School students make a Big Bang at Uxbridge College

From revolting experiments to fingerprint analysis and robot wars, dozens of activities brought science and engineering to life for hundreds of young visitors to Uxbridge College.

The workshops and demonstrations took place during The Big Bang London Fair, part of a UK-wide programme led by EngineeringUK to bring science and engineering to life for young people and encourage them to take part in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects.

Around 800 school children age 11-16 years got involved in a series of activities run by Uxbridge College and a range of other partners. College activities included: wheel changing in the motor vehicle workshops; pipe-bending in the plumbing workshops; fingerprint analysis in the science labs; and stop-motion animation, games design and building a computer in the IT & Media Centre. Visitors also had scientific fun with food and cosmetics and creating music sampling. 

Activities run by visiting partners included using the programming and electronics workstation FUZE to wire up and programme a simple LED circuit to flash, and STIXX technology to turn newspapers into solid rods for building models and everyday items. The Science Museum also put on its popular Punk Science show, with a range of science demonstrations designed for a younger audience. A number of organisations also provided information on the wide range of career possibilities in the world of STEM.

Lorraine Collins, Executive Director – Enterprise and Development at Uxbridge College, said: “This is the first time Uxbridge College has hosted and run activities for the Big Bang event and it was great to see so many young people having such a fantastic time learning more about science and engineering. This is such a key area for skills in our economy that anything which helps build enthusiasm for these subjects is extremely worthwhile. It has been a great success and we very much hope to host and take part again next year.”

The event was led by EngineeringUK and organised by Seventh Corner in partnership with Uxbridge College, and supported by London Enterprise Panel and the Mayor of London. Goldman Sachs also provided volunteers to support the event.

Arran Goodchild, Product Development Manager, Engineering UK, said: “The aim of The Big Bang London is to offer students from across the Capital the chance to be inspired by STEM. The event at Uxbridge College brought together an impressive programme of hands-on activities both from the College’s own teams and external partner organisations. Students could experience all areas of STEM from vocational learning to science research. We look forward to growing the event further in 2017”

Exhibitions were run by: Ada, the national college for digital skills; Bucks Skills show;; Middlesex County Automobile Club; The IET (Institution for Engineering and Technology); the Institute of Civil Engineers; Into Film; Jeremy King Engineering in Schools; LFM; London Transport Museum; Nick Sayers’ Giant Drawing Machines; PrepareRobo; Royal Society of Chemistry; SEPnet; Tideway; University of Greenwich; Understanding Animal Research. Workshops were run by: Dell; FUZE Technologies Ltd; Into Film; National Space Academy; Punk Science; The STEMettes, and Tomorrow’s Engineers.