The Full Real Science Booklet - RS_Booklet.pdf - Planet Science

Contributing to scientific knowledge
Thirty pairs of eyes are looking (more or less) at you. These are the young people you
are going to turn into the scientists and scientifically literate citizens of the future.
You have three options:
1 Panic
2 Get them to turn to Page 20 of a textbook, read the page and then answer the
questions on Page 21.
3 Give them a scientific experience they will remember for the rest of their lives…
Life Beyond The Classroom Practical…
In November 2005, NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the
Arts) launched the Real Science report. The report said what many other organisations,
science teachers, and students had also been saying and thinking: “we need more ‘real
science’ in our school science lessons.”
So it seemed like a helpful thing to do to show examples of situations where students
and their science teachers had actually contributed to the body of scientific knowledge,
in other words, helped practising scientists with their research. What better way to show
science in action, and encourage students to feel as if they are part of the bigger
scientific picture?
We’ve searched high and low, and come up with a wide variety of schemes, organisations
and individuals that schools can buddy up with to give students a taste of what real
science is all about. There are mass participation events, brilliant school student inventions
and even getting young scientists’ opinions heard by the Government. Students
have so much fun doing real science, they often don’t realise the benefits they can reap
as a result: prizes (for themselves and the school), university placements, work experience,
publications and something snazzy for their CV.
So, whether you’re a newly qualified teacher or practically part of the lab furniture – here
is how to get your hands on some real science.
We hope that the examples of ‘Real Science’ that we’ve collected together here inspire
you to try some ‘Real Science’ for yourself, using our examples. However, you could
make up your own project - the very essence of being a ‘Real Scientist’ of course.
You might want to get in touch with your local university to see whether you can work
together (and the Royal Society’s Grants Scheme might help you do this). Alternatively
you could look for local environmental or wildlife organisations to partner with, or ask
your local SETpoint for suggestions, or ask your students whether any of them have
science-flavoured parents. Whatever you do, good luck and… Keep it Real.

Students publishing papers ... whilst still at school!
Getting creative with science and technology
The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Hey, I have an idea...
Have you found Nemo yet?
Mass participation
Seed conservation needs a helping hand
Going global
Real time, real science, real scientists
Working in partnership
Joining forces
Birmingham Think Tank, Democs, Nuffield Council on Bioethics
Maestro Aviation Flying high
Being part of the bigger picture.. with e-Science
International Real Science
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Whilst postgraduate students all over the UK are slaving at their word
processors to get their research into journals and be credited with ‘first author’,
sixth formers who have taken advantage of The Nuffield Bursary Scheme have
already cleared that science hurdle and sped off into their science futures.
They are a dedicated bunch, working on their projects in their summer
holidays. They get a bursary to suppot them and their reward is being able
to say they have genuinley contributed to science knowledge.
4

Sponsored by the Nuffield Foundation, The Nuffield Bursary Scheme supports post-16
students in England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland by offering bursaries (600
offered each year) enabling them to spend 4-6 weeks in a science based company or
institution, gaining real science skills during their summer holidays.
The Nuffield Foundation have announced a decision to expand The Nuffield Bursary
Schemes, so from 2007 there’ll be even more opportunities for students to take part.
This not only allows them to have something swish to put on their CV, but the research
project is useful to those they work for. The most amazing thing about these students is
just how determined they are; they get up to speed with past research in the field, new
techniques and even make a few novel discoveries in the process.
It’s THE scheme for students to go for if they want to get behind-the-scenes of lab life,
as you’ll see from the examples. These are all recent Nuffield Bursary recipients who
have, or will have, added their names to science papers.
Jennifer Kennedy from Bearsden Academy, Dunbarton, worked with Dr Andy Parkin
and Professor Chick Wilson from the Chemistry Department at Glasgow University. The
work she did has formed part of a scientific paper published in Acta Crystallographica
Section E62, 0987-0989 (2006); on ‘4-Ethoxycarbonyl-3-furoic acid’.
Dr Parkin said: “Jen was a cracking student, as was our other Nuffield student last year,
Peter Davidson, and they will both be getting at least one more paper out! We are also
taking on a Nuffield student this year and we’ve identified a project that we fully expect
them to get a publication out of. Another thing about Jen is that after her project, she
changed her mind about what she wanted to study at university and is now at Glasgow
to do chemistry. Working with the Nuffield students is a lot of fun, and the students we
have had have all been very capable, and produced some excellent work. They have all
been a pleasure to work with. They are generally very nervous the first day or two but
rapidly settle in, and I think that the whole experience gives them a better feel for what
a University is all about.”
5

