STEAM Magazine - Summer 2022 Issue

Summer 2022 |

www.johnlyon.org

INVENTIONS

Summer 2022 | 3

Front Cover: Fathima and Akshar working on a VEX IQ Robot

WELCOME Designed By Pupils. Made By Pupils.

We are pleased to present the third edition of The John Lyon School STEAM Magazine – STEAM into the Future. Well done to the hardworking team who have contributed to this issue, both by researching and writing articles, and designing the magazine. I have definitely enjoyed reading their articles and learning something new, I hope you will too. This brings us to the end of the academic year and our first year of the STEAM magazine. We have published three excellent issues with a range of pupils throughout the school contributing. I look forward to seeing the pupils build on this success next year. If you would like to be involved with future issues of the magazine, please let us know.

Dr J Abda Teacher of Chemistry, Physics & STEAM

SPECIAL THANKS TO DR. JULIA ABDA, JOHN LYON SCHOOL

HEAD DESIGNER - HEMANG K 9CEP

ARTICLE AUTHORS:

ALEX F 9AMG RAVI G 9EKM MADISAN N 9AMG JANUSHAN S 9CEP YASH S 9CKL YUV D 9CEP

AMEYA B 8SRP ALY A 7MLT VANSHH S 7MLT RAJVEER D 7JOC

08

Nuclear Fission & Fusion

24 23 22 20 18 16 14 13 10

From The Ground To Fuel (Oil) - The scientific view 10 Fun Facts About Space

In The Realm Of Science

The Seatbelt Ortho-K Contact Lenses

Best Project In East Of England

STEAM Water Rocket Trip

Play | Wordsearch & Sudokus

STEAM At John Lyon

CONTENTS

CHEMISTRY

NUCLEAR FISSION & FUSION MADISAN N - 9AMG

WHAT IS NUCLEAR FISSION & HOW DOES IT PRODUCE ENERGY?

N

uclear Fission is the splitting of a large atomic nucleus into smaller nuclei.

In nuclear fission, the nucleus of the atom splits into two nuclei called ‘daughter nuclei’. With these daughter nuclei, two or three neutrons also explode out of the fission reaction and collide with other nuclei, to cause further fission reactions. The neutrons are moving so fast and carry 99% of the energy with them in this reaction. However, the neutrons get slowed down, so they can pass on this energy to other components in the nuclear reactor, which are used to heat water and turn the turbines, which drives the generator in the nuclear power plant. One nuclear fission reaction produces 200 million eV (electron-volts) of energy.

WHAT IS NUCLEAR FUSION? Nuclear fusion is when two small, light nuclei combine together to form one heavy nucleus. These reactions require conditions of extremely high temperatures and pressures to form this nucleus. However, the problems with fusion are that it requires fusing together two nuclei, which are both positive.

Summer 2022 | 9

So, this means that as they approach each other, they will repel, because they have the same charge, so the nuclei need to travel at extremely high speeds to fuse, before they can repel each other, which is why they must have these conditions.

However on Earth, we are unable to provide a satisfactory amount of pressure for these reactions, so our fusion reactors on Earth, which are still experimental, are 10 times hotter than the Sun. A colossal amount of energy is produced, when the nuclei fuse, but we are still yet to make it profitable.

235 and Plutonium 239 when doing this process, as they are massive and highly unstable. However nuclear fusion uses hydrogen from water (H2O) as a fuel source.

WHICH IS A BETTER SOURCE OF

SOURCE OF ENERGY?

ENERGY

In nuclear fission, you can produce lots of energy, which is reliable. It is also financially better, as it produces more energy than that which is input. So, nuclear fission is very profitable. However, nuclear fission is very bad for the environment, as it produces radioactive waste, which is extremely bad for both the environment and people. The waste produced must be carefully disposed of, as it may cause areas to be unhabitable as they will be too dangerous for humans.

In nuclear fusion, there is only the harmless gas Helium produced, so it is much better for the environment and has less risk to endangering humans. However nuclear fusion is not feasible, as it requires more energy to be input than than that which is output, as it requires a lot of energy to combine two nuclei with the same charge. However, nuclear fusion can potentially create 3-4 times more energy than fission.

