November 5th 2020
A half term full of experiments
Last half term some boys in Pre-Prep participated in STEM Club. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths; subjects often particularly enjoyed by boys (although not exclusively). We had the most wonderful time carrying out practical experiments to explore certain themes. To learn about the water cycle we filled a cup with water and put hair mousse on top - this acted as a cloud. We then, very slowly, added blue food colouring to the cloud until it could hold no more and it began to 'rain' into the water below. We made our own balloon rockets which we fired along a piece of string mounted on a straw. The boys also learned about friction and how we could help the balloon to move faster; soap was our tool of choice.
On another occasion we tried to create static electricity. The boys charged up a balloon by rubbing it on the head of the boy with the most hair and we then managed to roll empty drinks cans across a table top using the electricity without the balloon even touching it. We explored historic equipment designed to churn cream into butter by making the butter fats bump into each other until they all stick together. In the absence of a butter churn we used our own strength and energy by shaking a jar of cream until there was a lump of butter at the bottom surrounded by butter milk. It is safe to say that the boys all had a wonderful time exploring STEM and we look forward to running the club again next year.
