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Celebrated from 8-17 March, British Science Week is a ten-day celebration of science, technology, engineering, and maths. This year, the Lancing College Science Department put on an exhilarating week of activities and talks covering a wide range of STEM interests that aren’t often explored in the classroom.
Medics Society Med-School Applications Discussion
On Monday, the College welcomed Professor Malcom Johnston, Chair of Radiology, Medical Education, and Academic lead for admissions at Brighton and Sussex Medical School for a session with our Medics Society. The group delved into the Medical School admissions process whilst also discussing several key topics within the modern medical field.
Professor Johnston answered questions from the society about life as a Medical School student and the application process before moving on to several mock MMI tasks. These tasks encompassed a variety of challenges: describing forceps while elucidating their form-function relationship, interpreting maps depicting current health crises such as Cancer and HIV in the northern and southern hemispheres, constructing models with Lego blocks reflecting the life of a doctor, and addressing ethical dilemmas like parental rights in vaccination decisions and issues plaguing the NHS.
Through these activities, students gained insight into essential qualities such as communication, problem-solving, data analysis, creativity, lateral thinking, and professionalism required in the medical field – all key skills Medical School admissions teams are looking for. These seemingly straightforward tasks illuminated the skills necessary for students’ journey into medicine.
CSI: Lancing
On Tuesday, Mrs Robinson hosted a CSI Forensics simulation, allowing students to explore the challenges those working within the field may have to face. Students turned up to the session shocked to find that Dr Robinson, very sadly (and fictionally) had died! Their job was to ascertain whether foul play was afoot. Analysing a variety of evidence found at the crime scene, pupils used their chemistry and biology skills to ascertain just how Dr Robinson died. Fingerprint analysis, chromatography, and Benedict's test were all used to find out the true nature of his passing.
I really enjoyed the story that had been set up and the processes that we carried out to discover who the murderer of Dr Robinson was. I learnt about how people are examined and how evidence is gathered during an autopsy as well as how simple scientific experiments such as chromatography and testing for glucose can sometimes be very important during investigations such as this one. The experience was really fun, and I it makes me look forward to next year’s British science week all the more.
Euan C
Science Escape Room
On Thursday, pupils braved Dr Dowell's Science Escape Room! Faced with challenges from across all the sciences, our students worked together to complete the tasks to figure out where the next challenge could be, and how to finally escape!
Students seem to really enjoy the challenges. There were hints along the way to simplify the tasks if needed, but it was good to see that they persisted and worked together to find solutions to all the clues and riddles which eventually lead them to their prize!
Dr Marica Dowell
Inspiring Talks
Throughout the week students were also treated to a range of talks from staff across the College. Dr Amanda Currie kicked off the talks with Tails from a Zookeeper, exploring her time as a Zookeeper at London Zoo. Pupils learned about animal psychology and the different skills needed to be a successful zookeeper. Later in the week students learned about controversial scientist Fritz Haber., who killed millions to save billions. These talks allowed students to learn about the real world applications of science and take their inspiration back with them to the classroom.
Clean Fuel is the Future
Finally, the week culminated in a talk on the pioneering work of Dr Subhasish Mukerjee, a current Lancing College parent, and their research into fuel cells. Dr Mukerjee spoke to the Lower Sixth cohort in the Sanderson Room about the future of clean fuel technology. Dr Mukerjee is the Chief Scientific Officer at Ceres Power, a leading clean energy company in the UK. He gave a highly informative and enjoyable lecture about the environmental, business, and scientific factors which is currently driving our world's transition from heavily polluting fossil fuels to clean fuel cell technology. Dr Mukerjee wowed pupils with his demonstration of a real-life fuel cell/electrolyser kit and received multiple applause for his talk.