BBC School Report 2016 Pimlico Students ask Professor Brian Cox about his new TV series By Abdus, Louis, Winni, and Frank On 22 nd June, four Pimlico Academy students, who are part of the BBC News School Report Club, left the school to go to the Royal Society. We were invited for a preview of Professor Brian Cox s new TV series Forces of Nature. We arrived just in time to get cool BBC wristbands and refreshments. Then we entered the hall where Professor Brian Cox introduced his new series on BBC1 with BBC director general, Tony Hall. Professor Cox said Forces of Nature will provide a view of the underlying structure of nature. When the Q&A session began, we had the privilege of being special guests and got to ask questions first as BBC school reporters. He answered our questions about his favourite moment while filming the show, the possibility of finding any new species on earth, life on other planets, and whether anything still confuses him about the world. The show starts on July 4 th, Monday at 9pm. We got to ask Professor Cox the following questions and here are the answers he gave us! Questions: 1) Louis: Is there anything that still confuses you about our world? Yes, most of it! And that s the delight of science. I mentioned the Feynman lectures which I recommended earlier if you re keen on science. They get quite advanced but they re wonderful things to look at and Feynman once said that if he had to define science and say its value, he would say science is a satisfactory philosophy of ignorance and I love that. It s very modest. It s the philosophy of delighting in the facts that you don t know, not guessing, but putting forward maybe an idea that you ll then test. And it will be even more delightful when you re shown to be wrong, which is something that I think is lacking in most
public discourse these days, because you ve learned something. So actually, research science is all about putting aside the stuff we think we know and we go to the place where there s confusion and that s the delightful place to be as a scientist. 2) Frank: How many species could still be undiscovered on our planet? Biologists actually argue about this. There s even a debate about how many species there are but they re turning up all the time so we just don t know. There s one very quick example We filmed a man in Australia who discovered a new species in his back garden. I think it was in Melbourne, so in a city and by paying attention, and just looking carefully in his garden, he discovered a new species. So we don t know. There s many thousands. 3) Winifred: What was your favourite moment while recording the show? It was a very clever idea. It wasn t my idea but from the production team. We were trying to illustrate why water s blue, why the oceans are blue, and this is partly due to the way that light interacts with water and essentially water absorbs physical light in the red part of the spectrum. Someone had this idea that I get into a red diving suit and dive into this which is called Silfra in Iceland. It is crystal clear glacial water and it s about 4 degrees Celsius. It s very cold. If you dive in a red suit, you find if you go below 10 or 15 metres down by the way, that s the divide between the continents, so one side of that is America and the other side is the Europe, that s the way the continental plates are split apart- if you dive into that 15 metres, it s still bright but the suit goes black. It goes black because the red light has been absorbed by water molecules. Actually water is very strange stuff. The way they vibrate and oscillate takes the red light out and that s a beautiful illustration. So I enjoyed it because I got to dive in between the continents but it s also a really good idea to illustrate some physics about the way that water interacts with light. 4) Abdus: Do you think scientific technology has the capability to develop further in terms of investigating other life forms on other planets? We ve got the European mission s ExoMARS, including a Rover, much of which is being built in Oxfordshire because we re very good at building those things in Britain. So that s going because we think there s a strong chance life either existed on Mars in the past or could possibly exist below the surface now. Same is for the moons of Jupiter which includes Europa... it has got more water in its oceans below the surface, than all the oceans of the world combined. There s a moon called Enceladus around Saturn which has ice fountains rising up out of the surface which we now are pretty sure come from vent systems but that s the current best guess with the data so if I was to guess, I would say the chances are good... that we will find life in the solar system It s one of the great questions for your generation actually because these missions are planned over the next few decades so if you want to work on that, you ll be welcomed with open arms.
Pimlico introduces non-traditional sports By Abdussamad, Mahamet, Frank and Enisa Pimlico Academy has introduced new sports to the school since September 2015 with the help of the PE Department. These sports were never seen before at this school before. Randa, who had a go at playing Boccia, one of the new sports, said, It doesn t feel like exercise because it s fun. Mr Collins, one of the heads of the PE Department said that these sports allow people who can t play traditional sports to try something new. The new sports include Fencing, Boccia and Yoga. These sports are extra-curricular after school or before school clubs. These sports have many benefits for the students (e.g. Boccia, a sport which anyone can play, no matter the disabilities or abilities someone has ). Other benefits across these sports are co-ordination, discipline, and footwork for Fencing, strategy for Boccia and flexibility, muscle strength and bone health for Yoga. Mr Collins said the PE Department would always try and introduce new sports through what we can offer, what students want and the realism (whether it is realistic or not) of the suggestion.
