Give school children a taste of real science, says Robert Winston at opening of Imperial College London Reach Out Lab

A unique laboratory, supporting practical science in schools is opened today at Imperial by Lord Mandelson -<em>News</em>

Tuesday 23 March 2010
By John-Paul Jones

Universities should be directly enthusing schoolchildren about science and helping to address the lack of opportunities they have to do experiments first hand, says Professor Lord Robert Winston ahead of the opening today of a new laboratory he has developed specifically for school pupils at Imperial College London.

The answer is a high tech, multidisciplinary space where children aged from seven to 18 can go to get teaching and practical experience of experiments and activities that many state schools would be unable to organise, which also support science teaching within the National Curriculum. Subject experts guide pupils through experiments in the five key STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) areas: physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology and engineering.

The Lab is working to establish long term partnerships with schools that will see many pupils visiting it regularly, and over 1,500 students have already benefited since it opened in September 2009. Lord Mandelson, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, will officially open the Reach Out Lab later this afternoon.

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Lord Winston says: “What we know from research is that hands-on, practical work, doing experiments, making explosions, is what gets children excited about science. Unfortunately many state schools don’t have adequate laboratories or resources to support this level of practical science. That will inevitably have a knock-on effect on the numbers who go on to study science at A level and university, putting the UK at a disadvantage at a time when science and innovation is of enormous social and economic importance.”

Lord Winston will also use the Lab to conduct research on the effect that attendance and participation at it may have on the long-term opportunities and choices of the pupils involved, by tracking their progress over a ten year period. The research will also look at whether involvement in the Lab develops the science communication skills of teachers, and whether Imperial students volunteering as Lab mentors become more likely to consider teaching as a career.

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By providing a dedicated space for visiting pupils, the Reach Out Lab will enhance the existing activities of Imperial’s Outreach Office which include summer schools, school mentoring programmes and demonstration lectures.

The benefits of effective outreach have been felt first hand by Florencia Tettamanti, a research postgraduate in Imperial’s Department of Mathematics. She volunteers as one of the Reach Out Lab’s student mentors but first came into contact with Imperial’s outreach programmes as a pupil at one of the College’s summer schools in 2002.

She says: “I was at a local state comprehensive and first came to one of Imperial’s summer schools in 2002. After that experience I applied to Imperial, I was accepted and after completing my degree I stayed on to do post graduate research. Having really benefitted from this sort of activity myself I wanted to give something back. I’ve been involved in a few outreach activities but the new Reach Out Lab is something so different and exciting. It gives me a real buzz to think of what it could do for people like me who don’t ever see science in action in their school.”

Lord Winston’s hope is that other universities may be encouraged to follow the Reach Out Lab’s model, and reach out to their local schools right across Britain. He says: “I think we will be really successful if we can encourage other universities to do what we're doing. I really would like to see a network of universities engaged in this kind of activity across Britain.” He adds: “There's a wow factor about the laboratory and it's immediately obvious as soon as you walk in that these kids are really enjoying the science. Teachers seem to be as inspired as the students. I think if we continue to do that then we're bound to succeed.”

The Reach Out Lab is funded by contributions from the Sir John Ritblat Family Foundation, Imperial alumni and other donors, and Imperial College London.

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