Blast Off to RIAT

We were very lucky to welcome The Smallpeice Trust to deliver an interactive STEM workshop to some of our Year 8 students. The activity was produced in conjunction with the RAF looking at Space Travel and was titled "Blast off to RIAT". This was linked to a competition which culminates in a final at the Royal International Air Tattoo later this year.

Students were first introduced to the concept of developing a lander capable of landing on the Moon or Mars considering aspects such as descent speed. The first activity simply consisted of a paper cup and a pingpong ball. The challenge - ensure the pingpong ball does not come out of the cup when dropped from height. Students had access to resources such as balloons and string to support them with this with the result being a wide range of creative solutions.

Students were then able to apply these newly found skills to building a larger model capable to safely landing a 100g weight from a height of 2 metres. Students were able to use a range of materials including the very popular glue guns! It was pleasing to see that every group had a completely different idea on how to solve the problem - with some groups also opting for style over functionality. A great day was had by the students who appreciated a very hands-on day-long workshop.