So overall, fusion would be better theoretically. However fission is currently better simply because it is feasible.

WHAT IS USED IN EACH REACTION? In nuclear fission, we use Uranium

WHY IS THE SUN A GREAT EXAMPLE OF NUCLEAR FUSION? The Sun is fuelled by the process of nuclear fusion, as the Sun has an extremely high temperature and also extremely high pressures to support this process.

IS THERE A CHANCE WE WILL SEE NUCLEAR FUSION AS THE MAIN

Although nuclear fusion is the least polluting source of energy out of the two, it is the hardest to obtain, as it needs a colossal amount of energy to provide the conditions for the reaction to take place, meaning that it costs more to do nuclear fusion than the energy made as the outcome of this process. So for now, nuclear fusion will definitely not be a source of energy we will be resorting to in the near future.

However, once scientists can make nuclear fusion profitable, it would be the best source of energy Earth has seen for many centuries.

I hope in the future we will be able to make breakthroughs that allow nuclear fusion to contribute to a small percentage of the UK and the World’s energy. I hope that the outdated practice of producing energy through nuclear fission decreases in the future to a much more sustainable source like nuclear fusion.

REFERENCES https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/ zx86y4j/revision/1

CHEMISTRY

FROM THE GROUND TO FUEL (OIL) -THE SCIENTIFIC VIEW RAVI G - 9EKM

F

uel is a regular part of our lives with more than 36.4 billion barrels of oil consumed each year. That is shocking. But have you ever wondered how this oil comes from the ground to us using it in cars? First the oil known as crude oil is drilled out of the ground formed by decaying matter which turns to a liquid because of all the heat and pressure. Then fractionally distilling the crude oil separates the hydrocarbons in the oil so that we can use each individual fraction separately.

What are hydrocarbons? They are compounds made out of hydrogen and carbon only. Hydrocarbons release energy when burnt. Carbon dioxide/carbon monoxide is released as a waste product.

So, what is fractional distillation? Oil is first vapourised so that it turns into a gas - basically it is heated to a really high temperature. Then, when a gas, the crude oil enters a column which is really hot at the bottom and cool at the top. Obviously, we all know that hot gases will rise and will condense upon reaching their boiling point. The crude oil contains a mixture of hydrocarbons so there are a variety of boiling points meaning that different hydrocarbons will condense at different parts of the distillation column. The larger hydrocarbons have higher boiling points (because there are stronger intermolecular forces between the hydrocarbon molecules) and smaller hydrocarbons have lower boiling points (because there are weaker intermolecular forces between the hydrocarbons). So, following this, the larger hydrocarbons will condense lower down the column where it is hotter and the smaller hydrocarbons will condense higher in the column where it is cooler. At the bottom, where it is very hot, bitumen is formed. Believe it or not the roads are made out of this substance! Then at the top, hydrocarbons such as methane and propane are formed which are used for e.g. the gas in your kitchen.

Summer 2022 | 11

DISTILLATION COLUMN

As you can see, the petrol we use in cars condenses very close to the top of the distillation column, the hydrocarbons look a bit like this:

The above shows how the hydrocarbons of diesel look like.

CHEMISTRY

These hydrocarbons of diesel are much longer than the petrol hydrocarbons. Therefore, when burnt, even though diesel will provide more energy, there are more carbon atoms meaning that these will be burnt as well, producing more emissions than petrol hydrocarbons. Also, as these hydrocarbons have a longer chain length, they have a higher boiling point meaning that more energy is needed to overcome the intermolecular forces between these alkanes and therefore the diesel engine will need to work more to provide energy for machines to work.

We as humans find smaller chain hydrocarbons more useful e.g. propane, as they catch fire more easily, are cleaner and have lower boiling points. But there are loads of long chain hydrocarbons, which we do not really need. Through a process of cracking, we can convert these longer chain hydrocarbons into smaller chain hydrocarbons which are more useful. How does cracking work? The hydrocarbons are heated to a very high temperature (600oC to 700oC) in the presence of a silica or alumina catalyst. The longer chain hydrocarbons then break into shorter chain alkanes. Alkenes (e.g. propene) are also produced from this reaction.

