Bright Sparks Workshop

What is it?

Bright Sparks in an unusual STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) workshop delivered and produced by the Creative Engagement team from Theatr Clwyd in partnership with Bangor University’s Reaching Wider Partnership who designed the programme and funded through the Scottish Power Foundation. It brings theatre to the classroom and makes learning fun.

My Experience

I attended two of the sessions at a primary school in Denbigh. The workshop began with Emyr John, an associate in the Creative Engagement team at Theatr Clwyd, giving an introduction into the workshop. What STEM stands for etc, this is interrupted by Professor Sparky and his niece Erica. Erica wants to become a professor herself but has failed all her STEM exams. She has one last chance at passing. The workshop and follow up session engage the students to help Erica through experiments and peer learning to pass her exam, showing them that they too can succeed. 

The workshop:

  • Starting with warm up exercises the pupils engaged quickly with the actors and the workshop. They had to use maths along with actions and language in the first few exercises in a large group and in pairs. 

  • The students were taught about the link between nature, engineering and science, which is all underpinned by maths. 

  • They all got to “play” with hydrochromic material-drawing with water pens to reveal colours. 

  • They worked in groups to answer questions about the wind.

  • Explanation of creation of fossil fuels acted out by Erica, aka Flower the T-Rex.

  • The students were asked why scientists don’t want us to use fossil fuels anymore and they were shown how the heating of the Earth is occurring.

  • Back to the wind, they are asked what it is. This led to an experiment with balloons to explain high and low pressure.

  • To discover how wind turbines work, the students explore how the brake system works using gears and make their own gear system with Lego.

  • They began to understand that STEMs is part of everything we use; they had to use maths to understand how to build the gears which in turn is engineering and the reason for the gears in the wind turbine was due to friction etc which is science and the whole thing is new technologies. 

  • They explored Erica’s morning routine if there weren't any STEMs.

  • The class agrees to go away from the session and work in groups to research subjects to help Erica pass her exam the following week. 

  • The students then made paper windmills that they took away with them. They also had a resource/activity pack with all sorts of things to do in them to take home.

This workshop is a great example of how the theatre’s three aims are being achieved through the work of the public arts programme. 

Firstly, sustainability; it is being explained to students and the importance of moving away from fossil fuels. The students, even though some were quite young, had a grasp of what climate change was and how we can help prevent it from getting worse. 

Secondly, playfulness/joy; it was clear as an observer of the workshops that the students were having fun. Some of the experiments could be described as play; they were learning through play and social interaction with peers.

Lastly, civic engagement/community; this programme is being delivered across North Wales to over 20 schools in English and Welsh. Creating links with the community through partnerships.

The Bright Sparks initiative is a great way for students to learn about national curriculum subjects in a fun and immersive way by cleverly combining science and theatre to inspire students to want to learn and stimulate further ambition.The long-term aim of the Reaching Wider Partnership is to raise aspirations, attainment and participation in higher education for under-represented groups and communities.

It was a great experience to watch the students be so engaged and actively learning. 

For more information:

https://www.scottishpower.com/pages/spfnews_theatre_in_the_classroom_brings_science_to_life_for_more_than_1000_students_in_north_and_mid_wales.aspx

http://www.reachingwider.ac.uk/

 

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