Science Bazaar 2012

Principal Investigator(s): Dr Niall Munro

Project start: March 2012

Project finish: March 2012

About us

In March 2012, the Poetry Centre inaugurated its new collaboration with local scientists, and exploration of the relations between the images and languages of poetry and science, by supporting a stall at the Brookes Science Bazaar, which was held at the Gipsy Lane campus on 17 March, and organized by the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. You can find full details about all the activities at this year’s Bazaar here.

The stall encouraged visitors to the Science Bazaar to consider poetry as one way of articulating the scientific innovation which they had witnessed at the event. We particularly encouraged younger visitors to do this, by running activities to inspire them, hosting readings by the poet Peter Wyton, and holding a poetry competition where all schoolchildren could submit a poem reflecting their experience at the event. The poems were judged by Professor Steven Matthews, Director of the Poetry Centre, and Dr. Andrew Lack, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Biology in the Department of Biological and Medical Sciences. The seven winning poets were presented with their prizes by the poet Fiona Sampson at the ‘Science Writes to Life’ event at the Pegasus Theatre on 11 May.

Part of

Winning poems and poets

My Day Out

Today I went to a science fair
Where I saw a cockroach’s lair.
I also met a Dinosaur,
Whose teeth sat in its awesome jaw.
The Olympic rings held my fingerprints,
And I learnt all about noisy mints.
I built a model of spaghetti and marshmallow
(The pollen under the microscope was bright yellow).
Did you know one of the five senses is to see?
I hope my teachers will be proud of me.

by Abby Wright (8)
FIRST PRIZE WINNER

Electric Haiku

The electrons flow:
Rushing through wires, there they go,
Lighting up the lamp.

Battery, lamp and wire.
All of these things you might need
To make your circuit.

Buzzers you may use.
Don’t go away and snooze:
Batteries do run out.

by Victoria Brain (9)
SECOND PRIZE WINNER

A Day Out

I have seen the ladybirds and the bees.
I got painted like a butterfly.
My DNA bracelet is sparkly.
I made a medal and it matches my wellies.

by Connie Gordon (3 ½)
FIRST PRIZE WINNER

Fake Plague

We read it on the paper,
So we walked up to the desk,
And we asked the boil maker
Which boil was the best.

She gave us a selection.
The plague was our choice,
So we sat on the chair
Soothed by her voice.

Once she had finished,
We went back to lunch,
But the boils made us sick:
We couldn’t bear to munch!

by Harriet and Mary (11)
FIRST PRIZE WINNERS

The Super Science Fair

There’s nothing Brookes cannot teach ya
About the life cycle of the mini-creature,
Proving science is so much fun,
Especially if you learn it while eating a bun.

The plague was gruesome if quite smelly:
My mum’s got a boil on her belly!
To save the planet don’t just talk:
For all short journeys remember to walk!

It was a great day, I had a wheeze,
Can you do it again, next year, please?

by Sam Thomas (10)
SECOND PRIZE WINNER

Follow the Fossil Footprints

Follow the fossil footprints,
Measure from heel to toe,
Find out how fast a dino went –
Did it go fast or slow?

Watch their pendulum action,
Discover their running cadence,
Identify their claw-like traction,
Predict their speedy violence!

FOLLOW THE FOSSIL FOOTPRINTS!!!!

by Luke Kandiah (11)
THIRD PRIZE WINNER