A group of 20 Oundle School pupils and 5 staff attended the annual convention of the American Association for the Advancement of Science which took place in Vancouver this year.
Oundle have been attending the convention for twelve years and the opportunity it gives for pupils and staff to keep up with the latest discoveries is much appreciated. This year’s theme was “Flattening the World – Building a Global Knowledge Society.”
Head of Science and Trip Organiser, Paul Clark commented, “The seminars and symposia were as diverse as ever and particular highlights mentioned by pupils include: a controversial lecture on the artificial synthesis of meat using stem cells, a series of talks on the future of quantum computing and a thought provoking debate on the issue of water distribution and how governments were coping with the problems of rising populations and global warming.”
Each day ended with entertaining and inspirational plenary lectures all of which provided much food for thought: an example of this being a lecture given by Professor Frans de Waal during which he talked about social instincts and morality in humans and other animals. The staff attending also enriched their knowledge of the latest cutting edge science and one lecture delivered by Nobel Prize-winner, Professor Carl Wieman, was particularly memorable. Professor Wieman talked about how we learn and how learning is improved by adopting an expert thinking approach.
As well as attending the convention the group travelled to the Boeing Factory in Washington State and saw how the new passenger jet, the 787 Dreamliner, was designed and put together. There was also the opportunity to sample life in Vancouver including skiing at Whistler and trips to the University of British Columbia.
Pupil, Farah Shair (17) commented, “I really enjoyed the AAAS trip this year, the lectures were fascinating and there were plenty of opportunities for networking with big names from Science; perfect for anyone who would like a career in this subject. And on top of all of that, there was plenty of free time for sightseeing and exploring Vancouver!”
Paul concluded, “The convention is the best in the world at highlighting contemporary science and as has been the case in previous years, the pupils made the most of this unique opportunity.”