Alexander Zawadski from Peebles High School worked with Dr Simon Parsons at the
School of Chemistry, Edinburgh University and got his work published in Acta Crystal-
lographica Section E60, Structure Reports Online 0225 -0227 (2004)….also as a first
author.
Alex studied X-ray diffraction. This is the best available method for finding out more
about molecular structures. It provides geometrically precise information about the dis-
tances between atoms and the way in which those atoms interact with each other in the
solid state. It can be applied to any complex materials from sodium chloride to proteins
to viruses, and it was famously the way that the structure of DNA was worked-out by
Watson and Crick from Roslyn Franklin’s pictures.
Diffraction experiments are normally carried out on crystals that have been grown - or
can at least be handled - at room temperature. But this is a problem, since most simple
molecular compounds are liquid at room temperature, for example, H2O.
Alex worked in Dr Parson’s lab on the crystallisation of two compounds that are liquid un-
der normal conditions. One of these, 2-Chloroethyl ethyl sulfide is used in biomedical ex-
periments as a mustard gas analogue (mustard gas is bis(2-Chloroethyl)sulphide). Until
now, experiments have been interpreted based on an assumed structure of the molecule.
Thanks to Alex, there’s no need to assume anymore. This data is what he published.
He didn’t stop there though. Alex also worked on a second compound, Fluorocarbonyl
Trifluoromethanesulfonate, FC(O)OSO2CF3. The structure of this compound has been
studied in the gas phase, but Alex’s research was on the molecule in its solid state, so
comparisons between the solid and gas could be made. This work was also published in
Inorganic Chemistry (2004), 43, 4064-4071. Not a bad publishing record for a summer
holiday of research.
John Readman, from Devonport High School for Boys, was supervised by Professor
Moore at the Ecotoxicity and Environmental Pathology Department of the Plymouth Ma-
rine Laboratory, researching the toxicity of Buckminsterfullerene (carbon nanoparticles:
‘Buckyballs’). Even though he was researching a very ‘in’ topic in science, nanotechnol-
ogy, his paper wasn’t accepted by the Nature journal. However, they are submitting to
other journals. Anyway, at 18 he has plenty of time yet to get a Nature publication.
John says, “I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience and found working alongside such
eminent scientists inspiring. This project definitely influenced my decision to continue
my scientific studies to degree level.”
6

These students have done so much more than spend a couple of weeks in a lab learn-
ing how to use pipettes. They’ve actually contributed to the body of scientific knowledge.
Some have presented their work at top class international conferences – as far away as
Honolulu.
Many Nuffield students go on to present their work at a Regional BA CREST Event (usual-
ly run by the local SETPOINT) and if they’re really fabulous, they enter the National Fair
at the Royal Society. Prizes on offer range from money for the school, to one of the most
prestigious of all – representing your country at Intel ISEF.
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) is the world’s largest
science competition for secondary school students established in 1950. Talking to past
attendees, it’s not just about the event. All young people with an interest in science get
a chance to come together, share ideas, experiences and anecdotes and, of course, have
plenty of fun.
And it’s not just the BA CREST Awards that dishes out this impressive international
treat…enter Exscitec. Exscitec aims to provide Science, Technology, Engineering and
Maths hands-on activities for all students. Two students who were awarded a Nuffield
Science Bursary presented their projects at the Exscitec Project Display Day. Their work
was judged and they won a trip to attend the Intel ISEF event.
One of these students, Natalie Zhang, not only worked on RNA (we all know DNA – and
students rarely get excited about ribonucleic acid) but she studied viral RNA, and the
structure of pseudoknots within RNA! A pseudoknot is just what it says – a ‘false’ knot,
since it’s RNA in its secondary structure, just held in a funny position (i.e. not a true
knot).
These little knots cause a change in ribosomal frameshifting (a process where the read-
ing frame in the translation of mRNA shifts, so proteins can be produced from two or
more overlapping genes. Ribosomal frameshifting is a mechanism used by viruses such
as SARS, HIV and the virus Natalie studied – IBV: infectious bronchitis virus.
Since atomic structure is linked to function, it makes sense that structural studies of
pseudoknots would give scientists more information on the molecular mechanism of
frameshifting and this could lead to the development of novel anti-viral agents.
Natalie’s project aims were to use x-ray crystallography to determine the structure and
therefore add more data to the growing body of scientific knowledge in this area.
7

