Public Engagement:
Real Life Real Science

‘Real Life, Real Science’ is our Foundation and Primary School Programme. The main aim of the programme is to put real scientists into classrooms to transfer enthusiasm and excitement for science to a new generation of scientists.

Download our current resource brochure (pdf)
Feedback from teachers
New activities
Resources
Contact
Sponsorship

Many of the subjects covered reflect aspects of the Institute's healthcare related remit, including Digestion & Health, Muscles & Bones, and ‘What is a Scientist?’. The presentations are delivered by a range of scientists, from PhD students to the Institute Director, and are intended to reinforce the pupils’ knowledge of science with an insight into how it affects everyday life. A benefit to the Institute is that our scientists improve their communication skills, and explain our research in life sciences.

Scintillating Science - DNA extraction and chromatography
(Dame Bradbury's School, Saffron Walden)

New Cangle pupils learn that science can be exciting
(Haverhill Echo website)

 

The programme has been running since 2004, and its building blocks are: Babraham Institute science & scientists; exciting hands-on activities; input from teachers and the National Curriculum. It is the combination of these that gives the programme its depth and leads to its popularity among teachers and pupils alike. We are a regular part of the school year in an increasing number of local nurseries and primary schools and are especially busy presenting to school assemblies during National Science Week. We have visited many schools regularly over the last 8 years, and have developed good relationships with teaching staff and students alike. Though we are careful to maintain these relationships because they are beneficial to all involved we are continually increasing the number of schools we visit. This is often by recommendation from existing contacts, or as part of our plan to move into areas of social deprivation or with high numbers of children to whom English is an additional language - areas like North Cambridge, Haverhill and Peterborough.

All the presentations are designed in a Question and Answer format to encourage participation by the students, and the presentation style is adapted to suit the audience age and ability. Wherever possible questions are asked in such a way as to encourage less able students, and several teachers have commented that our resources have encouraged some students who have been difficult to engage in the past. Presenters are coached in how to get the best from students, and draw on their own experience and expertise to enhance the presentations and give them a personal touch.

 

New Primary Activities

To increase the interaction of students with scientists and to enable them to visit a research institute we piloted two events for pupils from primary schools in Hackney during the 2009/2010 academic year. These were organised with the Learning Trust, the education authority for Hackney. In total 89 year 6 pupils from six different primary schools with no or very little prior STEM engagement visited the Babraham Institute. (more information)

 

Feedback from teachers

Laura Nowak, Colville Primary School, Cherry Hinton, Cambridge
All of the workshops I have experienced enhance the children's knowledge, as well as exploring new ideas and concepts, and are taught at a level totally appropriate to every year group.  The children find the workshops both engaging and exciting. There is a good balance of both theory and practical (where possible) and questions are answered honestly and openly with the right amount of information.

Fiona Thorpe, Head Teacher – Fulbourn Primary School
Your involvement in our termly ‘Science Investigation Days’, as well as the other class-based sessions you have offered, have been invaluable in inspiring our pupils about science.  The outreach programme brings science to life for them, challenging perceptions of scientists being dusty old men with mad hair and white coats and raising aspiration to follow this career path themselves. As well as specialist equipment and knowledge, most importantly you bring enormous enthusiasm for this area of learning and fire pupils’ love for investigation; many pupils now cite science as their favourite subject.

I’ll never forget one of our five year old girl’s comments, after the very first investigations day. She said, ‘I used to want to be a princess when I grew up, but now I want to be a scientist.’ Says it all really.  I sincerely hope funding for the outreach work continues to be seen as a high priority. In my opinion, it really is an investment in the future of science.

Belinda Lowrie, Castle Camps Primary School  
Your visits provide an excitement and a sense of wonder at the 'magic' of science. They help to reinforce the enormous part science really does play in all areas of our everyday lives. There is a willingness and ability to let the children sometimes lead the learning. Often sessions inspire the children to put forward their own theories, ideas and questions and even when these are linked to, but slightly off the planned track, every idea is talked about and discussed. This really motivates the children and encourages them to believe that what they think about and want to question is valuable to. A great boost to self -confidence in a subject.

