Year 8 pupils spent a day out of their normal classes to experience a mixture of different activities recently. The pupils spent the day in groups and attended four different workshops and presentations. Each group had a different experience as there were seven activities on offer. STEM subject teachers provided practical experience of Biodiversity, Robotics and Electrostatics while STEM ambassadors from The Rivers Agency, NHS, Royal Victoria Hospital and Engineering Training Council gave a mixture of workshops and presentations on their areas of expertise. The aim of the day was to let pupils experience and value the transferable skills of employability within a STEM context and hopefully hear about some new careers as well.
This is one pupils experience:
STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. My first STEM class was Science, so I got to the West Wing to find a lab filled with strange equipment and a lady from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. She explained that she was here to tell us how they take samples of rivers, and how they identify whether they are healthy or not. We spent the hour testing some water from two different rivers. One of the experiments was finding the ‘hardness’ of a river, by putting dye into the water, then pouring on some special chemical until it turned blue. I found out how ‘hard’ it was by measuring how much acid it took to turn the river water blue – I really liked learning about it. After break, it was Technology with Mr McCrea. He taught us about robots, and how they are used to do certain things. Using a computer, we programmed a robot to grab a ball, move whenever we whistled or clapped our hands, and stop when something blocked its way. This was my favourite lesson and I loved working with the robots. Next class was Engineering and we learnt about all the different types of engineers – I can honestly say I didn’t know so many existed. I thought an engineer was someone who fixes lots of things, and wears a blue overall! I think that lesson opened up an ‘opportunity door’ for me to think about for my future. Finally my last class was another Science activity. The man was a radiographer from the Royal Victoria Hospital who showed us what his job consisted of. He let us guess the X-rays taken of people, and he told us about all the different types of X=rays that he takes. I found that class really fun and interesting, and I might think about radiography for the future too!
I think science is important because it helps us understand how things work, from daily household appliances to plants and animals. I never thought there would be such a variety of careers in Science to choose from.
STEM Day