Notice that the number of carbon and hydrogen atoms on each side of the reaction stay the same. The alkenes can then be used to make polymers (things like polypropylene used for carpets and many other things.) Polymers are substances made out of a large number of smaller atoms.

These create many organic substances such as plastics.

So, in conclusion, I hope you now understand how many things in the world are made, from carpets all the way to fuel, through the cracking and fractional distillation of crude oil.

Summer 2022 | 13

1. To be an astronaut you need to speak Russian, you must be 157 to 190.5 cm tall, you need a University degree in science or maths, you must be trained to survive in the wild and you must be able to fly a jet.

2. The Earth orbits the Sun at 66,000 miles/h.

3. The Earth spins at 1,037miles/ h (3x faster than the fastest train in the world).

4. The Solar System orbits the super massive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way at 500,000 miles/h (20x faster than a rocket going into space).

5. A single galactic orbit takes the Earth 250 million years.

6. Our local group of galaxies has 54 galaxies in it.

7. Our supercluster of galaxies is called the Laniakea Supercluster and it contains over 100,000 galaxies.

8. The Milky Way has at least 200 billion stars.

9. Saturn is made up of methane, sulphur and ammonia.

10. Mars is made of basalt, silicon and iron dust.

Bonus fact: Empty space contains a few hydrogen atoms.

SCIENCE

IN THE REALM OF SCIENCE ALY A - 7MLT

T

he origin of the word Science goes back to the old Latin word "scientia", which means "to know". Therefore, it may be prudent to equate the notion

of science with "the love of knowledge". In fact, before the 18th-century all that we now know as natural sciences disciplines were part of philosophy, which is a Greek word that means literally “the love of wisdom”, and it may be right to say that there is no wisdom without knowledge, which is the essence of the notion of science.

The longing to explore, discover and seek novelty is hardwired to the brain structure of our species "homo sapiens", which interestingly can be translated to "the wise man", who can be seen as the animal that has been made in the current shape because it was seeking wisdom, which cannot be reached without knowledge, or in contemporary

terms without "science". We should always remember that those essential traits in our species were the primary tools that protected our species from extinction, especially when it is weak, without fur and without sharp teeth or claws to protect its members during our long history of evolution, which spanned about 7 million years.

Summer 2022 | 15

Discovering new facts and

participating in any activity that utilise the human mental potentials and capacities is always interpreted by the human brain as a reward, which results in a boost of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the brain, which in turn encourages the person to seek this reward again and again.

That is why practising science is rewarding and constitutes a natural tendency for every human being.

Some people believe that science is neutral and has no relationship with the moral choices of the scientists or the wider application of their discoveries. On the other hand, others believe that there are good, bad, and very ugly sciences, which are not neutral at all. A prominent example of the good science is the invention of vaccines and inoculation technologies, along with antibiotics, which saved hundreds of millions of lives since their discoveries in the last few decades. However, the invention of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons, which killed millions of people since the First World War, could be the cause of the extinction of humans in the event of accidental or intentional nuclear exchange with a few nuclear bombs that may lead to a nuclear winter, which might be very similar to what happened after a huge asteroid hit our planet 60 million years ago, and consequently led to the

extinction of the dinosaurs.

Furthermore, in addition to the risk of the nuclear winter there would be the lingering effects of the nuclear radiation, which will spread over every corner of the globe with the wind, rain, and sea currents, and will remain active in the environment for at least two hundred thousand years.

We live in the era of climate change, which is a man-made environmental disaster fuelled by bingeing on extracting fossil fuels, and treating our planet Earth land, seas, and atmosphere as huge bottomless dumpsters.

Actually, we are approaching in just a few years a no return point, after which our current climate disaster will be a perpetual catastrophe. Therefore, we have to call on every good scientist to educate the public and maximise their awareness about what humanity is about to face, and we have to believe in science as it is our only hope to escape this gloomy fate of humanity, and translate that into real and hard work to invent and produce green energy technologies at a very rapid pace in order to keep all the remaining fossil fuels in the ground, and maintain the livelihood of our communities, and most crucially give our young generations a hope in a future that is not equated with an escape from climate disaster to face a new one. I think it is the time when every moral human being should expect to do their share of being a good scientist to try to save our mother Earth, and the only planet that we call home.

