Stephen Hawking Project at San Andrea Senior School

The Stephen Hawking Science and Technology Project, as an educational initiative held annually at San Andrea Senior School, a co-ed school at L-Imselliet, limits of Mgarr, is aimed at bringing to our students' attention Professor Hawking's achievements and his admirable determination against all odds to reach his goal.

When Stephen was still in his third year at Oxford reading Mathematics, shortly after his 21st birthday, he was diagnosed with a rare motor neurone disease. In his own words, the realisation that he had an incurable disease that was likely to kill him was a bit of a shock.

"But shortly after I came out of hospital, I dreamt that I was going to be executed," he continues. "I suddenly realised that there were a lot of worthwhile things I could do if I were reprieved."

Objectives

Although organised for the last three years, the idea of this science and technology project at San Andrea Senior School is still in its stages of development because the possibilities, and the potential benefits for students that could be reaped from the initiative are immeasurable.

In the first years only students taking Physics could participate. But the cross-linking with other subjects was inevitable. Technical Design, for example, was an important component of the whole idea where students linked research and academic knowledge to actual construction of working models based on the laws of nature. This year it was extended to all students covering other areas in Biology and Chemistry. It is a matter of time before the whole idea embraces also Mathematics.

This helps our students understand that the Sciences are not just subjects to study and get certification in, but should be interesting areas of understanding to help visualise better the technological world around us.

Therefore ideally, students have to understand as early as possible that technology is essentially an application of scientific and other knowledge in general, most of which is achieved in the classroom interactions with teachers, through experimentation, project work and through the development of important skills of being imaginative, creative and inquisitive.

Research sources are today available to students through search engines on computers that make an infinite amount of information available. This in itself presents another difficult reality. How are students to digest researched information in such a way as to slowly start possessing it, assimilating it, rather than just knowing the source, or simply downloading it at the click of a mouse?

It was a satisfaction seeing that most students understood the idea of discovering things themselves given the opportunity to do so, and performing the actual experiments themselves to learn from the experience. The convincing way during the public debates held was ample proof of this.

The project was once more organised at San Andrea Senior School during the scholastic year 2003-4 with the following objectives in mind:

¤ To trigger and increase in the student an interest to discover the physical principles and laws that govern the world around us;

¤ To encourage and build important skills such as creativity, research, communication, group work, doing analysis and evaluation;

¤ To introduce and prepare our students in disciplined learning systems and information analysis;

¤ To be in line with the spirit of the National Minimum Curriculum in Malta.

Organisation

This was a repetition of last year's activity with some fine-tuning. The programme was a compulsory event made available to all Grade 11 students, to be held over one scholastic year before they sit for their 'O' Levels. The students were asked to work in groups and present work in the following three areas of assessment:

¤ A written and researched assignment preferably based on a set topic of the certification syllabus. Each student presented a file showing the amount, and level of his or her research. In this respect it was stressed to students to be selective and concise in their research especially with the modern means and sources available today. The need to have more knowledge in the head than knowledge in hand was stressed and given a lot of importance.

¤ A seminar and debate, a public viva voce, PowerPoint presentation on the topic. The presentation was eventually used not only to test the comprehension and preparation of the topic chosen, but also as a very practical and useful way to share acquired information.

¤ The use of visual aids, AV resources, 3-D models, experiments and all other means to show their understanding of the chosen topic.

The Stephen Hawking initiative includes a science week where all the projects are exhibited. Young students from the lower grades will also be able to perform small and quick hands-on experiments on optics, magnetism, electricity and mechanics amongst others.

The seminars and discussions were held as an extracurricular activity during the mid-day break. The final presentation are held in the presence of the parents themselves. Once more the group getting the highest number of marks were presented with a return ticket for an educational visit to England.

Topic titles

Some topics chosen by the students are:

The Solar System and the Universe; Satellites; Waves: Emission and Absorption of Radiant Energy; The Electromagnetic Spectrum: Light and Pollution.

Principle of Conservation of Energy; Electromagnetic induction. The generator; Magnetic effect of an electric current. The simple electric motor; Hydraulic braking systems; The Eye.

Wine Making and Fermentation; Electrolysis; Acid Rain; The Uni-verse and the Origins of Life; Sound and Sound Pollution.

The cross-linking of the sciences with other areas such as Technology applications, computer software and Technical Design is inevitable in many cases and highly recommended. The idea of information analysis was discussed at length, but this proved to be such an important area that it has to be addressed in detail and with more care in the future.

As San Andrea Senior School is also the co-ordinating institution of a Comenius project on pollution, in which schools from England, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Romania are involved. Pollution was given importance to increase awareness in the students.

The experience of the Stephen Hawking Science and Technology Project has shown that more hard work has to be put into such initiatives in the future. Much educational benefit can be reaped from them.

The presentation of the short-listed groups was held on May 18 and the final group was selected by a panel of experts.

This year's winning group was made up of Matthia Pecotic and Claire Cassar who discussed Electrolysis. Ian Fenech Conti and Jean Karl Bondin were declared runners-up with their presentation on Wines and Fermentation.

The winners have been awarded a return ticket for an educational visit to the UK. All possible efforts will be made to organise a memorable meeting with Professor Stephen Hawking himself.