Faculty of Science and Technology

Hands-on learning about the structure of the heart

Around 275 pupils from local schools took part in a wide range of activities offered by Lancaster University's Science and Technology departments as part of National Science and Engineering Week 2010.

The week began with a session all about maths and magic where pupils were shown how probability and maths shaped the world of magic tricks. The presenter, Adam Boddison (Further Maths Network), even managed to predict the lottery numbers!

A Biology session, Have you ever wondered what is in blood?, gave pupils the opportunity to find out about the different kinds of cells in sheep blood and what they do. Attendees investigated the structure of the heart and saw some abnormal blood smears which could be interpreted by hospital scientists to diagnose disease.

An emergency response activity from LEC set pupils the challenge of dealing with an oil tanker fire in the local area. As the students mobilised to calculate weather conditions, potential road cordons and the chemical composition of the spillage, the clock was ticking.

With communication via walkie talkies and written emails the Silver Control team were able to control the situation and ensure the public were made aware of the incident and potential threat. The pupils involved rose to the challenge to avert the danger and enjoyed a fun-packed session that demonstrated real life issues.

Three schools took part in this year's Rocket Challenge day (Engineering and Physics) with a team representing Kirkbie Kendal School finishing the day as winners. In windy conditions their rocket flew well over the 50m mark and after scoring well in a dragons den style interview and on their design, they were well deserved winners.

On Thursday pupils from Lancaster Girls Grammar school had the opportunity to find out about new technologies and novel mobile phone games when spending the day with Computing and Communication Systems. The students took part in a digital treasure hunt using GPS signals to locate the various clues and were able to see the latest research including a multi touch interactive table.

The final offering of the week saw students from Carnforth High school learning all about Psychology. They had the chance to talk to University researchers and looked at the scientific study of the mind, brain and behaviour in small groups.

Electric Earth Lecture

Following on from a successful debut at the Big Bang Festival, Dr Jim Wild presented his Electric Earth lecture to around 150 pupils on Friday afternoon. Through a series of demonstrations and examples Jim showed the students that the earth is alive with electricity; from the Northern lights to a glowing gherkin!

The lecture was filmed - click on the movie below to watch it.

Huge thanks go to all the schools and staff who were involved in the week.

Watch Online

Fri 26 March 2010

Associated Links

• National Science and Engineering Week - an opportunity for people of all ages, areas and organisations to take part in science, engineering and technology activities
• National Science and Engineering Week 2010 images
• NSEW 2010 events at Lancaster - events at Lancaster's Faculty of Science and Technology as part of National Science and Engineering Week 2010
• Science and Technology Schools Programme - find out more about activities for schools run by Lancaster University's Faculty of Science and Technology