Reach For The Stars...

Once again students from Shelley College took part in a host of events to celebrate all things scientific. Since becoming a specialist Science College in 2003 Shelley College has promoted Science subjects during this special week every year. 2010 was no exception. The launch event took place on Saturday 13th March from 10.00 am until 3.00 pm.

The action packed day included six workshops and a Space Bus with a rocket launching grand finale. Over 40 families took part with several prizes on offer for the fastest F1 race, best rocket launch and best glider. Mrs Lumb who co-ordinated the event said ‘ it is great to see so many families sharing the learning experience and engaging with science related topics’.

She would particularly like to thank the following teachers who helped with the delivery of each workshop: Mr Beaumont, Mr Tipler, Mr Bardsley, Mr Nash, Mr Quigley, Dr Marchesini and Mr Turner.

For some the highlight was going on the WOW Space Bus from Space Connections based in Bradford. Students watched animations of rocket launches, looked at meteors and carried out a demonstration to illustrate how craters were made on Mars and lunar landscapes. Younger children were a little frightened by the green alien intruder though!

Astronomy Night

A glorious night was had by a room full of students from Shelley College, Kirkburton and Scissett Middle. Some enthusiastic mums and dads also took delight in spotting the international space station that Mr Beaumont said would fly over Shelley College at 7.15 pm. None of us could be believe it when it did!.

All participants had a chance to log on to www.schools.telescope.org and select their favourite moon, planet, galaxy or constellation and programme the robotic telescope in Tenerife to take an image of it when it went dark. Students were also given a demonstration by Dr Marchesini and Scott Marley from Bradford University about some other software that is available for students to use free of charge.

There are now a team of teachers eager to inspire students to star gaze and appreciate the magnitude of space. We now have plans to put an a number of lunchtime workshops on for students to use some of the very impressive software and have a variety of special events throughout the year at key times when certain planets are particularly visible or when the ISS is passing by again!

If students would like to take part in Astronomy club then speak to either Mr Beaumont or Dr Marchesini for further details.

Morrisons

Students from Shelley College, Scissett and Kirkburton Middle teamed up to put on a big show for the shoppers at Morrisons on Tuesday 16th March. Simple Science experiments were designed by Mrs Lumb for student to demonstrate their scientific knowledge to passers by. The event is key to the National Science and Engineering Week programme because as a Specialist Science College we are keen to promote Science amongst our local community.

Students could explain how chromatography separated the colours in Smarties, or how different fruits could generate a small voltage and act like a battery when two different metals were connected to a voltmeter. Some students made alien blood and others asked shoppers to predict the ph of some household liquids.