Local Islington primary schools exhibited their science projects as part of the campaign aiming to improve STEM subject uptake, hosted at the London Met campus.
Date: 22 August 2023
London Met was proud to host the Great Science Share event for the sixth time last month, on Tuesday 13 June. The campaign aims to encourage primary school children from the local area to explore science issues that impact their lives and promote wider interest in STEM subjects.
The event focuses on the value of science education, by creating an interactive space for students to explore and discuss their ideas with students from other schools in the surrounding area.
Islington was one of the first early adopters of the events, which started in Manchester and is now joined by primary schools across the UK. Ten primary schools were exhibiting their experiments on campus: Copenhagen and Vittoria, Winton, Charterhouse Square, Gillespie, Duncombe, Rotherfield, Newington Green, Drayton Park, Montem, and Hargrave Park.
The aim of the event is to encourage the students to discuss science issues they are working on with their peers, and students from other schools then trial the experiments for themselves. Because they are repeating the same instructions frequently to different schools, children are improving their communication skills at a young age, which is an essential asset for a career in STEM.
Each of the investigations pose questions the children have been researching or have asked in school, during lesson time or at science club. They come to the event to share and discuss the questions they are asking in class. The theme this year was ‘science all around us’, which is broad, but the students did not have to stick to this brief.
Renzo Veschini, Widening Participation Officer and organiser of the event, commented: “Science is important, and allowing children to get out of the classroom and explore new ideas and discuss their findings with like-minded students is equally important. It was a pleasure to see them finesse their project pitches and see their communication skills improve throughout the event. Teachers also get to observe what other schools are doing, which is great. Seeing children so happy and enthusiastic is what it’s all about!”
The event is an opportunity to create moments of joy with other science enthusiasts in this age pool. The decision to host the event at the university was taken to hopefully inspire students to pursue science into higher education, beyond the classroom and eventually into a career in STEM.
London Met supported the organisation of the event as part of its ongoing civic commitment to the community. It also contributed stands featuring university-level experiments, which included sophisticated equipment students may have never used before, such as microscopes.
