Eminent professor and television presenter Robert Winston has been giving tips to budding scientists in Sarisbury.
Lord Winston taught a select group of youngsters at Brookfield School as part of a summer holiday science learning scheme.
Lord Winston with Sophie Sherwood and Esmé Stream-Lowe making a model sperm cell
The five-day Life Science Summer School was for pupils transitioning from Year 6 to Year 7 this September with the aim of improving pupils’ knowledge of science and help them to adjust to the environment of secondary school.
The 11 year olds learned about DNA, embryos and the biology of how humans are reproduced. They made DNA out of sweets and created sperm and egg cells out of art materials.
They worked on projects with a health and environment theme at the school and at the University of Southampton throughout the week ending today (August 30).
Parents will get the chance to see what the children have been learning at a session tomorrow.
Lord Winston told the young people his passion for science began as a seven-year-old when he was bought his first chemistry set and that he regularly visited science museums while at home he took items apart to see how they worked and learned how to fix them.
He told The Gazette that the scheme was put together to encourage pupils to be more interested in science and aid with educating pupils about sexual relationships.
Professor Winston, who works at Imperial College, London, said he hoped the pupils would be inspired by science from the week-long activities and added : “We will have to evaulate this to see how it is going. I’d be surprised if it had no impact.
“Science tends to attract the white middle class and we want to attract a much wider group of people. Part of these out-reach programmes is to widen participation in science.
Pupils learn about DNA, embryos and the reproductive cells with professor Robert Winston and specialist university scientists
“We want to have more awareness of sex education in a more scientific context. Modelling the sperm and egg cells is contextualising the lab work we do. We don’t want to tell them what not to do. But if they have more knowledge then they will use it well. It’s very much easier to address these kind of issues in this environment.”
Throughout the week, the youngsters – and five Year 11 Brookfield pupils helping out – worked with living model organisms of miscroscopic worms, C.Elegans, to see how they work in different environments.
Oliver Newton, 11, said: “It’s been really fun and I’ve enjoyed what I’ve learned in the lessons.”
John Fenlon, head of science at Brookfield in Sarisbury Green, said: “I’m really happy. The most important objective is that these people come to Brookfield with excitment and more confidence than they had before.
“It’s the first time we’ve got together with staff and academics at Southampton University and Imperial College London.
“It’s nice to bridge the gap between the different levels of education.
“We’ve tried to use things from Robert’s experience and what he found inspiring and got him really excited about science. I’m hoping it will inspire the children and get them involved and make the most of it.”
It has been funded by the Department for Education and is in partnership with the University of Southampton and Imperial College London.
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