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Talks, Demonstrations and Activities for Schools
We offer a variety of talks, demonstrations and activities that are delivered either through a school visit to UCL or by one of our scientists visiting your school. The information below covers a selection of events we are able to run which can be adjusted to the age and interests of the audience. All talks and activities are completely free.
- Box office Blunders - Debunking the science in blockbuster film.
Primary school activities
| Title | Description | Duration | Size |
| Rocks and minerals | Learn about the different types of rocks and minerals that make up our planet and those in our solar system. | 50 minutes | up to 30 |
| Rocks from outer space | Activities exploring meteorites and meteorite impacts: shooting stars, why do they glow, what killed the dinosaurs, make your own impact crater and more! | 50 minutes | up to 30 |
| Why is Hawaii a volcano? | Come see how rocks can flow like water and form volcanoes at the surface. | 30-50 minutes | 8-10 |
Secondary school activities:
| Title | Description | Duration | Size |
| Measuring the distances between atoms | Students will use X-ray diffraction patterns of simple materials to determine the interatomic distances. | 50-90 minutes | up to 30 |
| Box office blunders | Watch clips from a blockbuster movie then debate which parts of the movie are scientifically accurate and which are complete scientific blunders | 50-90 minutes | up to 30 |
| Mountain building with a sandbox | Learn about classic Scottish geology and mountain building processes | 50-90 minutes | up to 30 |
| Smashing rocks | Earthquakes in the lab using high pressure deformation apparatus and a high speed camera | 30 minutes | up to 15 |
| Why is Hawaii a volcano? | Come see how rocks can flow like water and form volcanoes at the surface. | 30-50 minutes | size 5 |
Talk options:
| Title | Description | Ages |
| The life cycle of stars | A talk that takes you from the big bang to black holes - understand how stars are formed, their life and their sudden or lingering death. | 13-16 |
| The nature of feedbacks | Snowball Earth, Cambrian explosion and the industrial revolution | 13-18 |
| Dance with seismic waves and exploration of the deep Earth | How do we unravel the myth of the Earth’s interior that is up to thousands of kilometres under our feet? | 16-18 |
| Earthquakes and the Earth's deep interior | Learn about what happens during earthquakes and what causes them | 11-14 |
| A journey in Earth Science | An interactive discussion of big questions in our understanding of Earth through the lens of a leading scientist’s career. | 9-13 |
| How to date rocks | A brief introduction to radioactivity, isotopes, and how they can be used to measure the age of minerals, rocks and planets. | All ages |
Contact Information:
Contact Lidunka Vočadlo phone: 020 7679 7919 email: l.vocadlo@ucl.ac.uk
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