Secondary school pupils in Orkney and Shetland got the chance to work with scientists from Robert Gordon University (RGU) recently as part of an outreach tour of the Northern Isles.
Five RGU lecturers from RGU’s School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences toured the islands as part of a trip to take part in the 25th Orkney International Science Festival at the start of September.
Dr Eoin Cowie, Dr Marie Goua, Dr Morag McFadyen, Dr Craig McKenzie and Dr Myra Mackenzie toured the islands from Monday, August 31 to Tuesday, September 8, visiting a number of secondary schools along the way.
The team delivered biology and chemistry workshops more than 160 pupils from S2 to S6 in Anderson High School in Lerwick, Brae High School in Shetland and Sanday Junior High School in Orkney.
They also met with guidance teachers in Stromness Academy and Kirkwall Academy and took part in the 25th Anniversary Orkney International Science Festival Family Day.
Dr McKenzie said: “The Family Day was a great platform to talk to younger children as well as their parents about the importance of chemistry and biology in daily life.
“We laid on several activities on recognising taste and smell as well as carrying out DNA extractions on Strawberries and detecting chemicals in household cleaning products. These proved very popular with all generations and sparked a lot of interest around our stand.”
The school sessions delivered by the lecturers included working with senior pupils who are already thinking about the next stage of their education.
Dr Goua said: “Our tour of the Northern Isles was very successful and helped us to promote the School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences and the wider RGU community to pupils and staff in their own classrooms.
“The pupils were eager to participate in the workshops and wanted to talk about career prospects if they chose to follow a career in science.
“Their enthusiasm was tremendous and it was great to see how inspired they were by the topics we introduced them to. The dedication, inventiveness and enthusiasm of the science teaching staff and guidance teachers in the schools was also great to see.
“It would be great to see some of the pupils join us to continue their studies at RGU. We’ve made some really good links in the schools and will be keeping in touch.”
For more information about RGU’s School of Pharmacy and Life Sciences, please visit: www.rgu.ac.uk/pals