Swansea University Science
for Schools Scheme
As part of the Trio Sci Cymru programme Swansea University offers workshops through their “Swansea University Science for Schools Scheme” project.
The S4 Trio Sci Cymru programme is made up of two full-day science sessions per term for three years, following the same students from year 7 to year 9, and are structured to give the pupils the opportunity to develop practical skills, knowledge, and confidence in their ability to do science.
Trio Sci Cymru Swansea’s S4 project is led by Dr Will Bryan and Prof Mary Gagen with a team of project management and outreach delivery staff.
Find out more here:
S4’s activities:
S4’s activities Children involved in S4 take part in a range of workshops over three years, with typically 6 workshops per year, each lasting a day and covering the interconnected disciplines of science under common themes. S4 participants are involved in a number of workshops, and the depth, complexity, range of knowledge and skills, and scientific ambition increases over the programme. The three years over which participants of S4 activities include:
I DISCOVER
Our Year 7 participants take part in three workshops. Super Cells examines cheek epithelia, shows them how to build solar cells from raspberries, and measures how energy is stored in our bodies. In this workshop, the biology, chemistry and physics content is relatively distinct. In Radical Reactions, a more blended approach is taken, whereby the common theme of reactions is investigated using the overlap of cellular respiration, acids and alkalis, and phase transitions, thus highlighting the benefit gained from thinking outside traditional boundaries.
I EXPLORE
In the second year of S4, our now Year 8 participants see further diversity in their workshop activities, where each scientific discipline is highlighted and investigated in a way that best suits the theme. For example, Dependence on Nature explores our relationship with, and reliance upon, nature. The trio of sciences are introduced via investigations of the structure and function of proteins, how the elements of a food web work together, and how radioactivity is found naturally and what it influences. The Year 2 workshops build on what the participants have covered both in school and in S4.
MY SCIENCE STORY
The final year of S4 will see our participants being given more intellectual freedom. By offering a carousel of activities, they will be encouraged to identify and understand what they have found exciting, challenging and interesting both in school and as part of S4. They will then build their own projects according to their personal ambition. The project elements to be offered will involve scientists and engineers from across the University, and the participants will experience technologies specialised to their science interests.