Muons and Mountains
Ingrid Burt, another Nuffield Bursary Student
(and BA CREST Gold finalist), wanted
to test Einstein’s theory of relativity – in
Einstein Year. From Beeslack High School,
Penicuik she went to the University of Edinburgh
to learn more about particle physics.
Ingrid first did a feasibility study, guided by
Peter Reid from the Scottish Science and
Technology Road Show and Alan Walker of
the Particle Physics Experiments Group at
the University of Edinburgh. The experiment
took place at Cairn Gorm (Scotland’s
sixth highest mountain) during October-
November 2005, and everyone, even tourists
could watch the experiment in action.
Ingrid used the actual experimental results
for her Advanced Highers project, now
there are tentative plans to submit a paper.
So what’s a muon? First of all, muons are
nothing to do with cows. Unfortunately
it’s hard to get that image out of your
head once you’ve thought about it. Actually
they are fast-moving particles created
when high energy air cosmic ray protons
bump into the molecules in the Earth’s
atmosphere, and they travel at close to the
speed of light.
The journey of these whizzy particles
should take 50 millionths of a second
travelling 15km through the atmosphere,
but since they survive a mere 2.2 millionths
of a second when stationary, the
physics world without Einstein would have
assumed that we wouldn’t see any arrive
on the ground. But this isn’t the case.
Lots have been detected! Why? Because
of something known as the ‘time dilation’
effect. Even though the muons only exist
for a short time, when they travel very fast
towards us, we Earthlings see them around
for longer.
Ingrid’s experiment was to compare the
number of muons detected at the top
of CairnGorm (Ptarmigan Top Station)
with the number at sea-level (well, close
enough: at the university 76m above sea
level).
This height difference of 1021m (which
helps to set the scale) was enough to test
Einstein’s theory: predicting how muons
behave as they travel downwards.
8
If you’re thinking students like Ingrid just
walk into labs and sit at a computer inputting
data, or mundanely pipette ridiculously
small volumes of unidentified liquid into the
tiniest of test tubes, you’d be wrong. These
days students get to think for themselves,
and their powers of persuasion and people
skills are tested to the limit. Ingrid managed
to convince CairnGorm Mountain Ltd
for their help in transporting all the equipment,
plus tonnes of steel, used to detect
muons via their CairnGorm
Funicular Railway.
The experiment might only be a lump of
steel and a computer – but it’s still a pretty
impressive method to test Einstein. The
amount of time dilation depends on how
fast the muons are travelling. So it was
important that muons detected at sea-level
were travelling at the same speed as they
pass the mountain, as those actually detected
on the mountain.
Using complex calculations, the thickness
of steel was calculated for both sites to
make sure it was equivalent to the depth
of atmosphere. About half a metre of steel
on the top of CairnGorm was used to slow
down fast muons. Less steel was needed at
the university. Muons slowed down enough
(and eventually decayed) at both sites.
So, muons detected at both sites had the
same energies and speeds. As muons
travel downwards, they change speed and
they reduce in number.
Ingrid found that if there was no such thing
as time dilation, the reduction of muons
would be by a factor of 4.2, but if it does
exist, the reduction factor is 1.3. Muons
stopped at the top of the Cairn Gorm at a
rate of 1.3 a minute. At the university, 1 a
minute was detected. Einstein was right.

