Science Week 2022: Preparing young BIS scientists for the future

Science Week has always been a very special week at BIS Hanoi for many years. This year, students across Primary and Secondary have once again taken part in lots of exciting science challenges to celebrate Science Week. 

Pupils in Primary have completed a variety of tasks. They were set a whole school challenge, where they investigated which biscuit is best for dunking into a nice, cool glass of milk. All of them needed to submit a video or picture recording their experiments for a chance of winning a super science prize in our Friday's Assembly. It was such a hard decision for Miss Colclough to pick a winner as she received so many fantastic entries. A huge effort from Primary! All submissions were amazing. Well done to all.  

Aside from the whole school assignment, we also celebrated Science Week by allocating each year group a STEM project which linked to the working scientifically objectives taken from the national curriculum. Year 1s were investigating buildings and how to protect them from flooding. Year 2 students created their own floating garden to help combat crops being destroyed in flooding. Year 3s were looking into ways of making dirty water cleaner through sieving and filtering as well as exploring ways of making water safe to drink. Year 4s researched how small-scale wind turbines have changed people’s lives. Year 5s designed and built a model to move tomatoes down a mountain which is a real-life problem people in Nepal are facing. Finally, students in Year 6 were capturing rainwater to irrigate crops for a community.    

In celebration of Science Week, Secondary students also participated in a range of interesting activities. They celebrated Mars Week, a week organized by the European Space Agency to recognize the achievements of those who have worked to send space shuttles to Mars.  

In Science, Key Stage 3 students have been designing their own Mars rover by carrying out research on the environment and conditions and taking into account adaptations that will need to be made in order for the rover to be successful. Some excellent designs have been produced and we look forward to sharing these with our classes.  

Mr Pinnock organized a watch along of The Martian, a film that explores some of the challenges faced when trying to sustain life on Mars and students were able to engage in conversations about the science behind the film.  

Mr Somerville’s assembly has hopefully sparked students’ interest in space exploration and the challenges that we face when launching a mission to Mars.  

Overall, it has been an extremely successful week in both Primary and Secondary and we can’t wait to do it all again next year. 

Shannon Colclough (Primary Science Leader) & Hollie Hudson (Secondary Science Leader)