Big Bang Interactive

Leighton Park School were delighted to host the second ‘Big Bang Interactive’ yesterday, Tuesday 13^th March, following the success of last year’s inaugural event. The morning brought together industry professionals, academic experts and cutting edge scientists to deliver a fascinating programme of ten hands-on workshops anchored by a presentation for all participants; ‘Why Should the Panda Get All the Praise’ by The Ugly Animal Preservation Society, a talk sponsored by the Science Museum and arranged by STEM Sussex’s Jo McKinney-Green.

Karen Gracie-Langrick, Deputy Head (Academic), who masterminded the event with the enthusiastic Leighton Park STEM Hub group, commented, “As part of British Science Week, a ten-day celebration of STEM, the Big Bang Interactive is our largest STEM event to date. Like so many of our other engaging activities and events this forms part of Leighton Park School’s vision to become a STEM Centre of Excellence by 2021. As a school, we are keen to involve students, teachers and industry experts across Berkshire and beyond in creating an interactive and fun STEM experience. Today has been a great success, enabling students to foster new skills and enhance their curiosity in STEM related subjects. “

The interactive workshops covered different aspects of science, from artificial intelligence (AI) to best practice in the manufacture of a new medicine. With games involving jelly beans, LEGO, virtual reality goggles, a race car simulator and cookie ingredients, the 290 children who attended were absorbed. Ranging from Year 5 to Year 7, the pupils from fifteen local schools* were organised into fifteen groups named after famous figures in the STEM world, such as Stephen Hawkins, Marie Curie, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Rosalind Franklin and Tim Peake. They rotated through three sessions over the course of the morning and were lucky enough to experience two workshops each and the Ugly Animals presentation as well as enjoy some delicious refreshments.

Delivered by STEM professionals from organisations that recognise the value of education in nurturing the next generation of scientists, the workshops were run by companies including Cisco, Bion, Pfizer, Intel and Volume AI as well as higher education researchers such as the Biological Sciences team and RSSL (Reading Scientific Services Ltd) at the University of Reading. Engineering UK and the Institute of Engineering Technology (IET) also added their expertise to the gathering sharing insights and opportunities for future engineers through interactive games.

Rohini Beavon, Clinical Scientist Lead (Director), Pfizer Vaccines said, “We were very pleased to be able to support the event again this year and from our perspective it was a great success.”

The teachers from the attending schools were equally enthusiastic about the morning;

“This was excellent,’ commented Dan Cook, teacher at Whitley Park Primary, ‘It is something that we find very difficult to do in a primary school.”

“There were a huge variety of STEM activities,” added Claire Logan from Farley Hill Primary, “Wonderful resources. We would love more contact for our Year 5s and 6s.”

Helen Williams, from Dolphin School, enjoyed it so much that she would like her students to have stayed for a full day! “Superb! A great range and all the children could be involved regardless of ability.”

Reviewing the workshops, Shazia Lone from Alfred Sutton Primary School, enthused, “They really engaged the pupils and demonstrated good problem based learning. They were experiences I am sure they will remember.”