If you want to know more, see:
The CERN Courier
http://www.cerncourier.com/main/article/46/4/18
The Institute of Physics in Scotland newsletter
http://scotland.iop.org/Upload/BNJanScotlandWEB.pdf
And the following newspapers and other publications:
http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/051014einstein.html
http://www.midlothiantoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=1779&ArticleID=12480
50
http://www.ed.ac.uk/news/051014einstein.html
http://tinyurl.com/748a4
http://www.nuffieldcurriculumcentre.org/go/News/Item_833.html
Royal Conservation
Graeme Smith, a 2005 Nuffield Bursary
awardee from Lingfield Notre Dame School,
Surrey, worked on dye analysis with the
Conservation and Collections Care (CCC)
section of Historic Royal Palaces (HRP).
To use synthetic dyes to produce colour-matched support fabrics “so allows future
conservators to easily determine what is conservation work and what is historical” –
His work was showcased in the May edition of ICON news, the magazine of the
Institute of Conservation.
9

What Kat Did
Kathryn Ferris from Glenlola Collegiate School, County Down, is someone who works
very hard, and enjoys it.
Only fifty bursaries are offered to students in Northern Ireland and Kat was shocked but
extremely happy to be one of the lucky few! Not only was it an amazing four weeks, it
was challenging. Having to learn everything very quickly and recall it so that she could
carry out her own research. Kat says, “but that was the amazing part, carrying out my
OWN research. That’s an awesome feeling when you’re only 17!”
Kat’s research project focused on diabetic eye disease. Using a newly developed Enzyme
Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) she found that patients with diabetic retinopathy
(an eye disease that can cause decreased vision and blindness) have higher levels of ad-
vanced lipoxidation end-products (ALEs) in their blood than healthy people.
ALEs are thought to play a role in the degeneration of the diabetic retina. Lipoxidation
refers to ‘lipid peroxidation’ i.e. where free radicals (any atom with an unpaired electron),
grabs an electron from the lipids in the cell membrane, leading to cell damage and the
production of more free radicals.
Diabetes is a common health condition, and although more than two million in Britain
have it, one million are probably living with it and don’t even know it. With one of the
symptoms of diabetes being blurred vision, sorting out what actually happens in the eyes
of diabetic patients requires pretty neat research…like Kat’s.
10

During her project she gained medical research skills, becoming an old-hand at basic lab
techniques and becoming confident with more specialised scientific equipment. She also
developed her communication skills.
Kat tells us that before she carried out the project she wouldn’t have been able to make
a formal presentation in front of people, one of the things she has to become accom-
plished at for her future field of work. The experience has done wonders for her confi-
dence.
“I never thought that before university I would be involved with medical research at
such a high level, nor did I ever imagine that I would be carrying out my own research
project. Or that I would be presenting my research to judges and guests at the science
fair in London.
It is still really overwhelming when I think about what I have achieved. I think it is
amazing that students are offered these kind of experiences from Nuffield as it is a life-
changing experience and a real eye-opener to the exciting world of Science.”
It was Kat’s biology teacher who told her all about the Nuffield Bursary Scheme and it
was at the scheme’s induction day she found out about the BA CREST awards.
She’s now looking forward to attending the London International Science Youth Forum,
the prize she won at the BA CREST Science Fair. Here she will attend lectures and visits
at the Royal Institution and the Institution of Engineering and Technology.
She’s planning to study medicine at university in September and is so excited to be
working professionally in medicine and medical research.
This Nuffield experience has confirmed she does Really REALLY want to be involved in
such an exciting and challenging field of work.
11

