Review: EPCC at the Big Bang Fair 2025

^{Above: the EPCC team at this year's Big Bang Fair.}

Ben Carpenter, EPCC Applications Developer 

I had not attended any outreach events before and so was a bit anxious about attending the Big Bang Fair (BBF). But it was a massively rewarding experience and, thanks to Darren and Laura, I was given a great idea of what to expect! 

We had a lot of different activities on show but my personal favourite was chatting about the hardware on ARCHER2. A lot of the children I spoke to had an idea of the basic components of a computer, but teaching them the speed and scale of the components on ARCHER2 versus those that they knew was very fun to see! There were some great reactions, and a lot of people wondered how well it could run Minecraft. 

Another great activity we provided was a collection of classic logic puzzles like the Towers of Hanoi and the "grain, chicken, fox crossing" puzzle. We explained the rules and then we watched and encouraged participants in the right direction if they needed help. It was particularly interesting to me to see how making moves step-by-step through the "grain, chicken and fox" puzzle could really help to solve it rather than trying to do it all in their heads. Stepping through problems is something we are all familiar with to work out why a piece of code works (or doesn't). 

Overall, BBF was an amazing experience, allowing us to showcase some of the work we do and to give the children an insight into some of the lesser-known careers and pathways they could pursue! 

Craig Glen, HPC Systems Administrator 

Having heard that EPCC would be at Big Bang Fair this year, I was intrigued to take part. I had not done any outreach before and speaking to masses of school kids aged from 11-17 for three days straight would be a very new experience for me.  I also was not 100% sure what I was getting into. However, I knew if I gave it enough enthusiasm I should do just fine. I ended up really enjoying the experience. It was very fulfilling to show the students what we do at EPCC and seeing their enthusiasm for what we told them. 

I helped at all aspects of the EPCC booth. This included letting the students figure out classic logic puzzles like Towers of Hanoi and showing off Wee Archie with its aeroplane simulation. 

I did enjoy running the sock-sorting activity even if, at first, I found it daunting to manage. By organising socks into their correct bucket as fast as possible, it demonstrates the effectiveness of parallelism. It is quite an active and popular activity and it can be challenging to keep the students from getting too excited. When completed we would chat to them about how a computer might do this, and what the benefits and considerations you need to take into account when trying to parallelise a solution. I found it interesting to listen to the students' thoughts and answers. It is a good practical example of how computers can do similar tasks many magnitudes faster. 

Overall, taking part in this year’s Big Bang Fair was a very positive experience and I would happily do it again in the future. 

Our next event: New Scientist Live 2025

We always have a great time at the Big Bang Fair , and it’s good to see the Outreach team continuing to expand across the centre. Next up is New Scientist Live in October 2025. Keep an eye on our website for details! 

Authors

Darren White, Laura Moran, Ben Carpenter, Craig Glen (all EPCC).