LifeLab creates hospital-based classroom for Southampton pupils

Research has highlighted the importance of young adults taking responsibility for their health, not only for their own interests but for the sake of their future children. Alongside this is a concern that school students are not sufficiently inspired by science. LifeLab Southampton is an innovative hospital-based classroom set up to address these issues.

It is a unique collaboration between the School of Education, the School of Medicine, the Science Learning Centre South East, the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Resource Centre, Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust, Southampton City Council and local schools.

The project aims to help Southampton’s secondary school students gain a better awareness of how the lifestyle choices they make now will impact on their future health and that of their children. The initiative is currently being trialled with funding from the Wellcome Trust.

The long-term goal is to provide all students in Southampton (boys and girls of all abilities) with a permanent classroom at Southampton General Hospital, where they can see world-class science research happening in their city, appreciate how maternal and childhood nutrition influences health, develop hands-on skills using some of the latest technologies, and experience procedures such as ultrasound that are commonplace in biological research but difficult to teach in schools. The approach enhances rather than replaces the school experience, enables students to appreciate the relevance of modern science and, we hope, will inspire them with the excitement of research and the possibilities for future careers.

The research team is evaluating this pioneering scheme as it runs, to see how to maximise its impact. Dr Marcus Grace comments: “The LifeLab initiative gets young people thinking about health and lifestyle issues and gives them the information they need to make choices now and in the future. We believe that this project will make a real difference, especially in addressing problems such as poor diet and obesity.”