Brian Cox opens new science lab at CGPA By Abdussamad School Reporters from Pimlico Academy visited one of their former primary schools Churchill Gardens Primary Academy where a special event took place. A new science lab was opened by Brian Cox, a famous astrophysicist, where he also taught Year 4 students from CGPA about the universe and how it feels to be a physicist. He told the students, Continue to be interested; continue to ask questions and allow your imaginations to be captured by these things whatever they are. When the Pimlico students interviewed him personally, he continued his message on how to be a scientist when he said, Even if it s a blade of grass, say Why is it green? What is it doing? How did it get there? How did such a complex thing that can take energy from the Sun, take water and split the water up, and release Oxygen and build sugars out of the energy from the Sun and Carbon Dioxide. How does it do that? That s the way to be a scientist. Just keep going and ask questions The School Reporters also interviewed a student in Year 4 taught by Brian Cox on the day. He said, The new lab is amazing because now we can do interesting experiments and I learnt a lot from Brian Cox. For more information, please view our video on the BBC website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport/35668364
LGBT Students at Pimlico By Souren with reporting by Winni, Adam, and Nicole Pimlico Academy has created a new lunchtime club for LGBT students. The students feel more comfortable as they know they are supported by fellow students and teachers. They believe the club stops the bullying of LGBT students One student, who asked to remain anonymous, said My family isn t supportive of my sexuality. She has friends that are supportive of her and she isn t bullied anymore. However, she also did say that some of her friends were constantly made fun of. She said it needs to stop and that is what this club is doing. Students at Pimlico Academy are also being educated about the LGBT community to raise awareness.
Holocaust Survivor Inspires Pimlico Students By Jude, Louis and Souren On 27 th January, holocaust survivor, Rudi Oppenheimer, spoke to Year 9 students at Pimlico Academy. It was broadcast to over 250 different schools across the country. Rudi Oppenheimer was sent to Bergen Belsen Camp in February 1944 to April 1945 with his parents and siblings until his parents died. When Russian soldiers called Cosaks came to free them, he then travelled to England to live with his surviving relatives. He shared his story because he wants the current generation to know how fortunate they are; however, he also added that we haven t learned from our previous mistakes. It s important to learn about the event We haven t learnt a thing yet. He believes we should open the borders to refugees from war-torn countries. Mr Oppenheimer encouraged students to be confident and speak from the heart.
Syrian Student Reveals another Side of Syria By Louis In Pimlico Academy we have a Year 9 pupil who used to live in Syria. She has fled from Syria because of the war and now feels safer living in Britain. At first, she defines Syria as a beautiful country and there will always be nice people there. Her grandparents, cousins and aunties are all still living in Syria. She firstly found it hard living In England since it was hard to make friends having only little English. However, she now has many friends and is more confident in English. She regards Syria as being moderately correctly portrayed in the news but recalled Syria in total saying there are some places that are still safe. Like Damascus. She told us that she enjoys her education at Pimlico Academy more than her last school in Syria, We didn t have that much of teaching and they didn t teach us much proper English. She hopes that we can see the Syria that used to be.
Young talent flies up, up and away!!! By Louis Louis Krommenhoek, a current Pimlico Student in year 13, is rising to fame. He has starred in plays, short films and also advertisements. Louis highlight so far has been a performance of the play Endurance where he played James. He talked about his positive review on Endurance and accomplishments of the play saying It s not about individual names We did this as a group. Additionally, he continued describing his love for drama by stating you can t stop. Krommenhoek explained how he was scared at the beginning but then eventually faced his fears and gaining confidence. He believes he has made progress and just wants to continue doing what he adores. Louis is currently filming a short film called Husky. Another aspect of his career has been his work with a fellow student Jack Rowan describing his time with him being Mainly outside of school. He found it a weird experience too since when he finished his acting jobs he still was able to meet Jack all the time. His main advice was to find the right acting school because there is such a variety of teaching and only one could be helpful to you. Stay on the lookout for Louis as he will soon be on your screens again.