Enthusing school students about SETM

We believe that one of the best ways to enthuse school students in science, engineering, technology and mathematics (SETM) is for specialists to engage with the students in school and during after-school activities. It is particularly important to have some young scientists and technicians as role models, interacting with the students. Our contribution is focussed on health, and the research that underpins it.

Darwin 2009: natural selection

We have developed a set of four activities that vividly illustrate natural selection, principally for use in primary schools. More...

Farm Science Visitor Centre

Inspired by the Year of Food and Farming we have created a Farm Science Visitor Centre in the Dairy of our farm at Compton. The theme is "Meadow to Milk; the science and technology of milk production". More...

Ticks and midges spread diseases

Miriam Windsor at our Pirbright Laboratory is the driver behind this activity, which involves midges and ticks that we raise in our Insectary. It has become especially topical as bluetongue virus, spread by biting midges, came to the UK for the first time in 2007.

Culicoides midges spread bluetongue virus and other viruses e.g. African horse sickness virus. Two videos are available, showing how and why IAH scientists capture midges in the field.

BBSRC film
BBC film

More...

DNA ? the recipe for life

Another activity that we do, in primary schools, is built around the concept ?DNA ? the recipe for life?. We give the children a T-shirt on which there is a large A, C, G or T, representing the four building blocks of genes. The children then act as DNA molecules. More...

How Science Works

For secondary school students we participate in the How Science Works scheme of the Oxford Education Business Partnership. Our scientists engage with a class of students for up to half an hour, then repeat the process with up to 10 classes. The scientists explain what drew them to a career, in our case, in biological sciences, and describe some aspects of their working life in a laboratory. The aim of the scheme is to show students that there is a huge array of careers to be had in science, engineering and technology, to suit myriad talents.