Science Week inspires the next generation of innovators at BIS Hanoi

Science Week inspires the next generation of innovators at BIS Hanoi This week has been a very special week on the BIS Hanoi calendar – Science Week! Students across the school enthusiastically got stuck into experiments and investigations both at home and at school.

This week has been a very special week on the BIS Hanoi calendar – Science Week! Students across the school enthusiastically got stuck into experiments and investigations both at home and at school.

Science Week has been celebrated at BIS Hanoi for a number of years. This year’s celebration of science and technology has been focused on ‘innovating for the future’. There has been a wonderful range of activities to engage students which allow them to apply their scientific skills to different contexts and real life problems.

In this article, Ms. Shannon from the Primary school and Ms. Hollie Hudson, Science Leader from the Secondary school share more about the exciting activities that our students have been getting involved in throughout the week.

Primary School

A number of students entered our Science Week challenge, completing experiments from home including making eggs float and creating balloon rockets. Some children even showed off their innovation skills by coming up with their very own scientific experiments. It was a hard decision for Miss Colclough to pick a winner after receiving so many videos and photographs! Congratulations to Key Stage 2 winner, Chang Wook (Year 5), and Key Stage 1 winner (Jono Roderick)!

In the classroom, students have persevered throughout challenges which have all linked closely to real life contexts and the UN Global Goals.

Year 1 enjoyed investigating whether the appearance of different foods impacts the taste, whilst Year 2 created floating gardens which would help combat crops being destroyed in flooding.

In Phase 2, Year 3 investigated methods of cleaning dirty water through sieving and filtering, making it safe to drink. Year 4’s focus linked well with the current pandemic as they learnt about infectious diseases before designing and building a model of a hand washing device for a school in Kenya.

Year 5 designed and built prototypes which could move tomatoes down mountains, a project based on the lives of farmers in Nepal. Finally, Year 6 enjoyed a visit to the Secondary School Science labs where they dissected hearts!

These investigations encouraged students across the Primary school to apply their learning to new contexts, improving their scientific skills in the process. Students developed their perseverance through trial and error and improved their knowledge of key global issues.

Secondary School

There have been many exciting activities happening during Science lessons and in Science ECAs this week. It has been great to see many students engaging with a variety of activities to showcase their skills and knowledge.

In Key Stage 3, Year 9 students have been working on an innovating project to design a device to send tortillas into space. This project was designed to enable students to explore the science behind space travel and design. They have all successfully used their STEAM skills to come up with some very interesting designs and have now tested their tortilla holders based on success criteria that they decided upon as a group. Well done to all of the students who have completed this project!

‘’I really enjoy science because I like learning about the world and how things work. The space tortilla project has enabled me to be creative and use the scientific method alongside developing my problem-solving skills,” said Fiona (Year 9).

Mr. Somerville and Mr. Mortimer have also been working with students to design a trebuchet during their Thursday ECA this week. Another innovative project and it was pleasing to see students enjoying taking part in this activity. Soon they will be testing the effectiveness of their design by projecting water balloons at Mr. Mortimer!

‘’We really like this project because we love to use our scientific knowledge to create things using our teamwork and creative thinking skills,” said Quynh Chi and Gia Khanh (Year 8).

In addition, the Year 12s who led the Science Club this week demonstrated excellent leadership skills by preparing a session to help Year 10 students revise for their upcoming PCTs. They really demonstrated their passion and enthusiasm for the subject, and it is always great to see the senior students helping the younger students be successful in science.

Without a doubt engagement in Science has sky-rocketed this week, increasing the chances of the next scientific superstar coming from BIS Hanoi!

What a fantastic effort from BIS Hanoi students and staff! It has been an extremely successful week and we can’t wait to do it all again next year!

Shannon Colclough (Year 2 Teacher), Niobe Shaw (Primary Teacher) & Hollie Hudson (Science Leader)