If you have any students who are interested in this scheme, they are more than welcome
to apply. Contact your local regional co-ordinator for further details and get your students’
names on the list so they can be sent information. You can find the regional coordinator
list online - http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org
The Nuffield Bursary Scheme plans to expand far and wide, with the hope of getting up
to 2000 students to take part in a bursary by 2010.
In other sections of the Real Science feature you’ll read about some other Nuffield awar-
dees…which just goes to prove what a great scheme it is.
Students can also get a taste for science via other schemes of course.
Over ten years ago, Mimi Tanimoto was awarded a John Innes Foundation Scholarship
to work at the John Innes Centre (JIC) on Arabidopsis, and got her name in a paper published
in The Plant Journal – she was the first author! JIC only gave out three of those
scholarships every summer to A-level students. What an achievement for someone so
young, and it doesn’t stop there. She now works for Joseph Colasanti at the University of
Guelph, Ontario (Canada) and prior to that she did a short postdoctoral placement at the
University of California, Berkeley. Her PhD was with Ottoline Leyser at York. That makes
her Dr Mimi Tanimoto now.
Mimi said that she’s sure she was able to get a position in a good lab to do her PhD
because of her previous lab experience. “In a small community such as the UK plant science
community everyone knows each other,” says Mimi, “so once you have your foot in
the door it is easier to get good positions.”
Arabidopsis thaliana is related to the mustard plant and cabbage. Since it was the first
flowering plant to have its entire genome sequenced it is used in studies of plant genet-
ics and to investigate such phenomena as root growth at a molecular level. Mimi showed,
through her research, that ethylene controls root hair development in Arabidopsis thaliana.
Mimi says, “My experience at John Innes was a major factor in my deciding to go into
research, and in particular it sparked my interest in plant biology.”
Whatever the scheme is it’s clear that being given the opportunity to work in professional
laboratory situations is very inspiring for young scientists.
12

Information about the Nuffield Bursary scheme in general
and the Regional Co-ordinators for interested students:
http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org
Regional BA CREST Event (usually run by the local SETPOINTs)
http://www.setnet.org.uk/cgi-bin/go.pl/setpoints/index.html
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF)
http://www.intelisef2006.org/index.htm
Exscitec
http://www.exscitec.com
13

CREST stands for CREativity in Science and Technology, and it’s a
scheme run by the BA that comes in Bronze, Silver and Gold levels of science
projects for school students of 11 upwards. Students who have completed
BA CREST project work have the opportunity to display their work
at Regional Finals. Outstanding projects are selected for the prestigious
national BA CREST Science Fair.
We investigate the impact this scheme has had for five young people,
Gurjit Singh Sidhu, Lydia Arnold and three girls called Alex.
14

Meet Gurjit
He’s one of those people who say YES to
opportunities that come his way.
Not only has he got a lot of fun and satisfaction
out of saying yes, he’s had the
chance to really contribute to
medical science.
He’s studying Mechanical Engineering at
Strathclyde University now, but when he
was at St John’s High School, Dundee his
teacher Lorna Neil suggested he follow up
his BA (British Association for the Advancement
of Science) CREST work by applying
to continue it with a Nuffield Bursary, the
two schemes being closely linked in by the
Gold stage.
There were only four Nuffield Bursary places
in the Dundee area, and Gurjit didn’t
fancy any of those, so he made his own
scheme of work up using contacts that he’d
made before whilst doing work experience
at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
This bit of initiative paid off as together
they came up with a project to really help
the radiotherapy unit.
15
Before explaining the project, and how
Gurjit helped, here’s some background
on radiotherapy.
As you might know, it’s the treatment of
cancer using high-energy X-Ray beams,
which are targeted at the tumour.
The rays are powerful and destroy the
tumour’s cells.
The down side to the treatment is that
radiation can be dangerous in itself and destroy
healthy cells, so it’s important to get
the ‘dose’ of radiation right. You wouldn’t
want to do more harm than good.
So to measure the dose and its effect you
need a 3 Channel Electrometer. This has a
diode which is held on the skin to measure
the radiation level there, and this in
turn means the machine can calculate the
amount going to the tumour.
In the past though, the machine, and in
particular the diode, was dodgy and the
measurements unreliable, so although it
was a good idea to measure the dose, the
machine was scrapped.
The new machine and diode are, thankfully,
a massive improvement on the old one,
but you can’t just launch in and use it, you
need to make sure you have calibrated the
machine. So our Gurjit got the job.
It’s work that normally Master of Science
(MSc) students would do, in fact there
were two MSc students working on it after
Gurjit did his summer vacation project.
The Nuffield grant paid Gurjit to work for
six weeks, but he ended up doing 10 weeks
to get the project off the ground.

