UK Centre for Materials Education
Working with you to enhance the student experience
Working with you to enhance the student experience
This project based at the Baytree Centre aimed to widen access to science through interactive learning. The Baytree Centre is a community centre based at Brixton, and one of its aims is to involve and motivate women and children, especially from ethnic minorities and socially disadvantaged backgrounds. The Centre organises after-school clubs during term-time and projects are chosen based on the leader’s interests. This project was one such instance, and its particular objectives were to interest children from disadvantaged backgrounds living in the Borough of Lambeth (London) in science, particularly through the use of hands-on experiments. The Centre also aimed to involve local schools in such activities. ‘Science in a Beauty Salon’ chose a subject which was particularly appealing to the girls involved, and through relevant experiment and observation, aimed to cover important scientific areas in the curriculum (for example, the effects of heat; the use of electricity in a hairdryer; materials and their behaviour, particularly with respect to the state of hair when treated with shampoo and conditioner; and light and colour in nail varnish, makeup or hair colour). Through such projects, the Centre aims to convey the importance of science subjects to students, particularly those at Key stages 3 and 4, and ultimately attach more women into science.
These after-school sessions organised by the Centre have been an overall success, and has ensured more regular attendance amongst its members. It has also resulted in a marginal increase in numbers. The involvement of the Science Club in various competitions has also increased interest and commitment, and recently members of the club were finalists in the BAA Young Engineers design competition. Future plans of the centre involve more interaction with gifted and talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds.