INVENTIONS

THE SEATBELT

JANUSHAN S - 9CEP

NILS BOHLIN: THE MAN WHO HAS SAVED OVER MILLION LIVES

N

ils Bohlin was an inventor and engineer who worked for Volvo in the 1950s.

As more and more cars started to be in use, accidents were common; due to the lack of safety of the occupants, many ended in tragedy. However, seatbelts have existed from the 19th century when British engineer, George Cayley invented one for his glider.

After this, in the 1930s American engineers were frantically trying to invent something to prevent the numerous injuries and deaths on their roads. They designed airbags, reinforced roofs, roll cages and more. Finally in 1945, car manufacturer Nash designed the first seatbelt on a motor vehicle. The seatbelt was designed like ones on a modernday plane, only covering the lower body. To solve this issue Nils came up with the 3-point seatbelt, which is still in use to this day. After Volvo produced the seatbelt, they never patented it.

This was in a bid to allow other car manufacturers to use their design to reduce the number of fatalities and extent of injuries on the World’s roads.

HOW DOES THE 3-POINT SEATBELT WORK? Wearing a belt keeps passengers from being ejected from a vehicle in a crash. When a car is moving and the occupants are restrained correctly, they might fling out of the window of the car, due to such a heavy impact force from a crash or braking. A three-way seatbelt prevents this by securing the wearer in the lower and upper parts of the body. This prevents any serious damage to the occupants of the car.

As seat belts have developed over time, there are several different kinds.

Summer 2022 | 17 1. A 2-point seat belt has only two attachment points, one near each hip 2. A 3-point seat belt includes a lap belt and a shoulder belt and has three attachment points, one near each hip and one over a shoulder.

Today’s seat belts are three-point seat belts, which spread the stopping force across the lower and upper body. Because threepoint belts spread the force across more of the body than two-point belts, they minimize the strength of the force in the body unlike 2-point seatbelts. 3point seatbelts prevent the wearer from being injured in one specific area but spreads out the payload from impact.

THE

FIRST CAR TO HAVE A SEATBELT AS STANDARD

In 1956 the Volvo 112, the first car the world has ever seen to have the three-point seatbelt designed by Nils Bohlin, as standard, and not as an aftermarket extra offered by other car manufacturers at the time. This invention by Nils has undoubtedly saved millions of lives around the globe.

WHY DIDN’T VOLVO PATENT THEIR MOST

SOURCES:

VALUABLE INVENTION

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Seat_belt#History

The Volvo management team realised that their invention was able to save countless lives across the globe and it was far too lifesaving to patent the seatbelt for themselves.

Therefore, Volvo opened their patent and shared it with other car manufacturers.

From the words of Volvo, “Not only has the three-point seat belt been a standard feature in our trucks for many years, today it is an absolute requirement in all trucks and cars. So, you could say that there is a little – but very important – part of Volvo in every vehicle on the road.”

- https:// www.volvotrucks.com/en-en/ news-stories/magazineonline/2019/may/seatbelts.

- https:// www.media.volvocars.com/ global/en-gb/media/ pressreleases/18405

INVENTIONS

ORTHO - K CONTACT LENSES Alexander F - 9AMG How does the eye work?

Cornea

Bends light as it enters the eye

Iris Lens

Controls how much light enters the pupil Focuses light on the retina

Retina

Has the light receptors

Optic nerve

Sends information to the brain

Sclera

White part of the eye, helps protect against injury

Cross-Section Of A Human Eye

WHY DO YOU BECOME SHORT SIGHTED? Light in a normal eye will focus on the retina. Short sightedness or Myopia is caused by the eye growing too long which means the light focuses in front of the retina instead of on it. This causes things that are far away to become blurry.

HOW DO ORTHO K LENSES WORK? Ortho K lenses have been used in the UK since 2002. The contact lenses are worn overnight and reshape the flexible cornea while you sleep.

