STEM day at Wellington College

Nine Year 9 students were selected to spend a day at Wellington College to get creative with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) topics. The students were a huge credit to The Forest and were complimented by staff from other schools. Teamwork, initiative, creativity, problem solving, trial and error were just a few of the skills they showed off today. Thank you Mrs Allen for arranging this. I had a lot of fun with the students and was reminded again what wonderful, respectful students we have!
Mrs Gouws

Here is what the boys thought of the day.

Session 1: Biology
We did a practical trying to figure out how the concentration of a substrate affects the rate of a catalysed enzyme. We used Hydrogen Peroxide and a catalase to produce oxygen. We used varying concentrations to produce more oxygen in a gas chamber. We also made a table and a graph displaying our results. - Charlie H and Alex T

Session 2: Maths
During the STEM day we partook in many activities one of them being maths. In this activity we focused on logical maths and its element of problem solving. To do this we used a set which allowed us to complete multiple puzzles and challenges with different specified requirements and restrictions to add an element of challenge of needing to be inventive. I enjoyed it very much as it was very fun yet challenging and forced us to be inventive. As well as this, it allowed us to get a great idea of what maths in the real world would be like. Ayaan H

Session 3: Design Tech
Our group firstly had to split in to teams of 2. Me and Amar were together and our task was to make a marble track. We started off making a track for the marble to run down with cardboard. It attached to a wall with many holes in with thin straws which we stuck in those holes. Then we sloped each track downwards so it had momentum but only slight momentum as our goal was to be the slowest marble down to the bottom. It was a very fun activity and me and Amar got a time of 25 seconds, which was the best in our Forest Group. We used a variety of equipment such as a glue gun, cardboard, masking tape and thin paper straws. Overall, I really enjoyed the day and it was a great experience. Archie M

I really enjoyed going to Wellington College as the food was delicious and the activities were fun. In DET we had to make a marble run that would last the longest out of cardboard, paper straws, and masking tape. We used appliances such as a hot glue gun and  scissors. We made our marble run by cutting out strips of cardboard and bending it in half. We used paper straws as brackets to secure it to the board we had to use as a backing. Our marble run lasted 25 seconds and we only had 40 minutes to build it. This activity was fun and creative.  I thoroughly enjoyed it. Amar N

Session 4: Lego
It was a very good experience to go to wellington college’s STEM day. The whole day we were taught to use logical thinking to solve problems given to us. One thing in particular that stood out to me was the LEGO segment. It was very fun using the motors to create a tank to race against the other builders. Missing the day of school to do these activities was very fun. It is something I would 
recommend to other students. Felix B