A Review of our British Science Week 2018 adventures

March 9th - 18th 2018
This year we decided to create a brand new show to go with the British Science Association chosen theme Discovery and Exploration
Our show "Where Shall We Go Next?" looked at inventions, scientists and engineers in recent years with a focus on trying to share diversity.

So Monday morning bright and early we set off for Hayfield Special school to spend the day with KS1. They had a short version of our Science Magic show followed by 6 short classroom sessions.
We packed up a box of exciting goodies for some hands on science and moved from classroom to classroom sharing the fun.
Some of the children have very profound needs so sometimes our science was sensory and quite simple but some of the children are exceedingly interested in science - a feature of their autism and we had to be on our toes because they know so much about their favourite subject!

On Tuesday we returned to Hayfield for a day with KS2. This time we took dry ice which gave our show a real WOW! factor. The classroom sessions were a little longer and for some groups quite intense as far as the actual science. The range of questions and statements of fact were amazing.

Back home to unpack and repack for a totally different third day

We were off to some good friends at Bidston Village CE school to deliver our new show. We were all very excited because this was the first time we had done the entire show.
The show is divided into four stories and the forensic one was certainly the most popular with KS2. Our dead body caused quite a stir as did dressing up in a bullet proof vest and a Tyvek scene of crime suit.
In the afternoon we worked with year 4 looking at plastics all around us. The classes were amazed at our "Not a plastic cup" made from corn and really enjoyed getting up close and personal with the hydrogel balls.

Day four and we were off to a tiny and very old ( 1600s) school Woodchurch CE.

Again the show went down extremely well and our colour change umbrella was very popular as was the car windscreen wiper from the rainy day story.
In the afternoon we worked with class sized groups exploring plastics and seeing just how much water a disposable nappy would hold.

Day 5 saw us going over to Warrington to St Benedicts CPS and having a super time especially playing the pirate game discovering the link between sailors, Vitamin C and the cold virus.
We were the special guests at the golden tables at lunchtime (children earn a place at a special table by good behaviour in break times).
In the afternoon we stayed in the hall and year 2 followed by year 6 came to us. They especially enjoyed exploring the thermo moulding plastic and putting hands into the hydrogel ball container.

Day 6 - yes we worked on Saturday too -  we were off across country to Alsager to take part in a Big Bang@ school event. Families, friends and feeder primary schools had all been invited to a day of activities and we were the big show in the main hall.
We did three shows during the day with lots of fire, flame and dry ice. One of the AllAboutStem team Liam took some amazing pictures which you can see here:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/TheBigBangNorthWest/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1776803325696868

Day 7 - we couldn't fit everyone in so spilled over into a second week!

This time we were at Oakdene primary in Rainhill with our show and a couple of brilliant dead bodies and then working with year 5 & 6 who knew lots about pollution and plastic.

Finally we were done!
An absolutely brilliant BSW2018 with a great new show which we will tweak and then put into our permanent programme.

Probably the best quote of the week - " I liked it when you killed Riley and drew round him" one of our dead bodies in the forensic scene.

Definitely the best image of the week from BB@Alsager by Liam at AllAboutStem.

Here is a montage of all the fun

Big Bang North West

Tuesday 4th July 2107
A big day for science in the North West!

Liverpool waterfront The Exhibition Centre was taken over by 1000s of young people all wanting to see the exciting shows and stands at the Big Bang Fair North West.
The team had been working hard for many months organising the venue, sorting out the exhibiting companies and the special guests for the show stage.

This year was a new venture for us. We have been on the show stage for the last 3 years but with more and more Primary schools coming to the event the BBNW team asked us if we could organise a stand with actititves especially geared towards the younger ones....certainly!

Then we needed to think because our usual amazing science is often a one off and then make up the chemicals again type of thing - the sort of colour change science we do in our shows. Of course that wouldn't work for a science event where small groups walk up to your stand all through the day.

So we decided to take some of our kit from our Super Senses workshops - guess the smell and the feely tubs and grot bags. Guessing a smell with no clues is quite hard so anyone that got it right won a scratch and sniff sticker....they obviously had a good nose.

Brave souls who put their hand into one of our grot bags found slime, instant snow, insects ( plastic ones!) and a squooshy worm.

Of course it wouldn't be one of our events without the amazing invisible hydrogel balls but how to stop them all getting squished in the first five minutes???
We used a few giant pink ones in amongst some smaller clear ones in coloured water and played hunt the gel ball! We had extras in reserve and replenished them every so often. Soon we had a bucket of dead hydrogel balls!!

Throw in a few colour change tricks with heat sensitive paper and straws and you have a fun, hands on stand.

We even had a competition to win a half price day of shows.Well done to Aintree Davenhill Primary who won.

It was a long day - we were there very early to set up but we had help from my other half - also a STEM Ambassador - so we were at least able to take a quick bathroom break occasionally but we were so busy we didn't get to see any of the shows.

