 3).

Details of activities, including risk assessments, can be found on the relevant websites given at the end of this article.

Our Christmas party is always eagerly anticipated – we have a competition to build a balloon-bursting machine that must include as many energy transformations as possible. This usually, and almost inevitably, involves some variations on dynamics trolleys careering down ramps with drawing pins or flaming cocktail sticks at the front, having first been released from their starting position by a candle flame burning through a holding string (Figure 4). I make sure that all machines set off in the same direction and that none of them crosses the ‘lanes’.

I have tried all sorts of other activities, with varying degrees of success (some need more development):l Working through the periodic table one element at a time. Sometimes the link to

Figure 2 Testing for oxygen

Figure 4 A balloon-bursting machine

Figure 3 ’Sucking’ eggs at Science Club

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the element is rather tenuous, for example investigating magnetism at the helium session (helium is used to cool the super-conducting wires that form the electromagnet in MRI scanners).l Dissections – many students enjoy these (Figure 5). A good introduction is the plasticine rat dissection on the Planet SciCast website.l Making videos (Figure 6) – this is a good activity for engaging those who are more

intellectual. The students can handle all the processing and, depending on the topic, few resources are required. Our most recent attempt was to explain how melting ice caps only raise sea levels if the ice is on land. It needed only two beakers, some ice cubes and a block to represent the land but held the interest of the students for the full hour.l Forensic science themed activities (Figure 7).

I enjoy the challenge of finding new and exciting activities and it is very rewarding when the students return week after week full of enthusiasm; however, finding the time to plan and prepare for science club is sometimes difficult.

Where do I go to ‘Be inspired’? The internet is obviously a great resource – I refer to several websites within this article, and the STEM Clubs Network website at www.stemclubs.net is becoming more and more useful. Publications from the Science Enhancement Programme are also helpful, as are courses and continuing professional development (CPD) sessions run by the Assocation for Science Education (ASE) and Science Museum Lates (events held on the last Wednesday of every month in the evening for

Figure 5 Students carrying out a rat dissection

Figure 7 Investigating blood splatter patternsFigure 6 Preparing to film a short video about acceleration

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adults only). The outreach teams at the University of Surrey and at Royal Holloway have been very helpful and suppliers’ representatives often have good ideas too. Surrey Wildlife Trust has run sessions for us (Figure 8).

Sometimes the students themselves provide the inspiration. Before going on study leave, a group of year 11 students (age 15–16) thanked their science teacher for all his efforts by making the Periodic Table in cupcakes using coloured icing to distinguish the groups as in their record books and putting chemical symbols on each one (Figure 9). What a great STEM activity!

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to work with our local STEM clubs adviser, Samantha Durbin, and I had a chance to reflect on what I do with science. What is it that I would like to achieve through running the club beyond ‘inspiring others’? For me, it is about broadening children’s education, helping them to see the applications of science and to understand its history. It is also about developing their practical skills, promoting good practice such as working tidily and putting lids back on bottles, developing a feel for the practice of science, and having time to explore, ask questions and find things out for

themselves. It is important that the students learn, and that they enjoy their learning and take pride in it. Building effective working relationships with adults and teamworking skills with their peers are added benefits. What else could I do to make science club a more integral part of our school rather than an optional extra for a few students?

I have long thought that the students would benefit from carrying out some kind of project

Figure 8 Preparing to birdwatch with Surrey Wildlife Trust

Figure 9 The Periodic Table in cupcakes

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over a longer time period than most school work allows for and I have been fortunate in securing a Royal Society Partnership Grant. I applied for funding for a project to investigate how human activities affect water quality in local natural watercourses through using chemical and biological indicators. We are well placed for such an investigation as we are sited close to a landfill site, a watersports park, a housing development around a large mere, a nature reserve, and sand and gravel quarries. The grant gives us the opportunity to work with scientists from the water industry, an aquatic ecological consultant, a meteorologist and the local water company, as well as Surrey Wildlife Trust. Through our work we will be helping Surrey Wildlife Trust in a project that aims to re-introduce water voles into the local brook; this is part of a much bigger ‘A Living Landscape’ project. Science and Nature Club students will be very much involved with the project (Figure 10) and so too will other students – some science and geography lessons are going to

be used; our Progress Group, which includes our less academically able students, has been keeping a photo diary of our ecology area and recording their pond-dipping results, and the XL Club, which is a group of similarly less academically able year 11 students, has been working in the ecology area and making a video. We have presented the project at various events (Figure 11).

Figure 10 Students looking at creatures caught in pond-dipping samples

Figure 11 Showcasing the water project at a local fair

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The project has now mushroomed to include more global aspects of water quality. We recently had some really thought-provoking assemblies with presentations to all year groups from the charity Water Aid on their work in Bangladesh, where water quality is a matter of life and death. Following on from that, we are planning a series of fundraising activities to support their work as well as an activity day for years 7 and 8 on the theme of water to raise and maintain awareness. The project is thus now having a school-wide impact.

At this early stage, it all seems somewhat daunting but also exciting. When I was at school I knew that I wanted a career in scientific research.

When I left the pharmaceutical industry after more than 15 years as a research microbiologist, I thought my discovery days were over but perhaps that was just the start. And what could be better than working alongside young people to inspire them to wonder at the natural world and to encourage them to take responsibility for their own part in it?

This is a revised and extended version of an article that first appeared in Timstar’s Benchmark magazine. There is plenty of advice and support on running a club, including video case studies, on the STEM Clubs Network website at www.stemclubs.net.

References for activities mentioned in the text

Soda snake fireworks: www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/educators/classroom_and_homework_resources/resources/soda_snakes_fireworks.aspx.

Extracting iron on a pinhead: www.nuffieldfoundation.org/practical-chemistry/extraction-iron-match-head.

Making plastic from milk and vinegar: www.raeng.org.uk/education/eenp/engineering_resources/pdf/club/8_Milking_It.pdf.

Modelling volcanoes: Payne, J. (2000) Geological changes. In Teaching Secondary Chemistry, ed. McDuell, R. London: John Murray.

Sucking eggs: chemistry.about.com/od/chemistrydemonstrations/a/egginabottle.htm.

Balloon-bursting machine: archive.planet-science.com/parents/index.html?page=/parents/party_time/spanners/activities/balloonmachine.html.

A Living Landscape project: www.wildlifetrusts.org/alivinglandscape.

Animated rat dissection: scicast.org.uk/films/2010/02/animated-rat-dissection.html.

Science Enhancement Programme publications and Catalyst magazine: www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/sep; www.nationalstemcentre.org.uk/catalyst.

Useful websites

Nuffield Foundation – Practical Chemistry: www.nuffieldfoundation.org/practical-chemistry.

Nuffield Foundation – Practical Physics: www.nuffieldfoundation.org/practical-physics.

Natural History Museum – Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) network: www.opalexplorenature.org.

Science Museum: www.sciencemuseum.org.uk.Institute of Physics (IOP): www.iop.org.Schoolscience.co.uk (Assocation for Science Education):

www.schoolscience.co.uk.Woodland Trust: www.woodlandtrust.org.uk.Association for Science Education (ASE): www.ase.org.uk.Microbiology in Schools Advisory Committee (MiSAC):

www.misac.org.uk.Royal Astronomical Society: www.ras.org.uk.STEM Clubs Network: www.stemclubs.net.

Liz Carter is a senior science technician at The Warwick School, Redhill, Surrey. The Science/STEM Club at The Warwick School was recently judged to be the best at the south-east regional Big Bang Fair. Email: crt@warwick.surrey.sch.uk

Figure 10 Students looking at creatures caught in pond-dipping samples

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