UK school students including Muslim pupils flocked to shake hands with robots, create art from liquids and solids, and learn about the Bionic Man. Jennie Rawling of Imperial College London reported on November 21.
During London’s Creative Quarter 2017, visitors attended demonstration lectures and took part in interactive exhibits. That’s beside learning about careers in science, technology, engineering and medicine (STEM) at career insight sessions.
Creative Quarter is an annual event in UK which offers young people the chance to explore the latest developments and find out about career paths in STEM fields.
Creative Quarter is organized by Discover South Kensington, and this year’s event also featured talks and demonstrations from the Natural History Museum, Science Museum, Royal Albert Hall, Royal College of Music, V&A and Goethe-Institut.
Dr. Annalisa Alexander, Head of Outreach, said: “This year was our biggest ever Creative Quarter event. There was over 400 pupils.
“The event gave them a valuable insight into what we do. What career options are out there. And what it’s like to study science and art at a higher level. There was a real buzz around Exhibition Road and it was wonderful to see so many pupils enjoying the activities.”
In demonstration lectures, Professor Steven Rose talked about how he and his colleagues have discovered how to turn light into matter; a feat thought impossible when the idea was first theorized 80 years ago.
Professor Dario Farina told visitors about the latest development in bionic limbs. He also asked the audience to consider what might happen if robotic technology gets so advanced. And what if humans start demanding robotic limbs over their own healthy ones.
In fact, STEM career talks gave students an insight into a range of science and technology careers. That’s including what it’s like to be a chemical engineer, a biomedical researcher, a doctor, and even a plasma physicist.
Images credit: Danny Fitzpatrick
In the College’s Main Entrance, visiting students could take part in interactive exhibits, exploring how zebrafish can help us to understand human biology and disease.
And moreover, how urban green spaces can benefit cardiovascular health.
And how computer-aided control can prove more reliable than our own human instincts.
Experiments Too
Additionally, at one exhibit, students conducted a simple experiment with milk, watercolors and soap.
It showed how fat molecules in the soap and the milk interact with each other. At the end of the experiment the students could make colorful artworks with their results.
Chris Markou, a visiting student from Caterham High School, said: “So far my favorite activity has been seeing how the fat in soap reacts with milk. The color and the way that it moves is unusual.”
Another visiting school student Ahona Islam enjoyed meeting the College’s outreach robot: “I’ve seen YouTube videos about robots before, but I’ve never seen one in real life, so I get to show off to my friends now!”
Ahona is a student at George Green’s School in East London. “I want to be a doctor,” she said. “I really enjoy biology and I find the human body really complicated so I want to be able to understand it more.”