A long, long time ago in a galaxy not so far away, Form 5 went to the Winchester Planetarium to explore ‘Space’ and be in search of the secrets of the universe. Whilst they didn’t come back with all the answers, they certainly came away enthusiastic and enriched.
Winchester Planetarium has two floors of fun, hands-on interactive demonstrations to help with active learning and a large informative planetarium. The day started by exploring the stars, solar system and black holes under the skies of the planetarium. For an hour pupils were catapulted to the sun, the planets and further to other galaxies and stars. It was a fantastic way to introduce the topic of Earth and Beyond and provided the awe and wonder needed with such a fascinating and far reaching topic.
The pupils were then given the opportunity to explore the different floors and discovered how sound is made and transferred, how forces can be used, their thermal images and also engaged further with space by stepping into an astronaut’s suit.
To end the day, there was a masterclass in rockets. Learning about the forces involved in making a rocket launch and the aerodynamics needed to keep it going. In teams of 3 they created their own rockets and were able to launch them twice so that they could adapt their designs to see which rocket could be propelled the furthest.
It was an exciting, informative and rewarding day out that helped bring ‘Space’ alive.