When taken out in the morning, your vision is corrected. This means you don’t have to wear contact lenses or glasses during the day. But how does it work?

When you get your contact lenses, they are custom made specifically for your eyes. This is because they reshape and move the cells within your eye overnight so in the morning your vision is corrected. When you put in your contact lenses in for the first night, they will only correct your vision halfway, so half of your prescription will remain.

Similarly, if you don’t put them in one night then your eyesight will become halfway worse and after two nights you will be back to your normal prescription. The contact lenses should also stop your prescription from getting worse when your eyes are developing.

1. Short sighted eye before correction.

2. Short sighted eye with contact lens placed on top.

3. Eye is reshaped by contact lens overnight.

4. Eye remains in the corrected shape when the contact lens is removed.

Summer 2022 | 19

THE PICTURES BELOW ARE SCANS OF MY EYES. THE FIRST SHOWS MY EYES BEFORE I USED THE ORTHO K LENSES.

THIS SCAN SHOWS MY EYES AFTER 6 MONTHS OF USING THE LENSES. THE DIFFERENT COLOURS SHOW HOW THE CELLS ARE BEING MOVED AROUND THE EYES AND THE MOST RECENT SCAN SHOWS A MUCH CLEARER CIRCLE SHOWING A BETTER SHAPE OF THE

EYE.

Ortho K lenses are very easy to use and the biggest change for me is that I can now see clearly when swimming. I also don’t have to worry about glasses steaming up. Most people with prescriptions lower than 5 should be able to use Ortho K lenses, but you should consult with your optician for a full assessment.

References: - Ortho-k Lenses (orthoklenses.com) - The eye - Coordination and control - The nervous system - AQA - GCSE Biology (Single Science) Revision - AQA - BBC Bitesize - Bupa

ACHIEVEMENTS

BEST PROJECT IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND

AMEYA B - 8SRP

JOHN LYON’S SUBMISSION TO THE EDT INDUSTRIAL CADETS BRONZE AWARD IS NOMINATED FOR BEST OVERALL PROJECT IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND CATEGORY A team of pupils in Year 7 and 8 submitted a project entitled “My School is an Island: Sustainability in the face of a changing climate” to the EDT Bronze awards and were thrilled at being nominated for Best Overall Project in the East of England category amidst fierce competition from rival schools.

EDT (Engineering Development Trust), offers young people active learning experiences in STE(A)M related careers, giving them the opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge by honing research, design, teamwork and collaboration skills replicating experiences found in the workplace The team led by Ameya Bhattacharya in the role of project manager, comprised of Arun Karunadasa, Dylan Noronha, Khush Malde, Mahdi Mossahar, Michael Knight, Neel Mistry and Shayan Dalia-Patel.

Our industry mentor for the project was Glaxo SmithKline. We were lucky to work with a Clinical Statistician at GSK whose work involves providing statistical analysis, reporting and interpretation of study results. We also worked with an industrial placement student working at GSK as an associate clinical development scientist who works in a team to manage and run clinical trials that run across the globe.

We also interacted with a Quality Assurance scientist whose role involves environmental monitoring of the manufacturing facilities to maintain GSK’s manufacturing license; this involves sampling of surfaces, air and water and identifying some of the bacteria, yeasts and mould that might be encountered. Our mentors helped the project team to think objectively about the project goal and objectives.

They offered critical analysis and offered solutions and other ways of looking at the same problem.

The team was supported by Dr. Weinberg and Mr. Carr as well as by Rishabh Velani who acted as a mentor

within the school. We are grateful to all of them for their enormous contributions and support.

The project brief to design a sustainable school on an island was challenging. However, it enabled us to conduct in depth research into the pressing challenge of climate change facing the planet today. Governments, businesses, civil society organisations and communities around the world are increasingly worried about the impact of global heating on vulnerable communities and economies. Thinking about sustainability and self-sufficiency within the context of our own school on an island was a perfect way to think about the two concepts of being selfsufficient and sustainable in a manner that would also be practical and feasible within the boundaries of current technology and a reasonable budget.

