Students Experience Cool Workshops

To accompany the many talks at West Lakes Academy, some interesting and unique workshops were set up to educate the visitors. Here are some of them:

I first visited the biomass workshop which was all about fuels. A contraption was set up where they could use algae to make oil. This involved heating and pressurising a special substance at a whopping 350 degrees.

They also had another contraption which actually produces algae, using liquids that bubbled violently in the tube.

One of the staff members said to me, ‘it is a renewable source of oil but sadly it could only give enough oil to supply local communities. If we heat it at 250 degrees, we can make powdered coal.’ All in all, the biomass workshop was a wonderful experience.

Then I took a visit to UCLAN, which was all about diagnosis.

A symptom would be put in front of you and you must ask the experts about it. As you ask more questions, more is revealed about the symptom. The aim is to make a diagnosis for the patient.

In my opinion a fun way to learn something new.

Whilst in the conservatory, a collection of hands on experiments and fun activities are available to try. One of them was submerging yourself in liquid nitrogen - I had heard rumours that our PE teacher tried this freezing challenge!

Another cool challenge was trying to fly a jet (well, not literally!). You were placed into a jet-like simulator and you were handed a joystick to steer. Other little challenges included trying to make a jenga tower with nuclear box gloves on, moving robots with a phone and much more.

Outside was the main attraction: a customised ford focus car with huge wings- a must see for car fans.

And just to round it off, leaflet stalls were set up to make you think about your careers, including the University of Manchester.

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