S3 Physics students took part in the Ashfield Music Festival in May, rounding off their learning experience after a successful year in Physics.

Ashfield Music Festival is one day off-timetable activity – hosted in our Learning Plaza - in which learners develop skills in enterprise and learn how physics applies in the context of setting up a music festival by taking on one of six roles: project manager, health and safety advisor, construction manager, electrical engineer, sound engineer or lighting engineer. 

They are supported by real-life scientists – referred to as “experts” – and must use a mixture of physics-based knowledge, creativity and skills associated with enterprise in order to win the contract to build the main stage.
We were lucky to have the support of six great STEM Ambassadors from Glaxo-Smith-Kline, the University of Glasgow, Kvaerner- and it was a delight to welcome back Chloe Elliot, a former student and final years Honours student at Heriot-Watt University.

In the morning, the students worked together to organise the music festival, with each of them needing the support of each other to complete their tasks.  They were supported by the Experts throughout this considerable challenge.  In the afternoon, the Experts became Judges, and the teams had to pitch to the panel in a bid to win the contract to host their festival.

This was the youngest year group that Dr Spencer had run the event with, but they rose to the challenge and produced excellent work and very impressive presentations.

In the end, Team CC Ltd with their Rock Valley festival impressed the judges the most, and were presented with their winners’ certificates and prizes at the end of the day.  Congratulations to Jamie, Lawson, Joshua, Josh, Harry and Calum.

The students said that really enjoyed the day and while they found it very challenging, they were proud to rise to the challenge and succeed.  They liked being off-timetable for the day to work on an extended task, and it made them aware of the role that physics plays in organising a music festival!  The STEM Ambassadors said that they really enjoyed the event and felt that the students got a lot out of the day.  They said they were impressed with the pupils – they were well-behaved, very engaged and a credit to Marr College. Below is the winning poster to advertise the winning music festival.

This is the start of the first full week of term for all pupils at Marr College.  We are all settling into the newly opened building and eagerly awaiting the completion of the PE Block.  Please click here to access the parent mailing that was given out to all pupils last week.  This includes a welcome letter for the head teacher, information about school meals and information about the parent council. 

This can also be accessed via the Letters to Parents Page. 

We have a group of senior students who are hoping to win big with their rocket design.  They are taking part in The Great STEM UK Youth Rocketry Challenge 2017. 

Details of their progress can be found on their blog.  We wish them the very best for success at Prestwick Internation Airport in March and hope their rocket flies and lands the egg safely.

S1 and S2 students have made fantastic progress with their interdisciplinary projects this term.

The theme has been all about rollercoasters and theme parks and they have been learning about the science of rollercoasters and how this affects their design – including vital safety considerations.
Key group activities in the project so far have involved:

• ICT research into the science, design and construction of different types of rollercoaster
• Practical investigations into how the height of the drop affects how far and how fast a car will travel – also known as the “ski jump investigation”
• Construction and testing of a safety harness
• Construction and testing of simple and more complex models
• Measurements of the average speed of different sections to control speed and complete loops and curves

To demonstrate what they have learned and showcase their models, the students have also presented their findings so far to their peers and completed a log book.  A considerable number of students have demonstrated so much depth in their understanding that they have achieved the British Science Association’s CREST Bronze Award – which will be presented at the Celebrating Success Assemblies in August 2017.  This will also contribute towards the awarding of School Colours.

Their knowledge and skills have been challenged considerably in the design and construction of model paper rollercoasters, with marbles acting as the car – with some fantastic outcomes thanks to teamwork which have more than exceeded the teachers’ initial expectations.  @MarrPhysics tweeted “Amazing paper rollercoasters - what a fantastic construction job! Their operation is even more impressive than their appearance :-) #STEM” – this has been shared, liked and retweeted by schools across the country, the Scottish Schools Education Research Centre and Douglas Hutchison, South Ayrshire’s Director of Education.

The models have also been showcased to senior students S4-S6 who were very impressed and also jealous – “They’re great.  Why didn’t we get to do this in S2?”

Next term, the students will be busy coding simulators and heart rate monitors using the Scratch programming language, and preparing a marketing campaign for their rollercoaster to win the contract to build it in a theme park.

S1 and S2 students were recently treated to a series of careers talks from a wide range of industry professionals.  The speakers shared where their studies and careers have taken them so far, and gave the students an insight into the huge array of exciting opportunities that study of the STEM subjects can provide.
Talks were provided by:

• Lindsey Laing (National Air Traffic Services)
• David Purdie (GSK - Regulatory Compliance Specialist) (and parent of Eilidh and Jenny, S6)
• Alice Turner (PhD Strathclyde)
• Gillian Cameron (Spirit)
• David Smith (GSK – Supply Quality Management)
• Simon Beckett (BAE Systems – Production Engineer)
• Stephen Cunningham (Keir Construction)
• Dr. Christopher Loughrey (senior lecturer – Glasgow University)
• Rory Lamont (Graduate Engineer – Scotland Transerv)
• Stephen Cairns  (EDF Energy -Operations Engineer)

We even heard from Mr McNeill who gave an insight into the rewards and challenges of being a Design and Technology teacher – and the key attributes that make him an excellent teacher.  He provided a task to show how daunting speaking in front of an audience and thinking on your feet can be, by getting students to speak for thirty seconds on a random topic from the top of their head without saying “um” at any point.  Amy McCulloch 2F did a fantastic job on the subject of potatoes, rightly pointing out that they “are good with mince” and only saying “um” a couple of times – well done Amy!     
          
Dylan McDougall, 1P1 reports on the event:
“The talks were really good and interesting and explained about lots of different jobs from STEM people.  The people were friendly and it was good to hear about what they do.  I especially liked the man from EDF Energy because his job sounded really interesting and he explained things well”.

One of our presenters, David Purdie said:
“I feel I should acknowledge the efforts of everyone involved and, specifically, feedback my positive impression of the way the events were organised by Stuart McNeill and his colleagues and highlight the enthusiasm and engagement of your students at the sessions I was involved in.
I felt the format devised was excellent with a good range of industries/companies participating and I hope the students were able to see that there’s a link between their practical STEM activities in the school, some of the skills they can acquire – not just scientific and technical skills, but really useful transferrable skills – and the broad range of professions that these skills could take them into eventually”.

We thank the careers speakers for giving up time in their busy lives to enthuse our students – your work with our young people is valued and greatly appreciated.

On Tuesday 6th September, S2 students were treated to a fantastic event hosted by BAE Systems in the Games Hall as part of the new STEM programme.  It was an interactive live show all about light and sound waves.  BAE Systems that evening tweeted “@MarrPhysics were amazing – thanks for having us!”

Iona Taylor-Allan and Joshua Duffy report:
“They showed us a laser beam through a smoke machine and we saw the full beam reflecting off the particles, scattering the light.  We also used a machine that layers the “wonderful” singing voices of volunteer students and teachers to create new sound waves in a mash-up.  That was pretty funny.  We really enjoyed the whole thing”.