April 29, 2024 02:23pm
STEM ambassadors, Charlotte, Ellie and Matt, visited TPA last week with their ‘electrifying’ roadshow. Created in a partnership with the Royal Navy and the Armed forces, the BAE Sytems Roadshow explores the topic of electricity; what is electricity and how is it important in our world? The show also aims to inspire students to explore a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths).
The show, for Year 7 and 8 students, got off to a very exciting start, when the STEM ambassadors made their entrance wielding light sabers! It set the tone for the fast paced and action filled presentation to come. After a quick introduction to the theme of the show, the ambassadors reminded students of the dangers that electricity can pose. They then introduced students to some of the fundamental concepts of electricity and invited students to participate in a series of interactive demonstrations.
Our very enthusiastic student volunteers used an electrospectrocryptoanologogram to find out how electricity feels, created a simple circuit, experienced static electricity, generated electricity to power light bulbs and looked at renewable and non-renewable fuels. The demonstrations helped to consolidate and extend our students’ existing knowledge of how electricity is measured, how circuits work and how electricity can be generated.
So how does one put all this amazing knowledge about electricity to good use? Well, a job in the field of Engineering is just one way. The ambassadors spoke to the students about the role engineers play in the Navy and Armed Forces. Engineers are always in demand and there are wide and varied roles within the field, such as software engineering, chemical engineering, and cosmetic engineering.
To end the show, our staff got involved in the final demonstration, riding a stationary bicycle to generate electricity to for a pedal powered windmill! This was much to the delight of all the students and we’re pleased to report both Miss Currie and Mr Hassan were more than up to the challenge, pedalling fast enough to reach the maximum voltage of electricity!
Here’s what our students said about the show:
‘It was cool! The device that makes your hair stick up, I’ve only seen it happen in cartoons so it was good to see it in real life!’
‘I liked learning about electricity and how we use it on a daily basis and how batteries and cells work. My favourite demonstration was the bike!’
‘The ambassadors were so kind and funny. I liked their joke about currents and currants. I loved when the teacher rode the bike. ’
A big thank you to the STEM ambassadors Charlotte, Ellie and Matt for putting on a brilliant show for our students!