Because the project was so helpful, and so successful, Gurjit won the British Finals of the
BA CREST scheme, and won a place to go to Arizona, to the International Science Fair
in 2005.
In February 2006 he took part in the final of the BA CREST awards again, but this time
as one of the judges.
With all this work in hospital and promising grades behind him you’d think Gurjit might
have chosen to become a doctor or a medical physicist, but because he’s had the
experience of working in a hospital environment he’s realised it’s not for him, and he’s
keeping his options open with a mechanical engineering degree.
In August 2005 he applied for and was awarded a British Airways scholarship to work
in aeroplane maintenance at Glasgow airport. He worked with jet engines and did other
maintenance jobs with the crew there.
But why limit yourself to the ground? This work led on to the opportunity to get a
flying scholarship from the Air League, for 15 hours towards a National Flying Licence,
one third of the hours he needs.
So with all these skills and options what will Gurjit decide to do?
At the moment he’s into being a NASA engineer, a Formula 1 engineer or an airline pilot.
For more information on what Gurjit has been up to, check out the Links page at the end
of this section.
Gurjit has also just received a NESTA Ignite! Creative Sparks Award which will enable
him to visit the Japanese Space Agency (The Institute of Space and Astronautical Sci-
ence) and engage with the Japanese space programme – since there’s a rocket launch
planned for 2007.
16

Lydia Arnold
It’s not just Gurjit who gets all the prizes. Lydia
Arnold won this year’s Intel ISEF Prize at the
National BA CREST Science Fair for an electronics
project where she designed a laser-controlled
hand, able to mimic the operator’s hand
movements. Her trip to Indianapolis for Intel
ISEF wasn’t just a fantastic trip abroad with a
bit of science mixed in…she also won a prize
there from the Patent and Trademark Office
Society. Talk about international success. Find
out more about Lydia online, or from the url
links list at the end of this section.
Alex Carty, Alex Cook and Alex Waters
Another set of bright young sparks have designed a device to help primary school education.
The Three Alexes all from St. Anthony’s Girls School in Sunderland, won the first
prize in the Best CREST Technology Project at Bronze Level for their invention, the niftily
named “AAA Weather Station”.
Their aim was to create an innovative product to excite primary school students to want
to learn more about the weather. Of course, with an idea that good you’d expect them to
be making a splash…Children’s BBC have followed their trail and these young technologists
have been chosen to appear on the CBBC programme “Level Up” no less than four
times throughout 2006.
…And talking of ‘Level Up’ (not CREST related but worth a mention) the programme
recently featured a young girl, Mubeena, who went out to sea with some marine biologists,
and learnt all there was to know about dolphins, and how to record them. She was
trained on how to take quick camera shots of each dolphin’s dorsal fin that she spotted.
A dolphin’s dorsal fin has a variety of notches and scratches, which can help identify an
individual the same way humans have fingerprints. Despite finding it difficult at first,
Mubeena managed to identify a dolphin, first spotted in 1998, and it was the first
dolphin they had correctly identified this year. Mubeena said, “I feel like a proper marine
biologist, and I’m really proud of myself, as they can use this as part of their research.”
There’s more on record keeping for wildlife, in this case Manatees, in the section called
Real Science – International Example.
17

BA (British Association for the Advancement of Science) CREST
http://www.the-ba.net/the-ba/ResourcesforLearning/BACRESTAwards/
The Nuffield Bursary Scheme
http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org
For more information on what Gurjit has been up to, check out:
http://www.innovations-report.com/html/reports/life_sciences/report-41315.html
http://www.intel.com/cd/corporate/education/emea/eng/uk/elem_sec/comp_awards/
isef/success/220135.htm
http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/output/2005/03/04/story6876415t0.shtm
http://www.setpointscotland.org.uk/newsitem.cfm?newsid=136
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb4318/is_200506/ai_n15055389
NESTA Ignite! Creative Sparks Award
http://www.nesta.org.uk/ignite/
Find out more about Lydia Arnold at:
http://www.the-ba.net/the-ba/News/_SciFair2006.htm
CBBC programme “Level Up”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/levelup/
18

Research by Eric Topham, an 18 year old student at Thomas
Hardye School in Dorset, started as a summer project, and went on to
win the AstraZeneca Young Innovator’s Award at the BA CREST Science
Fair in February 2006, and eventually caught the interest of the BBC.
Better than that, his work will be expanded on by the Centre for
Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) research site at Winfrith. Eric’s project
“Communication in ants, and between ants and Alcon blue butterflies” is a
great example of a student contributing to the body of scientific knowledge.
19