The images from the day are really great. You can see 100s on the AllAboutSTEM website and Facebook page but here are a few of us having fun.

Review of the Year

Happy New Year to all our friends!
I thought we would share with you a review of the year and some pictures from 2016.

 This year has been one of ups and downs.
The good times - WOW! great events such as BigBang North West and Chem4All with LJMU but also we have missed getting together with old friends because budgets in schools are so tight that they haven't been able to afford us. That is very sad because we know how enjoyable a day with us is and how inspiring it can be for the staff.

our friends at Chestnut Lodge

We have tried hard whenever we have secured funding to share it around and we were thrilled when Mexichem sponsored a day with our friends at Chestnut Lodge. We had so much fun and even though we were saying goodbye and good luck to some of the older pupils we knew we had made an impact.

We had a wonderful if exhausting week at Ellesmere Port Boat museum with local schools at a STEM event organised by IGNITE. Every day we met new pupils and shared our smart materials workshops with them and made bath bombs to take home. We made over 500 during the week and smelled so much of the bubble gum fragrance that we stopped noticing it....our families didn't!

We met new schools this year - some in Cheshire and others in Liverpool where word seemed to get round about us resulting in a flurry of bookings. We also worked with AllAboutSTEM and Techniquest Glyndwr doing shows and workshops

Towards the end of the summer term we got busier and busier as schools used us for an end of year treat. We were happy to be asked back to a primary school by their PTA who decided rather than an end of year disco they would have a science show!

End of June/beginning of July was the culmination of the amazing Chem4All year. This project at LJMU is a long term intervention enthusing staff and pupils in Merseyside schools. We were part of the celebrations - three days of shows and loads of dry ice!

Probably the highlight of the year was BigBang North West which had a new venue - the Liverpool Exhibition Centre right on the waterfront. An amazing venue suitable for an amazing event. It just gets bigger and better each year.
Again we were on the main stage but this time because we were all in the one hall everyone stopped what they were doing to come and watch - 100s of people all fascinated by our science. The publicity pictures are incredible, the Tweets went wild on the day and overnight Helen became the poster girl for the event!!

This Autumn has been much quieter but that has given us time to be creative and we have updated our shows, streamlined our workshops and gathered some great gizmos. We are already getting bookings for British Science Week and our birthday month discount offer so it looks like things will be just as exciting in 2017. Our adventure continues.......

BIG BANG NW 2016

WOW! WOW! WOW!
What an amazing day we all had at BBNW

This year we were in a new venue - The Exhibition Centre Liverpool which is right on the waterfront and a super space for a STEM event.
Being in one large hall made it easier for teachers to keep an eye on their pupils. It also gave the exhibitors a real buzz because they were with everyone else.

the show hall

In the centre was the show stage - a huge screen to make sure everyone had a close up view and plenty of seats. However the shows were a real draw so it was standing room only for every show all day. Thankfully there was room around the seating for people to gather and get a good view.

the show stage

The perimeter of the hall was where the large activities were - the accelerator, the pendolino train, the riding horse and milking cow.......you had to be there to see that!

Even larger exhibits were outside on the deck - Terry the Viking scientist and his team brought their longboat.

the Vikings

On Monday the set up started - by early afternoon the stage was almost finished and the stands were taking shape. As the evening wore on more and more companies, colleges and universities arrived to set up their stands.

We took all our kit taking advantage of the loading bay for easy access so that on the Tuesday morning we were able to park the car and walk through the main entrance.

We were on first so we set up our show tables in the early morning quiet and as everyone arrived we got our microphones on and after a quick sound check it was time to start.

We shared different bits from a variety of our shows - colour chemistry to start followed by disappearing hydrogel balls and introducing our huge blue polymer balls. We moved on to the freaky hand using bicarbonate and vinegar and then inflated a giant vet glove.

Helen made huge clouds of flame with milk powder

and then we set off a whoosh bottle.

The finale was dry ice - what else!

Lots of clouds of fog, popping lids and a crystal ball bubble to finish.

It went well - even better in the afternoon session - people were sitting in the aisles to try to see.

The audience was very receptive - the other shows went really well too.
Tom Warrender shared his fascinatingly gruesome human guinea pig show - look away if you are squeamish time!!

Stefan Gates the Gastronaut showed us some amazing science based around food even blowing strawberry fragranced smoke rings at us all.

There are so many pictures from the day - Twitter feeds, Twitpics, Facebook pics and professional photos.
Putting BBNW or #BBNW should find some if you search and of course you can go to MerseySTEM and the dedicated Big Bang NW site for plenty of links to write ups, galleries and more.

If you didn't get this year I really would encourage you to sign up for 2017. This is the biggest FREE STEM event in our area and so worth doing. Don't miss it.

many thanks to everyone who shared their images of the day and for the professional images which are © MerseySTEM

http://www.merseystem.co.uk/

Courtesy of Gareth Jones (Photographer)