The main goal for our project was to conduct in depth research on the key principles such as energy, food, waste management and transport. The team conducted independent research on these topics and we gathered as a team to evaluate the feasibility of suggested solutions and what aspects would be included in the design of our school on our agreed island.

We started with Ameya putting together a project workplan with timelines using a GANTT chart. This was used to assign roles and responsibilities within the team. The team members picked a topic based on their interests and presented the findings of their research in weekly meetings. We met regularly with our mentors at GSK who advised on feasibility and different ways of thinking about our proposed solutions. At the end, Ameya collated our project report based on individual reports that we submitted to him. Dylan took on the responsibility of putting together the video report collating individual recordings.

Summer 2022 | 21

We used a range of tools to organise our research and keep each other as well as our mentors updated on our findings and were very grateful for the technology that has become a key part of our lives since the pandemic.

The team used resources within the school as well as outside school to conduct our research.

This relied on us using the library as well as looking at research reports and papers. We also relied on conducting research into available technologies using the websites of the leading industry providers for those items. This helped us put together costs for items which we used for our budget. We also conducted interviews with staff as well as professionals within our networks including speaking to parents, teachers and in some cases, their extended networks.

We relied on our independent research to put together the final report following the result of the surveys, interviews, and discussions with a wide range of individuals. Last of all, we tested our findings by sharing them with our industry partner GSK who offered their advice and help as well.

Our results were very interesting as we thought about different aspects of feasibility - both in terms of available technology and what future technologies might look like. We were particularly interested in making our solutions as sustainable as possible as well as practical within a reasonable budget.

In addition to fulfilling the objectives set out in the project brief by the EDT team, we have learnt key principles of project design, teamwork, organisational skills and time management. We have also gained a better understanding of the principles of sustainable design which we will reflect on in our lessons and day to day life when evaluating buildings and structures that we encounter.

We are delighted to have been nominated for best overall project and look forward to representing John Lyon at the regional awards, hoping to win the overall prize

ACHIEVEMENTS

STEAM WATER ROCKET TRIP

VANSHH S (7 MLT) & RAJVEER D (7JOC)

JOHN LYON PUPILS 16TH IN A REGIONAL WATER ROCKET COMPETITION

On 21st June 2022, a team of five Year 7 pupils (Vanshh S, Rajveer D, Kian C, Fathima H and Dhruv B) attended the annual water rocket competition at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Teddington. The team was selected based on their work testing out smaller water rockets during STEAM lessons.

During the STEAM trip lead by Dr Abda and Mr Goodger we had some exciting times, and we also won an award for the Eggstra challenge. The Eggstra challenge was when your team had to safely land an egg while it was attached to your water rocket. Mr Goodger had the brilliant idea of cutting a tennis ball open and placing the egg in there and at the end we found out that our egg did not break.

place in the competition.

During the competition, we developed our teamwork skills and we enjoyed watching our rockets fly. We also learnt how different amounts of water can affect the rocket’s airtime and distance travelled.

We made our rockets out of fizzy drink bottles, duct tape, transparent tape, paper/card, foil and tennis balls. We launched the rocket using a homemade ramp. The ramp was made out of cardboard covered with duct and packaging tape. We pumped the rocket using a hand pump. The score was judged by how long your rocket stayed in the air and how far it went. The target distance was 70 metres.

When our team arrived, we were placed into our own different bays. We were placed in bay 44. It was a very hot and sunny day and there was no wind. Once our launchpad and rockets had been checked for safety we were ready to go. In the first

THE JOHN LYON WATER ROCKET TEAM WITH MR GOODGER.

round, our rocket landed in zone B which counted as 30 extra points. There were different zones; zone A, B, and C. Zone A counted as 10 extra points, zone B counted as 30 extra points and zone C counted as 20 extra points. This was a victory and put us in 6th place in the competition out of the other 36 schools that were competing. This was the first time John Lyon has competed in the competition so we felt we had done extremely well.

In our second round we did not do quite as well, with our rocket landing in zone A. This caused us to drop down to 16th

THE TEAM WITH THE UNBROKEN EGG AND THE CERTIFICATE FROM THE EGGSTRA CHALLENGE.

