Stoke Newington STEM Project

I came across this interesting video about a recent STEM project day, not dissimilar to our Year 7 event during Theme Days, that was run by Stoke Newington school. Have a look at this video and some of their other videos on vimeo, which are also very interesting.



"The STEM Challenge was a cross curriculum project incorporating Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths. The aim of the project was to engage YR 8 female students with the aforementioned and raise attainment in these subject areas."- Victoria Emes, Specialist Schools Team.

Below is a video from a STEM day workshop to encourage girls in Year 7 at Fortismere to consider pathways in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths which Mr Crompton set up to coincide with Theme Days in July 2010 and might be an interesting project to evaluate in one of our CLN Forums, helping to inform the new STEM extra-curricular initiatives being developed:

Scientific Explorations

This is a good example of how animation can be used to help explain difficult concepts using real-time footage and underlying invisible elements such as magnetic fields. In photography, we teach students about exposure by getting them to experiment with long-exposures in the darkroom and LED lights to create beautiful abstractions, but it also allows them to understand how photography is literally about 'drawing with light'. Here are some examples by students:








This shot was taken by Lydia Francis recently to capture a firework display:



In addition, we also capture scenes using a very quick shutter speed as in these examples:







Having spoken recently with Mr Wagle, the Senior Science technician, we will be setting up a lesson where my year 10 GCSE students document an experiment conducted by year 13 students. I like the idea of working with departments to teach our Photography course, however, I would imagine it working very well with an Applied Arts course or diploma for students that need more of a structure to channel their creativity.

Thomas Tallis School is a specialist Arts status college in Kidbrooke, South East London, and made the decision to set up YouTube throughout the school. They have set up a profile called Tallis Tube, where videos from all departments can be posted. I particularly like this video, which shows how mobiles might be used in lessons such as biology to explain processes - although this student needs to be taught how to hold the camera still...

It is inspiring to see a school prepared to adopt the use of web 2.0 applications so enthusiastically and, in particular at a Senior Management level. At Thomas Tallis college, Jon Nicholls, the Assistant Head who has been at the forefront of pushing the school towards the use of popular open-source applications such as Flickr and YouTube. Click here to visit his school blog. I would very much like to invite him over to discuss how he sees the role of learning communities support creativity.

Sound Drawings

The above image was made through controlled voice sounds - by alternating the pitch and tone or your voice, you can literally draw an image. Click here to visit the application designed by zefrank.

This video is an example of how it is being used as a form of live performance art:



Tom - perhaps your 'physics brain' could help with a project like this! I'm sure the students would love it.