LifeLab Showcase 2014
The annual LifeLab Showcase was held on Wednesday 2 July with local school students presenting to an audience including the University and hospital, representatives from both Southampton Portsmouth City Councils, representatives from local primary and secondary schools and representatives from schools/colleges who have participated in the LifeLab programme this year.
There was an excellent array of posters from the students’ investigations (schools represented were: Wildern School, Mountbatten School, Cantell School, Upper Shirley High School, Hounsdown School, The Thomas Hardye School ). Students and teachers from Mountbatten school, Cantell School, Wildern School and the Thomas Hardye School also attended the LifeLab showcase to present to the audience their experiences of the LifeLab programme. The impact of the programme was apparent, with the teachers/students commenting on all aspects of the programme:
Sally Wheeler (Mountbatten School) “One of the best bits about the LifeLab programme is that the materials have been rigorously tried, tested and evaluated in schools before being published”.
Emma Sealey (Wildern School) “The ‘meet the scientist session opened the students’ eyes to the wealth of opportunities for students in studying science, the facility, being located in the middle of the hospital is an inspiring location for the students”.
Keiron Dunford (Cantell School Student) “It was great, having the freedom to do the science we wanted to do, at school we have to follow the lessons and there’s no freedom to enjoy science”.
Georgina Collington (Thomas Hardye School) “The materials were so well put together, that I could give the lessons straight to the PGCE student and she could just teach them”.
Visitors were asked to help judge the posters for the following categories: Most interesting question, Most Scientific and Best Presented. Members of the audience commented that the posters “wouldn’t look out of place at an academic conference”.
The audience consisted of interested members from the University and hospital, representatives from both Southampton City Council and Portsmouth City Council, representatives from both primary and secondary schools in the region and representatives from the schools/colleges who participated in the LifeLab programme this year.
Professor Jane Falkingham, Dean of Faculty of Social and Human Sciences closed the showcase and announced the winners of the poster competition. She commented that this was “An excellent example of what can be achieved by a cross-discipline partnership”.
The winners were:
Most Interesting Question: “Is laughing good for your health”, Cantell School.
Most scientific: “How does mass affect a student’s grip strength”, Mountbatten School.
Best Presented: “Does visual stimuli affect pulse rate”, Hounsdown School.