Feargal McDonnell, Science Coordinator, Fen Ditton Primary School
The emphasis coming from the Govt. via Ofsted Inspections and the like is definitely on the importance of the how, not just the what of science - i.e. schools award much more importance in their end-of-year tests on the children's ability to grasp the logic scientific method - fair testing etc., rather than in just recalling, for example, an interesting set of facts on gases or micro-organisms. The science days are very good at emphasizing this aspect too, with children encouraged to design and think through their own experiments and how to make them fair.

Gayle Webb, Icknield Primary School, Sawston, Cambridge
We always look forward to one of your school visits as both staff and children know that it will be an educational and fun Science activity.  The activity is always pitched correctly at the ages of the children whether it be dressing up as Scientists in a lab coat and goggles, making slime or exploding coke.  Having you in makes Science real and shows that it has an application to daily life, in a very exciting way.

Julie Drew, Highlees Primary School, Peterborough
You have an excellent way of engaging all of the children and making the sessions as interactive as possible.  All of the children and staff have learnt a lot through your visits and I hope you will have time to work with our children again this academic year.  As a class teacher, I have always valued your visits...because your explanations and discussions with the children are pitched at the right level for their understanding.

The children all get very excited when they know you're visiting because they either remember the time when you have been before, or because their brothers and sisters and friends have talked about what they did.  If I say 'slime' to any of the year 4 children, they can still tell me about how they dressed up in a white coat, gloves and goggles and stirred the liquids until it made goo that stretched and slid around and bounced!

The outreach programme is really important to a school like ours, with a high level of social deprivation, as it provides opportunities for scientific activities we would not be able to afford, and encourages raised aspirations of our children in their choice of career.

Pauline Gale, Science Co-ordinator, Chrishall C. of E. Primary School, Chrishall, Royston, Herts
Although we offer a lot of practical science ourselves, the resources provided by (Babraham) and the opportunities the pupils had to see and partake in scientific investigation far surpassed those that we can offer. As so much of each session was practical and very much ‘hands-on’, the pupils learnt an enormous amount in a very short time, and, I’m sure, retained these new concepts.

Our staff were all impressed with the way that safety issues were dealt with and, especially, by the individual attention given to pupils......no question went unanswered and every pupil felt special! As a small primary school with corresponding financial constraints, it is impossible for us to ‘buy in’ science presentations; to have a local expert work with our pupils, free of charge, is of huge benefit. We very much hope that this opportunity will continue for many years to come.

Example resources

Digestion & Health
This is a perennial favourite with many schools and its popularity with students is illustrated by the number who remember it from previous years. The presentation follows the route of food through our bodies and then looks at food groups and diet. The hands-on activities are to push marbles along a 7 metre 'virtual intestine' (the girls usually beat the boys on that one) and to mush up a sandwich, some banana and carrot in a clear plastic bag to mimic the action of the stomach muscles. The presentation was updated in 2010 to reflect BBSRC interests in Food Security.

Fair Testing
This resource was developed recently following discussion with teachers and has proved very successful with Year 5/6 classes. Although science SATS have ceased Ofsted is keen that students learn how to plan, record, make scientific conclusions and evaluate how valid those conclusions are. This resource meets that need very well, showing the students the importance of experimantal design and explaining to them how an example Babraham Institute scientific publication came about. The hands-on activity is to design and carry out an experiment to determine which model car rolls furthest down a ramp. Considering the design of this simple experiment is very effective in reinforcing the principles discussed during the presentation, even with the 'too cool for school' Year 6 classes. An alternative activity is to design and carry out an experiment to work out how to prove which brand of kitchen roll is best at soaking up water.

What is a scientist?
This assembly has been presented many times and has, like most of our resources, been adapted and changed to suit different presenters and to reflect comments and questions from teachers and students alike. During the talk we discuss what scientists need to wear and dress 3 or 4 students in lab coats, goggles and gloves. The history of the Institute and the main areas of Babraham Institute science are outlined. Demonstrations of the properties of dry ice provide a little excitement at the beginning and end of the presentation and questions are encouraged, as they are with all our resources. A version of this presentation has also been delivered to parents at a curriculum evening in Orton Wistow Primary School in Peterborough.

Contact

Mike Hinton
Foundation/Primary Schools' Liaison Officer
01223 496364
Contact by email

Sponsorship

We are grateful to Eppendorf UK who support our Primary and Secondary science outreach programmes with ideas, consumables and resources. We are working together to develop and deliver NEW resources to reflect these ideas as well as the science of the Babraham Institute.