The Columban Issue 33 - St Columba's School

6 | arOuND THe scHOOl THe COLuMbAn ISSue 33
Challenge Week
(Ms Kirsty brash)
Challenge permeates all that we do at St Columba’s and this
was celebrated during Challenge Week, which took place
between 28th november and 2nd December. Pupils were
encouraged to take their thinking further by developing skills
in critical thinking and making meaningful connections
between disciplines in order to tackle problems and consider
ways forward.
The School welcomed guest speakers, including Rob Maslen,
Lecturer in english Literature at Glasgow university, who
conducted workshops in Shakespearean tragedy and the
themes of art and nature in The Tempest and The Winter’s Tale
with SV and SVI english students respectively. Claire Cassidy,
of Strathclyde university, challenged pupils across the year
levels to reflect upon ethical dilemmas through a series of
philosophical discussions. Faculties also participated with a
series of competitions and opportunities for pupils to present
Physics Challenge
(Dr Iain spencer)
The Physics Department challenged SV and SVI pupils to
explain the physics of a photo they had taken. As always, we
were impressed at the way that St Columba’s pupils accept
and take on a challenge like this in a manner which makes us
proud of them time and time again. The standard of entries
was excellent and exceeded our expectations. The judging was
based on the effort made to produce the photo and the quality
of the explanation. Since the submissions were of such a high
quality, this made the judging very difficult, but in the end the
winners were chosen to be –
Douglas barclay
Sammy Rose
Mark McGregor
sammy rose’s entry
“This picture was taken when a pan of water boiled over
onto an aga hotplate. The small water droplets appear to be
floating, whilst the larger are partially suspended. The effect
of the droplets floating is caused by the bottom layer of the
droplet vaporising instantly when it comes in contact with
the hotplate. To allow the expanded volume of water vapour to
escape, the drop appears to jump. The minuscule weight of the
small droplets allows them to be lifted high by the vapour. As
the layer of vapour suspends the droplet, it becomes insulated
against the heat. The small droplet of water can therefore be
observed skittering across the hotplate for a prolonged period
of time, until eventually evaporating completely.”
research and thoughts on particular areas of interest to them:
examples included the Physics challenge to photograph an
aspect of everyday life and, using understanding gained
through Physics, to explain relevant phenomena; the Music
Department’s challenge to pupils to take up a new instrument
for the week (So you think you can play…?) and the Psychology
investigation into the baffling concept of national identity.
The Technology Department ran a Dragon’s Den competition,
which challenged pupils to invent a new and original product
and convince harsh judges of its value.
We hope Challenge Week has helped to consolidate much of
the hard work we have already done in teaching our pupils
to expect and to embrace challenge and that what they have
experienced will impact on their thinking and learning beyond
this week.
Mark McGregor’s entry
“This is a picture of me scuba diving. The colours in the
photograph are almost exclusively blue. The photo was taken
at a depth of about 15 metres on an otherwise sunny day
with good visibility. This clearly illustrates the absorption of
sunlight in water. Absorption is greater for long wavelengths
(the red end of the visible spectrum) than for short
wavelengths (the blue end). The colour spectrum is rapidly
altered with increasing depth. For example, white objects at
the surface appear blue underwater and red objects appear
very dark at depth.”