Q. Why would a caterpillar want to communicate with an ant?
A. When it’s an annoying little parasite…
The Large Alcon Blue Butterfly (Maculinea
alcon) is an endangered species in the
United Kingdom and Europe.
By studying the behaviour of the Alcon
Blue caterpillar and its relationship with red
ants (Myrmica) you can gain vital informa-
tion about conservation and reintroduction
of the species.
The butterfly (in caterpillar mode) spends
its life on the Marsh Gentian plant. It falls
off the plant, onto the ground. Red ants
scurry towards this fleshy delicacy, but
they don’t eat it. Instead they carry it to
their nest.
The ants have been duped into thinking the
caterpillar is one of their own, a lost
ant larva.
This is all because of chemical mimicry, i.e.
the caterpillar exudes the same chemical
signals from its skin as a red ant
larva would.
The ants then look after the caterpillar
through to the pupal stage. That’s almost
two years of total sponging!
However there is another possible method
of communication. The caterpillars could
be producing sounds similar to the ants i.e.
acoustic mimicry, and there has been some
evidence of this in previous studies.
20
Eric’s aim was to check this theory out i.e.
if there are no physical, chemical clues, do
the ants respond to only the noises of the
caterpillars? Sensitive recording equipment
was used to record the noisy caterpillars.
These sounds were then played back to
the ants.
The ants did seem interested at first, since
they investigated the microphone, tapping
it with their antennae, searching for
further clues.
Eric concluded that even though caterpil-
lars made noises, it was only to attract at-
tention, the chemicals really did the job of
tricking the ants.
The equipment and recordings used in
Eric’s project have since had a brush with
fame – they were featured on the BBC se-
ries, ‘Life in the Undergrowth.’

Eric: “The project was a wonderful opportunity for me to discover exactly what scientific
research was about, and to work with real scientists. It gave me a taste of post-educa-
tional scientific work and what a career in science might be like. It was also a chance to
study an area of biology that I had never come across in school.”
Many PhD students wouldn’t have a clue what’s expected of them when they’re just
starting their research, but students such as Eric get a taste before they’ve even started
their degree. Being part of the BA CREST Science Fair involves submitting an abstract,
presenting a poster and answering questions by judges – which isn’t that much different
from your average international scientific conference.
To find out more about Eric’s work:
www.ceh.ac.uk/scisoc/Nuffield2005Topham.html
Eric’s project is part of the EU fifth framework project Macman working to conserve the
habitat of the Maculinea butterfly.
Credit where credit’s due
Whilst Eric rightly deserves praise to be heaped on him, there are others who deserve it
too. Every school student who succeeds is of course supported by parents, teachers and
schools, working together to mould them into the scientists, engineers or technologists
of the future. Eric’s school is no exception.
Thomas Hardye School in Dorset is a NESTA awardee, for a project named “Films for
Learning’. It’s an online film-making project, getting all students and teachers creating
their own teaching videos to share with others.
For more on Eric’s school check out the links page at the end of this section.
1

CEH, working to solve man-made environmental problems
CEH is the daughter organisation of NERC (Natural Environment Research Council) and is
the UK’s Centre of Excellence for research in land and freshwater environmental sciences.
CEH is especially interested in how human activity impacts on the natural environment.
Visit their website for further information.
CEH have been great supporters of the Nuffield Bursary Scheme and have benefited
from Nuffield students’ contributions to their ongoing research over the last ten years.
And it’s not just the Nuffield Bursary Scheme they support. If you’re in the Dorset area,
check out their National Science Week activities, lectures, Science Ambassador events,
work experience placements, taster days, careers events and materials, teacher training
days…and much, much more…all offered by the CEH. How kind of them…
To find out more about Eric’s work:
http://www.ceh.ac.uk/scisoc/Nuffield2005Topham.html
BBC’s ‘Life in the Undergrowth’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/lifeintheundergrowth
Eric’s project is part of the EU fifth framework project Macman:
http://www.macman-project.de
Eric’s school is a NESTA awardee for this project
http://www.filmsforlearning.org
For more on Eric’s school:
http://www.thomas-hardye.dorset.sch.uk
The Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
http://www.ceh.ac.uk/

Hey, I have an idea…
Some students just won’t accept that there isn’t a particular product
available to address a real need. These students are the rare gems who will
work beyond the call of duty to bring an invention to life and get it noticed.

