19 January 2018
The ASP week started in Swindon and ends in Bath, with lots of events in Abingdon in between. All 600 children at Even Primary School in Swindon launched their Polar Explorer Programme activities with an assembly about Antarctic science led by Jeremy Thomas, ASP Co-ordinator. During the week there were two special primary workshops, Amazing Earth from Space, led by Chris Duff of the Satellite Applications Catapult at Harwell, and Evolution and Inheritance for St Edmunds Y6 led by our very own Dr Jeffreys. On top of all this, a collaborative project on monitoring background radiation has been started with local secondary schools and all the normal CREST primary visits and the GCSE Astronomy class have been running. The ASP also welcomed some visitors from the Institute for Research in Schools to discuss future projects, including being one of the first ten schools in the country to be given the Vertigo 3-D accelerometer for science investigations. Links between science and the arts were explored during Dr Jeffreys' workshop, which was observed by the education team from Theatre Powys in Wales, on a fact finding mission for a new, science themed stage production. Planning has also taken place this week for Abingdon's ATOM Festival of Science and Technology both for the March 2018 events and looking forward to 2019. With a meeting at the Internet of School Things in Bath and a Science Oxford Saturday Science Club to finish the week off, it's been a busy few days but incredibly rewarding and valuable for all the teachers, technicians, Science Ambassadors and visiting pupils that have been involved.
