Tuesday 12 April 2016

Oak House Science Fair version 3.0

Coming soon to a Bachillerato building near you…….it is the third installment of the Oak House Science Fair.

On Wednesday April 20th, students of year 7 and 2nd ESO will present their Science Fair projects that they have been diligently working on for the past 6 months. Parents, students and teachers are all invited to come and see what our students have discovered and learned in their respective research.

Teams of judges comprising of teachers from the Science department and students from 1st Bachillerato and IB1 will decide whose projects will receive the awards on offer.

The Oak House Science fair is designed to instill research techniques in students from an early age and prepare them for these demands later in their educational career. It is also designed to show students the benefits of a scientific approach to problem solving.

Watch this space next week for more details and clear your diaries for April 20th!!



Oak House School Science Fair


Sunday 3 April 2016

Estereotips

Hedy Lamarr el 1944

Hedy Lamarr va ser actriu pels volts de la primera meitat del segle XX a Hollywood, resulta que a banda d'actriu era enginyera, i una de les seves patents i idees està integrada dins sistemes de comunicació sense cable (Bluetooth o WiFi).

Ho acabo de llegir.

En una targeta que indica fets curiosos i sorprenents. 

Kaley Cuoco com a Penny a la sèrei Big Bang Theory
En aquest cas és sorprenent per que la imatge més comú d'una actriu és la de Penny a Big Bang Theory, una cara maca amb pocs coneixements tècnics i científics. De fet durant les primeres temporades pràcticament era l'únic personatge femení de la sèrie. Els nois també representaven estereotips de físics o d'enginyers, però això és prou comú en les sèries d'humor, ajuda a situar als personatges.

El problema dels estereotips és que, quan són prou estesos, ens fan jutjar algú abans de conèixer-lo, i ja ens predisposa a alguns comportaments, i el que potser és pitjor, a vegades poden allunyar a algunes persones d'algunes professions.

Que una dona fes contribucions a l'enginyeria als anys 40 no era gaire habitual, ni gaire fàcil, tenint en compte la societat d'aquella època. Avui en dia continuent sent minoria, ja que per algun motiu, el percentatge de dones a la majoria de les carreres tècniques és inferior al d'homes. Moltes universitats estan fent campanyes i estudis per intentar modificar aquesta tendència. 










Friday 1 April 2016

IGCSE Combined Science


3rd ESO sit one of their IGCSEs in preparation for the many IGCSEs they will sit in 4th ESO.
This exam is in Combined Science. This subject looks at the fundamental aspects of the three Sciences: Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Studying for Combined Science and sitting the external IGCSE exam gives our students a great foundation from which they can build on in subsequent years of scientific study.

As part of the syllabus and exam procedure, students must prepare to sit a 1.5 hour practical exam in which they have to carry out three experiments in each of the three Sciences. In preparation for this, the students sat a mock (practice) practical exam recently to get used to what an exam like this entails. Some of the students did very well and all of the students have taken some very valuable lessons from this exam.

The actual exam is on Thursday May 12th so wish them luck.

Here are some of the students in action during their mock practical exam.