January 28^th 2012 was a first for the Chemistry Department in LaganCollege.  Miss Wells and Miss Wightman teamed up with Armagh Planetarium, National Trust and Graham Construction to stage a family Science Show.

The Planetarium set up their Stardome in the hall and was able to present 11 shows throughout the day in addition to badge making and rocket making.  The weather was cold but dry so we were able to launch the rockets outside and the children were impressed at how high they went.

The National Trust set up several areas to showcase their work – parents and children were able to talk to representatives from Minnowburn, Patterson’s Spade Mill, Castleward and Rowallane.  There were interactive workshops and visitors could look down microscopes, see the wildlife that was found in the local area, examine rocks, taste locally produced honey, watch a spade being made and make a bughome.

Graham Construction set up a wonderful display showing their work not only on our new school but also other projects happening nationwide.  Children were able to don hard hats and high visibility vests to try to build a wall.

Miss Wightman, Mr McCann, Mr Carleton and nine eager 6^th form volunteers kept the ‘bangs, flashes and explosions’ show going all day in the Chemistry department.  The smoke coming from the Science corridor certainly showed the visitors the right way to go.  Thank you especially to Andrew Bradley, Ryan McNanny, Gavin Ludlow, Lahanna Magee, Rebecca Gray, Rebecca Young, Louise Cassidy, Uroosa Mahmood and Jacqueline Livings who gave up their second Saturday in a row and put on a fantastic show.

The day was a fantastic success; we had 405 visitors to the College and are already planning the show for next year.

Thanks also to Mrs McNamee for her support throughout the project.

The STEM module was able to visit the college on Tuesday 20^th December 2011.  Students from Yr 12, Yr 10 and Yr 9 were given the chance to be Forensic Scientists for the day.

Their task was to carry out tests to determine who killed Mr Chris P Bacon.  Mr Bacon was a local businessman who was proposing to build a waste incinerator in an area renowned for its natural beauty.  The suspects were:

Shirley Knot

Joe King

Felix Cited

Max E Mumm and

Miles A Head.

All the suspects claimed to have an alibi but also had a motive for the murder.

The students looked at evidence including footprints and fingerprints.  They then analysed fibres, white powder and blood found at the scene before concluding their tests with a urine analysis and discovering the identity of the killer.