The
mobile Pod's most recent adventure were two student briefing sessions
at Portslade Community College (PCC) and Hove Park school (HP) for
those who will participate in an e-mission as part of the Gifted
and Talented
(G&T) program run by the Physics department under David Daniels, in
collaboration with e-Science Usability project in Informatics.
The e-mission - Operation Montserrat - is run by the National Space Centre as a real-data simulation of events that occurred on the Caribbean island of Montserrat in 1996. A hurricane was approaching at the same time as a volcanic erruption, necessitating life and death decisions to be made on whether and how to evacuate the island's population.
Two schools (PCC and HP) are the first in Sussex to work on Operation Montserrat. In the Pod briefing sessions, groups of up to 8 children at a time are given background on the e-mission, the training they will receive pre-mission from their G&T science teachers and information about what to expect on the day. A live data stream will be constantly worked on by the response teams whilst a live video link will be operational between the response team and mission control at NSC, Leicester. The Montserrat e-missions will be run at the end of March in the InQbate space with pupils from both PCC and HP engaged in this dynamic activity.
Photos below show the Pod set-up on-site without school pupils inside. The back area of the pod conceals a laptop trolley and teaching materials in addition to the extra items used to operate the Pod. Ramp and other extra kit that travels in the Pod is hidden from view behind it.
Pod team comprised:
Weather: dry, sunny, windy, a high of 11 C.
