Nest STEAM Week - Senior Pupil-Led Learning Activity

We had the pleasure of hosting Reception and Year 1 pupils during the Nest STEAM week. The children had an opportunity to do hands-on activities prepared by our Year 12 pupils, who were keen to answer every question the little ones had.

Seeing how children perceive scientific phenomena and how practical activities can develop their cognitive abilities was wonderful. I was also very proud to see our Year 12 pupils organising these exciting activities and carefully explaining the scientific concepts to the young children. I want to thank the pupils from our school Science Society for their effort in organising this activity and congratulate them on its success. 

I’m Jacqueline from Year 12, studying A-Levels in Biology, Chemistry, Maths, and Physics. My goal is to take biochemistry at university and pursue a career related to this, such as cancer or pharmaceutical research. This appeals to me because I would be able to continue studying a subject I am fascinated with and get the opportunity to help improve people’s health and well-being.

We hope these experiments triggered an interest in seemingly miraculous and mystical science phenomena and helped the children understand simple scientific concepts such as diffusion, surface tension, and chemical reactions. My peers and I were amazed by how inquisitive the little ones were during the experiments and their boldness in asking questions in front of the whole class. It is wonderful that they have developed these values of curiosity and courage so early, as asking questions and challenging old ideas about how the world works are critical skills that could help them become successful scientists in the future.

We Senior School pupils also learnt a lot from this memorable experience with the Nest children. We discovered how challenging it is for our lab technicians to organise experiments and allow us to carry out practical activities smoothly, successfully and accurately. We also exercised patience and empathy by putting our feet in the Nest children’s shoes to ensure they could understand the instructions and explain their observations. Finally, we developed our organisation skills and practised our scientific communication skills by running this small event.

I want to express my appreciation for all effort made by my peers and the support received from teachers in the science department. I hope the children enjoyed the fun experiments and had a meaningful time with us. I can see that some of them have already fallen in love with science, and I am excited about working with them again.

The Nest staff and children would like to extend our thanks to the Senior School staff and pupils who worked hard to bring science to life for our young scientists. To have the opportunity to learn science in the labs, usually, the preserve of senior pupils was a truly memorable experience for our children. We have been able to display many photographs taken by the staff to show what the children did and how well they were supported by the Wellington Science Society. This is an annual event and we look forward to bringing more Nest children next year.