THE WATER ROCKET ON THE RAMP

Summer 2022 | 23

INVENTIONS ACHIEVMENTS

STEAM AT JOHN LYON

Since our last issue, STEAM as a subject has been skyrocketing in various aspects of the community.

Students have taken part in Laser Cutting and 3D printing along with multiple different competitions that have been competed in.

YASH S (9CKL) & YUV D (9CEP)

Science Technology Engineering Art & Mathematics was introduced at John Lyon in 2017. Since then it has developed a great deal and made an immense impact to pupils’ school life.

From September 2022, The John Lyon School will be offering Design & Technology as a GCSE qualification.

Our STEAM technician has constructed a stunning tree.

Students have created keyrings to hang on this tree giving it its unique design. Some students have chosen to use logos from famous companies and others chose to design their keyrings from scratch. These are just a few of many examples of things made with our extensively used laser cutter. Others include the desk tidies the Year 9s built. They started with drawings and CAD models before making the cardboard models. Improvements were made through every model giving pupils the skill to learn from and adapt a design to increase its performance. STEAM lessons are very interactive and help to nurture young minds to think like engineers and problem solvers. The laser cutter is also used by the art department from time to time.

Students have also regularly used 3D printers. Using CAD, they have created distinctive designs, learning and using different mechanisms. After going through this learning process, they have the ability to create a handheld

design without much difficulty, helping to improve the interactivity of the project.

Robotics is one to be added to the long list of what John Lyon students have exceled in. Year 9s have recently been to a national competition which involves robots working together to undermine the opposing team.

They described the environment as ‘competitive but friendly at the same time’. Being the first year of John Lyon pupils to compete, they have done exceptionally well placing top six in the country at nationals despite all the odds.

They competed with some of the top schools in the country such as Queen Elizabeth’s School, Merchant Taylors and Henrietta Barnett. Not only did they get to nationals, but they also won the innovation award for the brilliant design of the bot. Without their hard work and determination they would have not been able to accomplish this.

The Year 9s have now started on another project but are also using their expertise to teach the Year 7s and 8s the baseline of what they need to know about robotics. This will hopefully give a boost to the Year 7s to allow them to come up with better designs quicker and ultimately allow them to compete globally, something our Year 9 team was very close to achieving.

Year 8s and 9s have also started to take part in a competition which is known as EDT.

Summer 2022 | 25

A team of pupils in Year 7 and 8 submitted a project entitled “My School is an Island: Sustainability in the face of a changing climate” to the EDT Bronze awards and were thrilled at being nominated for Best Overall Project in the East of England category amidst fierce competition from rival schools.

called GSK that had supplied us with very helpful mentors. Our team got through the project by setting tasks for each individual member to complete. We then came together during meetings and shared our findings. Finally, we wrote separate reports for our sections and then pieced them together to form our final report.

EDT (Engineering Development Trust), offers young people active learning experiences in STE(A)M related careers, giving them the opportunity to gain firsthand knowledge by honing research, design, team work and collaboration skills replicating experiences found in the workplace. The members of the team are:

We got nominated by displaying our skills and knowledge of STEAM to Dr Weinberg with an introduction to ourselves and our personal skills. This information helped Dr Weinberg put together the team. The team overall is very hard-working and has taken all the help they can from either Dr Weinberg or myslef.

- Ameya B - Arun K - Shayan Dalia - Khush M

We have enjoyed this project and would rate EDT to a high standard. STEAM is our fastest growing subject, and we have very high expectations for it in the near future.”

- Dylan N - Neel Mi - Michael K

- Mahdi M We spoke to Rishabh V, mentor of our school’s EDT team this year.

“Our project was to design a school that was based on an island. To make our school stand out, we tried to make it as self sustainable as possible. We had the initiative to work with a successful leading company

In conclusion, STEAM is a highly popular and fun subject throughout the extracurricular programme in John Lyon. We hope that more students will make the most of the opportunities in STEAM and take part in the wide range of activities the John Lyon school has to offer.

See you in the next article!

John Lyon School Middle Road, Harrow-on-the-Hill, HA2 OHN 020 8515 9400 enquires@johnlyon.org

www.johnlyon.org @JohnLyonHarrow