On Tuesday 19th March 2013, a hundred and forty Year 7 students and staff from The Mosslands School,  visited the University of Liverpool to take part in a series of science activities based in the University’s Central Teaching Lab.

The day organised by the Educational Opportunities team at the university, and coordinated by Brian Taylor at Mosslands were arranged to coincide with British Science Week, and to promote to the visiting young people the exciting science-related teaching and learning that takes place in higher education, and the range of courses and careers that exist in this area.

Students were able to attend one of three hands-on workshops, developed and delivered by academic staff within the University, based around different areas of science. The students then all attended a large interactive ‘Science Is Cool’ session, to experience the large lecture teaching style of University, and to see the facilities firsthand.

Throughout the events the young people were working with current undergraduate students from a range of subjects, giving them the opportunity to ask questions about higher education, and see role models who may have had the same fears about University just a few years before.

The sessions delivered on the visit day included:

• The Science of Levitation Workshop
• The Science of Flight Workshop
• The Science of Space Workshop
• ‘Science Is Cool’ Sample Lecture 

Before leaving the young people and visit staff were asked to fill in an evaluation to feedback what they have gained from the sessions and how they could be improved.

Students in the Science of Levitation Workshop	Students working in the Science of Flight Workshop

Evaluation Responses:

Overall The Visit To The University Was....	Excellent	Good	OK	Poor
Fun	56%	39%	5%	-
Interesting	55%	41%	4%	-
Useful	46%	35%	17%	2%
Good	58%	38%	4%	-

 

The impact of the visit was...	Agree	Neither	Disagree	Not Sure	NA
I learnt more about university	65%	4%	4%	25%	2%
I am more likely to go to university	60%	10%	5%	24%	1%
I am more motivated for my school studies	88%	2%	1%	7%	1%

Selected Student Quotes:

‘Great day I am coming to this university soon, really like Chemistry, Physics and Biology.’

‘Thank you very much, I have learnt so much and have had loads of fun.’

‘Impressed by the electro magnets.’

‘This was a fun day and interesting because there were some facts I didn’t know.’

‘It was fantastic and I would consider coming to this university.’

‘Thank you for the day, it was fun and very interesting. I have learnt a lot about science.’

‘I liked the particles and making the aeroplanes.’

‘I have enjoyed myself and learnt lots of useful things.’

‘I think today was amazing, and funny, and I would love to come to this university.’

‘Can we come more often.’

‘I would love to be a scientist!’

‘It was very good! I really enjoyed everything I did. I had loads of fun.’

‘I thought the day was good, I enjoyed it very much and it was interesting.’

‘It was really interesting and I learnt lots of new things about science.’

‘It was the best science lesson I’ve ever had.’

‘It was the best, I want to come here when I’m older because science here is fun.’

‘Enjoyed today and I’m very thankful for you inviting me.’

‘I was pleased to do science here and would like to come again.’

‘It was a fun and interesting day of learning.’

‘The day was great and I want to study science when I’m older.’

‘It makes me want to go to university, I had a lot of fun!’

‘Thank you! I know more now on where I can take my life.’

‘I like that more people want to do science and that they think it is cool.’

  

Selected Staff Quotes:

What is your overall opinion of the visit to the University of Liverpool?

‘Very engaging for the pupils, interesting concepts discussed.’

‘Great way to get pupils interested in science.’

‘The University provided a very interesting day – the students seemed to thoroughly enjoy it.’

‘The environment is excellent for enthusiastic learning. Staff were very good with all the students.’

‘Really enjoyable, advocates and staff are so interesting and welcoming.’

‘Today has been enjoyable. The students enjoyed it.’

 

Which activities worked well / didn’t work well and why?

‘Good interactive activities. Enjoyed the Planetarium and Mars Rover activities.’

‘All of the group activities were challenging but achievable. Support staff were once again excellent.’

‘Activities went well, pupils enjoyed them all and engaged with the activities.’

‘The activities worked very well – especially the levitating activity.’

‘Extremely well organised and hands on.’

 

Do you feel the experience was of benefit to the class/group and why?

‘Definitely a benefit – not something they get to see every day.’

‘Yes as they enjoyed the group tasks.’

‘The group I was with learnt a lot of information about the solar system and it was nice to see them working as a team with the robot task.’

‘Yes – gave insight into how Science can be exciting. They were able to get an idea of how university works – teaching wise.’

‘The staff made all the activities fun and easy for the children to understand.’

‘The activity allowed students to gain an insight into the wide range of science subjects at university and the valuable work undertaken by scientists.’

‘Yes, I feel all pupils learnt something and saw a more interesting (and exciting) side to science.’

‘The experience definitely taught the students about the different parts of science and exploring science through ‘hands on practical’s.’

‘Yes- students got to see things we can’t do in school (liquid nitrogen etc)’

 

Further comments

‘Thank you for inviting us to the uni.’

‘Enjoyable experience! Thank you!’

‘I would definitely recommend it to anyone else.’

‘An excellent facility which could be used for more school activities.’

‘We would love to come again and build on the links made with the University.’