The Science department at Westbourne House Prep School created a week of ‘Whizz Bang’ to celebrate the 2019 British Science Week.
The school’s week was centred on practical applications of science in day-to-day life and set out to answer the question ‘Why is science useful?’. Alongside class-based activities, the science team creating a plethora of experiments conducted at break and lunch times including dry ice, planting pollinating plants, fish dissections, and the show-stopping methane bubble experiment which involved Caroline Thorne, Head of Science, holding bubbles which pupils safely set on fire!
George Lin, Year 6, said: “I loved that there were a lot of fun things to do. My favourites were the dry ice experiments and setting Miss Thorne on fire! They were epic. I also liked cutting the pumpkin in half and planting the seeds. I really wish we could do Science Week again.”
At the conclusion of the week, Caroline Thorne, commented, “It was wonderful to get so many children enthusiastic about science in just one week. All the science staff enjoyed demonstrating the many varied ways science works with and supports nature, and impacts on our lives. For the younger children, who normally learn science as part of their topic, British Science Week was a fantastic opportunity to invite them to our laboratories, and to enthuse them about science with a range of experiments.”
The Science Department also saw British Science Week as an opportunity to showcase pupils’ passions. Lucy Pitman and Honor Pennant, Year 6, presented their passion – birds – to Year 2. The girls independently planned a 30-minute talk, which included a range of activities and a quiz. Year 2 pupils were engaged throughout and seemed to love listening to the older students talking so passionately.
The science team presented two assemblies with dry ice, giant bubbles and elephant toothpaste. The older children went on to have an inter-patrol (inter-house) elephant toothpaste competition to see who, or perhaps more precisely which quantities of the experiment ingredients, would create the most elephant toothpaste. The Panthers created an enormous quantity – more than enough for at least 10 elephants!
Seth Oglethorpe, Year 6, summed it up: “Science Week was fabulous.”