Science

From Years 2 to 11, students at Hampton Court House have science lessons with a subject specialist. Science lessons are rooted in the 11+, 13+ and IGCSE curricula, but all of our teachers are passionate about extending students’ education beyond the curriculum. Our goal is to foster in our students a spirit of enquiry. When they leave us, students should feel confident tackling complex problems using the scientific method, that is, they should feel able not only to pose questions, but also to come up with methods for solving them.

Science day As a department, we have close ties with the National Physical Laboratory in Teddington, we go on field trips with the Field Studies Council, we enter competitions with bodies such as the Royal Society of Chemistry, and of course, take advantage of our proximity to museums in London.

Abigail HowardBSc PGCE

Head of Science

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Year 2 pupils get to grips with solids, liquids and gasses

Year 2 have been learning about solids, liquids, and gases as part of their Science curriculum this term. Today they donned lab-coats and encountered a non-Newtonian fluid which acts as a solid when you move fast but switches to liquid behaviour when you move slowly. They then saw that vibrations could... make it “come alive” and dance like a snake.

Y2 science problem-solving challenge

In science, Year 2 have been studying materials and their properties. Last week we discussed what materials would be good for building different things and so this week we tried building towers out of wood. Students demonstrated excellent problem-solving skills and learned that triangles are the strongest... shape because they can’t be pushed over into other shapes. We related the structures we made to real-world architecture like Gothic cathedrals and the Eiffel Tower.

Year 9 trip to New Scientist Live Exhibition

Year 9 thoroughly enhoyed their day out at the New Scientist Live Exhibition on Thursday. They listened to talks from specialists in engineering, human sciences, technology and the cosmos as well as Tim Peakes and Konni Huq. The students particularly enjoyed hearing about the life cycle, and adaptations and behaviour of some unusual parasites on the Earth Science Stage.

Y8 Rube Goldberg Machine Project

After their 13+ exams, Year 8 have been undertaking a project across the sciences and art to make Rube Goldberg machines- intricately complicated machines that accomplish very simple tasks, named for American cartoonist Reuben Goldberg. British artist W Heath Robinson is also known for similar work.... Year 8 are working in small groups to make machines of their own, accomplishing a range of tasks such as squeezing a lemon, and icing a cake. Machine steps they have invented include a domino pushing a car carrying a lit candle to burn through a piece of rope, and a balista made from molly sticks launching a projectile to pop a baloon. Next week they will be videoing their machines in action and in the last week of term they will be presenting their work.

Y10 pupils compete in annual NPL Schools Water Rocket Challenge

A team of 6 Y10 pupils: Max – team leader, Charles, Freddie, Solo, Ryan and Daniil, competed in the NPL annual school water rocket challenge. The event was held on the NPL Sports ground facility in Teddington.
More than 50 Schools from across the borough and from further afield (including Spain) all... competed to design three water/air pressure rockets and a launching mechanism. Points were awarded for time of flight and for landing in three designated zones.

The pupils had worked hard over the last 6 weeks designing and testing their prototype rockets. On the day, all three HCH rockets successfully launched in the rain, and our team came within a very respectable margin of the winning scores. The precision of the launches was spot on, but a few high cross winds just moved the team out of highest scoring range by a couple of metres.

Giant Bubble Assembly for Lower Years Pupils

On the first day back after half-term, the Lower Years children enjoyed making giant bubbles during an assembly organised by Jonah and Helen, our science technicians. Everyone had a go at shaping different sized-bubbles using various wands: it was mesmerizing to see all these colourful bubbles floating... around. Jonah explained the science behind bubble making and the different solutions he had made to see which one would work best. He shared the magic receipe with the children so they can experiment at home!

Middle Years Floating Garden Competition

During Science Week, Middle Years students were invited to take part in the ‘Floating Gardens Challenge’ set by the charity Practical Action. Students learnt that crops can often be wiped out because of long term flooding of croplands in places like Bangladesh. Their challenge was to use recycled... materials to engineer a solution to this. Students thought carefully about the many facets of this problem:

– the weight (light as possible) and strength (able to hold several kg of weight without breaking) of their materials
– the stability of the design in water
– how to plant and grow cress seeds with minimal watering
– material and adhesives that could cope with getting wet.

The designs would be judged on the amount of cress growth and also the amount of weight that could be loaded onto the garden before it sank. Filip, Cyrus, Nathaniel and Ollie used moss to keep their soil moist and achieved the most impressive cress growth:

For the test of buoyancy we enlisted the help of our sixth form physicists:
The winning design was simple but very effective, made out of plastic bottles and corks, and using clever proportions to allow it to balance evenly and hold the greatest weight. Mohammad, Ben and Benjamin were the overall winners with a design that held 1.8kg of weight and grew an impressive amount of cress. Well done!