Below is a list of activities that we currently offer:

Solar System in a box

Catarina Fernandes

Solar System in a box is a full ‘hands on’ workshop where you get to hold and study meteorites and learn how they tell us the processes of formation of the Solar System.

Meteorites are rocks that originate from other bodies in the Solar System. They come from the Asteroid belt, the Moon and even from Mars, travel through space, and fall on the Earth’s surface. Here they can be picked up and studied.

This workshop is a mix of fun interactive presentations with full hands on activities. You will get to learn how you can tell the difference form a meteorite and an Earth rocks, find where they come from, what they are made of and consequences of massive impact on earth and on other planets. You will also get to look at rocks under a microscope and apply real scientific techniques, used by scientists to study these amazing pieces of extraterrestrial material. It is a fully interdisciplinary activity where you will learn and apply knowledge of geology, physics, chemistry and maths in real question posed by the scientific community.

The workshop consists of several blocks which can be added or removed according to time constraints and discipline interests. It can be delivered both at schools (only one microscope available), or at the University of Leicester, Department of Physics and Astronomy (preferable). A campus/department tour is also available if required.

The activity has been funded by the National HESTEM Programme with the purpose of strengthening links engagement and collaboration between secondary education and universities. To learn more about the programme please refer to the HE STEM website.

Cost: Free

Duration: 2 to 5 hours (flexible)

Number of students: 10 to 30

Year/age group: G.C.S.E and A-Level

G.C.S.E and A-Level Curriculum Links:

Physics – origin of the solar system, electromagnetic spectrum, spectroscopy, microscopy, kinetic energy, velocity, light (reflection, refraction and polarisation)

Chemistry – classification of rocks and formation processes, periodic table of elements, spectroscopy

Geography – internal structure of the Earth, plate tectonics and surface processes, rock types and formation

Maths – rearranging equations, volumes, ratios

Skills – team work, analytical, problem-solving, research techniques.

The workshop is also available as a stand/demonstration for events.

The Cognescenti Mystery: Code Breaking

Dr T. Dickens; Dr C. Hurkett

This activity places the students in the role of a team of journalists working for "The Globe" newspaper. A rival newspaper "The Planet" is about to publish a serialisation of a sensational new book called "Crucible: The Cognescenti Revealed", however, your editor suspects that the book is a fake. A source has managed to gather some evidence from the book and it is up to you to decipher it and discover whether it is real or completely made up!

Students will be introduced to a series of increasingly difficult historical ciphers with which to decode and encrypt a series of messages including:

• Mono-alphabetic shift ciphers (Caesar ciphers)
• Mono-alphabetic substitution ciphers
• Vignère cipher
• Playfair cipher

Duration: Minimum 45 minutes - Maximum half a day.

Number of students: 10-30 students in one session.

Year/Age Group: GCSE to A-Level

NOTE: The number of tasks presented to the students can be varied depending on the time you have available and the aptitude of the class.

Subjects covered: Mathematics; Code breaking

Asteroid Impact

Dr T Dickens

The Asteroid Impact activity gives students a chance to experience problem based learning, an effective teaching method used on the Interdisciplinary Science degree course at the University of Leicester. 

As the name suggest there is an asteroid impact eminent in your area and as a class the students must decide the best course of action by working and communicating together. The surface of the earth will not be habitable and so all human beings will be housed underground and it is the responsibility of the class to ensure that everyone is safe, looked after and can survive for up to 2 years in the underground shelter. With this in mind, the class is split into small teams and assigned certain roles with tasks to perform.

For further details see the Asteroid Impact page.

Duration: 1hr - half day

Number of students: 20 - 40 students

Year/Age group: GCSE, A-Level

Subjects covered: Energy awareness, nutrition, public health, research, reporting

Mars Lander

Dr T Dickens

You have a budget of £100 000 000 to construct a Mars Lander carrying a water balloon payload. The Lander has to be successfully deployed and survive contact with the surface from 3 different heights. 

You have a list of the materials that are available and how much each item costs. Once you have designed your Lander and produced a costing list within budget, you will be supplied with your materials. Remember if you break anything you must either have the money to replace it or design a new Lander with the material you have left. (your water balloon payload will be given to you so does not need to be calculated in your budget, if you drop this then you must pay for the next one out of your budget).

Duration:

Number of students: 10 - 40

Year/Age group: KS3

Subjects covered:

Egyptian Mathematics

Dr C. Hurkett

This activity allows students to investigate some aspects of Egyptian mathematics. Several tasks are presented starting with the Egyptian number system and progressing to methods of multiplying large numbers and algorithms.

Duration: 1-2 hours

Number of students: 10 - 30

Year/Age Group: GCSE, A-Level

Subjects covered: Mathematics; Simple hieroglyphs; Ancient algorithms

Code Breaking:WWII

 Dr T. Dickens; Dr C. Hurkett

This activity allows students to investigate and use a variety of different historical ciphers starting from the simple shift (or Caesar) cipher and eventually working up to ciphers used by Allied and Axis forces during WWII.

 Throughout the exercise the students take the role of cryptoanalysts working for British Bomber Command who are searching for information on the crew of the Lancaster "English Rose" that is missing in action.

• Mono-alphabetic shift ciphers (Caesar ciphers)
• Mono-alphabetic substitution ciphers
• Vignère cipher
• Double Transposition
• Playfair cipher
• The One Time Pad

Duration: Minimum 45 minutes - Maximum a whole day.

Number of students: 10-40 students in one session.

Year/Age Group: GCSE to A-Level

NOTE: The number of tasks presented to the students can be varied depending on the time you have available and the aptitude of the class.

Subjects covered: Mathematics; Code breaking

Sustainability Workshop

Emma Tebbs

This activity allows students to investigate what they think sustainability/sustainable development is through playing a sustainability game developed by Interdisciplinary Science students on their field trips to Kenya.

Students are given the opportunity to discuss how their thoughts have changed after playing the game, this is followed up by an expert lecture and then a video from the Lake Bogoria region in Kenya. Finally students are asked to prepare a presentation for a debating session, each group giving competing arguments for access to community resources.  

Duration: Minimum half day - Maximum a whole day.

Number of students: 10-40 students in one session.

Year/Age Group: GCSE to A-Level

Subjects covered: Sustainability