Year 7 Space Day at Exmouth Community College
What an inspiring and empowering day it was at the Year 7 Space Day at Exmouth Community College on Wednesday 28th June!
Eleven Year 7 girls from ClystVale were selected as our Girls in Physics (they renamed themselves The Space Girls!) as a recognition for their extra-curricular involvement and attainment in science this year.
Throughout the day, they enjoyed a series of hands-on workshops and talks on Climate, Exoplanet detection, Stars and Gravity by scientists from the Exeter Science Centre, the National Space Academy, Oxford University and the University of Exeter. They also experienced an immersive planetarium show in an inflatable Space Dome by the Space Odyssey.
Amongst many other inspiring activities they travelled on the surface of stormy, water and lava worlds using Virtual Reality headsets, held millions-of-years-old asteroids in their hands, built mini spectrometers to split up light and discovered the work of UK and female astronauts in space exploration.
“I have learnt …
– about spectrometry and different type of stars” RS
– about gravity and how it forms galaxies” GP
– about space and stars” VG, TG
– what a spectrum is” BS
– what an exoplanet is” AS, FM
– that the Universe is very big” ZG
– that white is made from the colours of the rainbow” LA
– that you can spot planets by looking at stars” RM
– that galaxies have thousands of stars” RD-W
The best part was the planetarium show and the VR experience” RS, RM
“The best part for me was the fire flame spray and the VR headset” GP
“The best part of the day was the Space Dome” TG, RD-W, VG, FM, BS, LA
“The best part was the VR set” ZG, AS
“My favourite part was seeing the girls faces light up by the wonders of the universe, hearing them talk to each other about space and ask questions, be empowered with knowledge and skills through the workshops, and be inspired by the stories of female astronauts and the role they themselves could play in the future of Space exploration.” Dr Odunlade.
