A group of current PhD students (Hannah Barnard, Kyle Arnold, Charlie Patrickson, Valentin Haemmerli and Ben Scott) and recent graduates (Dean Patient, Joe Shields and Jonas Riisnaes) from the Centre for Metamaterial Research and Innovation recently visited a local Primary School to run their annual STEM day alongside members of the Exeter Photonics Society.
Current PGR and organiser Hannah Barnard explains more about the annual STEM day below:
We prepared a day long itinerary of activities covering all different aspects of science and engineering. The physics of light was explored with a number of demonstrations explaining how rainbows work and why sunsets are red, then the children made colourful sun-catchers to take home. Then the children went into orbit, designing and building their own rockets before launching them into space! Next they learnt some plant biology, discussed the life cycle of a plant, then got to make their own cress heads to take home and grow. Finally, the children put their engineering skills to the test in order to build a bridge so that Dino (the toy dinosaur) could cross the river! A fantastic day was had by all.
