More than thirty school students gathered in the Wohl Reach Out Lab last week to show off their science skills to the Imperial community.

In sessions led by Imperial Physics alumnus and science-performer Neil Monteiro on Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 October, Year 7 students from Westminster Academy were tasked with coming up with posters and performances to demonstrate scientific concepts in an engaging way.  The students then put these to the test in an hour of ‘science busking’ attended by Imperial staff and students.

The science busking activity forms part of a new long-term long engagement programme with Westminster Academy and its primary feeder schools, funded by College alumnus and Westminster Academy sponsor David Dangoor.

The programme will fund 30 days of activity in the Wohl Reach Out Lab for the school each year for the next five years and will involve students across all year-groups - from the school’s associated primary schools up to its sixth form classes.

Westminster student Mariam Mahdaoui demonstrated how static electricity can be used to separate pepper from a salt and pepper mix. Passers-by were asked to rub a balloon against their hair or clothing – causing it to become negatively charged. The salt and pepper is positively charged, so becomes attracted to the balloon.  As pepper particles are lighter than salt particles, when the balloon is passed over the particles from a height they fly up towards it - leaving the heavier salt particles on the plate.

Mariam said: “This the second time I’ve been to the Wohl Reach Out Lab at Imperial. It has been a really fun day – at school we don’t get to spend too much time doing practical experiments like this and they really help me to understand how the science works. Explaining the experiment to other people makes it much easier to memorise what I’ve learnt.”

Pupil Daniel Goldfeld explained how carbon dioxide extinguishes flames by conducting an experiment using dry-ice (frozen carbon dioxide), water, and candles.

Daniel said: “I’ve had a fantastic time learning about science and thinking about how best to share my new knowledge with other people. I always think that you can achieve anything as long as you try hard enough and today proves that – we’ve learnt such a lot in a short period of time and now we’re teaching others about it!”

Annalisa Alexander, Head of Outreach at Imperial, said: “We are delighted to see how these pupils rose to the challenge of our Science Busking day. The lab has been buzzing with excitement and it was fantastic to hear the groups explaining their experiments to the audience with such eloquence and enthusiasm. The key to most of our work in the Wohl Reach Out Lab is hands-on practicals; children learn best when they are engaged in and excited by what they see and do.”