STEM-Week

BBS held annual second, annual, STE(Art)M week this November and one cannot help be inspired by the excitement and motivation generated by both students and adults alike. Our theme, The Moon - Stepping Stone to the Cosmo's, kicked off with an Art and Music display in our canteen. Student work, as well as some world-renowned projects, were on display. Pauline (Music Teacher) and Jens (Hausmeister) provided musical inspiration with both German and English moon inspired tracks being played throughout the event. On Tuesday, our students were provided with street glitter chalk and measuring tapes. They were tasked with calculating the distance they would have jumped if the Earth shared the moons gravitational pull. This turned into a beautiful blend of colours, circles and the odd rocket. In our canteen, Boris (Parent) and Richie (Secondary music teacher) took our students to the musical stratosphere with some Herbie Hancock classics from the album Headhunters. On Wednesday we welcomed Andrea Kelz, an Astrophysicist from Potsdam Observatory, who shared his experiences in the field of Astronomy. The interview was held in Andrew's office, and YouTube streamed live into all the classrooms. Afterwards, Andreas held an Astroquiz with our Grade 5/6 students in the canteen and was really blown away but the depth of knowledge our young scientists possess.

Thursday saw another parent (Matthew) come to our canteen and give a presentation to Grade 1-4 about the interesting research he and his colleagues are conducting about fish, fish poo, the moon and food for aspiring Astronauts. This presentation was brought to a close by Michael and Lucas (Grade 3/4 Erziehers) reading and then singing, with guitar accompaniment, a wonderfully illustrated book of David Bowie'S Space Oddity. Finally, on Friday, under the watchful eyes of over 300 BBS students and staff, we sent a water rocket into orbit. Like all launches, this was not without its drama and after a number of failed countdowns, the rocket finally soared skywards. Additionally, a mathematics professor from Beuth Hochschule came to the secondary school to talk about future career paths in mathematics. Each of these days was wonderfully supported by parents running Lunar lander workshops, Moon phase Art demos, space Origami and rocket building. Even one of our longtime Multimedia workshop facilitators, Russ, gave a talk with students about being a Spacebratt (Term given to children of NASA workers).