Hundreds of schoolchildren get hands on with science

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More than 550 school children from Merseyside were invited to see scientists at work as part of a University of Liverpool event to celebrate National Science and Engineering Week.

The event, held over three days, featured everything from computer science to cave painting as the Year 7 students were shown the wide variety of activities that scientists from all disciplines carry out on a day-to-day basis.

The children, from partner schools in the local area, were invited as part of an initiative to encourage young people to think about science as a career or option for further study.

Other activities during the event included making Lego robots, experimenting with wind turbines and seeing flowers dipped in liquid nitrogen, with the emphasis being on practical and fun experiments.

The workshops were delivered by students and academics as part of a wider set of initiatives overseen by the University’s dedicated Educational Opportunities team.

The pupils’ feedback was extremely positive with comments including: “I thought that it was interesting and fun because I like to discover many things that I’ve never seen before.” And: “It was an amazing lesson and I am thinking of coming to university after school.”

Pete Doyle from the Educational Opportunities team said: “It is important for young people to visit university campuses and meet students and academics.  It really helps to dispel a few myths and stereotypes and when they see the sort of work that these researchers do, it can completely change how they think about their future careers.”

To find out more about opportunities for young people and schools that work with the University, please visit the Educational Opportunities website or follow them on Twitter.

 

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