Best Show of Tour 1!!!! By Pri :)
The first tour of the year held some interesting challenges, but of these, the most rewarding was visiting specific purposes schools.
During week two of tour, most schools had National Testing; this gave the science circus the opportunity to extend their shows to "Schools for Specific Purposes". I visited a great little high school, which was for students who were having behavioural difficulties in mainstream schools. These difficulties stem from a number of issues including Attention Deficit disorder (ADD) and depression.
When Pahia, another member of Shell Questacon Science Circus (SQSC), and I arrived at the school, we were surprised to see the students without uniforms. Even more astounding was the impromptu bicycle ride that the students and a teacher took through the bush while were setting up. We were told that these sorts of activities are what kept them active and engaged. Normal classroom activities just wouldn't cut it.
With this in mind, Pahia and I decided to set up outside. It was a bright sunny day and we wanted to make the students feel as comfortable as possible. We didn't want them to think of us as teachers in the classroom.
We performed various activities to only 8 boys, but this will still go down in record as my favourite show of tour. We started off with slime which is always a winner. They boys tried as hard as they could to punch the slime and were genuinely surprised when it felt hard. We followed this with a few music demonstrations.
Since the audience was so small, each member was able to have a play with each prop, making it more like a workshop than an actual show. The teachers even had a go. You know you must be doing something right, when a teacher finds something fascinating.
Onto a few collision demos using Newton's cradle and to finish of with a blast, Alka Seltzer rockets. Best way to finish a show and one I'm sure the boys will remember for a long time. The teachers thanked us and commented on how "they had never seen those boys sit still for a whole hour"
This made me feel like what I was doing was worthwhile. Too often, I perform a show to an audience of 150 students with very little feedback that what I'm doing is actually benefiting them. This particular show reassured me that SQSC is an amazing program that reaches students in a way no other program can.
It was also a welcome change to work so closely with my partner, Pahia. Most shows consist of a pair of us performing our separate shows and busks to make up an hour long show, however in this situation we could constantly bounce ideas off each other and were always involved. Already looking forward to the next tour!
- Pri
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