Julie Crawford is one such individual. At the age of eighteen, she won the NESTA Award
for Innovation at Young Innovators 2005 in Belfast, for designing a cot…and it’s not just
any old cot.
Julie designed an inexpensive, temporary cot to be used in emergency relief efforts for
newborn babies. Inventive students have ideas everywhere, not just in their science or
technology lessons. Julie, from Grosvenor Grammar School in Belfast, heard a talk at her
church about community work in Malawi. She realised that a simple, cheap, recyclable
cot could be designed and produced to help with the lack of resources and facilities in
overcrowded hospitals all over the world. They can be especially useful in the cases of
natural disasters or in refugee camps. The cots are light, flat-packed and vacuum-sealed
and therefore can be easily distributed.
As any good designer knows you need to do your background market research. Julie vis-
ited the Red Cross who told her that there was a gap in the market, and explained what
exactly was needed. She visited packaging companies to learn more about cardboard
engineering, designs, and how to produce these on a large scale. Ulster Hospital offered
medical advice in terms of the baby’s requirements, and Julie has also thought about
adding some educational instructions about babies sleeping on their backs, and advice on
bottle-feeding with the cot.
Definitely an inventor/designer to watch in the future…but she’s been so inspired by her
teacher, Ricky Cowan, Head of Grosvenor’s Technology and Design Department, that
she’s been toying with the idea of becoming a teacher.
Julie also won the Northern Ireland heat of Audi Young Designer of the Year 2005 with
her cot, and was highly commended at the National Finals in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in
September 2005.
4

And talking of young innovators, another NESTA awardee shines forth…
Like father like son!
The Stephenson Centre, at the University of Newcastle brings together six international
business outreach units, named after famous father and son team, George and Robert
Stephenson who were THE name in the railway game. Over two centuries later, Martin
Rosinski (studying electrical engineering at Newcastle) and his father Jarek have invent-
ed a technological masterpiece - tinier than a matchbox!
Microlog is a pioneering invention, a mini data logger able to detect problems on rail lines
e.g. when tracks develop a fault or wheels slide on a wet rail. It’s attached to the train’s
wheel axles and records the data - sending location details via satellite and mobile phone
technology to a computer in operator’s office. Getting such information early enough
could help rail operators better understand wheel-rail interface conditions and hopefully
prevent rail disasters. Martin’s system is now in full operation on routinely operating
trains in Germany.
NESTA had an award programme for young people called Ignite! which awarded Martin
£4,000 to enable him to visit overseas centres of excellence and develop his electronic
designing skills.
Impressively, this isn’t Martin’s first claim to fame in the electronics world. Back in 1998,
at the tender age of 13, whilst still at Coates Endowed Middle School, Northumberland,
Martin won YEDA’s (Young Electronic Designer Award) junior category. He had developed
a novel device which would warn the drivers of heavy goods vehicles when conditions
were so windy that their vehicles were likely to topple over.
Subsequently Martin has won five UK national electronics competitions (YEDA) and an
array of other prestigious awards.
YEDA, which encourages innovation in electronics design, is open to all students aged 12
to 25 years, and now forms part of the Annual Celebration of Engineering organised by
Young Engineers. For more information see: http://www.youngeng.org.
Martin is now looking to set up his own company, ‘Wireless Dynamics’. He’s in final dis-
cussions to secure venture capital of £400K…and although his concept is top secret at
the moment, keep your eyes peeled for the technological developments of the future.
The Rosinski name won’t be too far away…
25

The MarLIN Project, Marine Life Information Network
If you are well-versed in everything to do with that famous underwater
movie created by Pixar, you’ll know that Nemo’s dad was called Marlin.
The link with Real Science is that, other than the film being
completely accurate from a marine biological point of view,
MarLIN also happens to stand for the MARine Life Information
Network. Established in 1998 by the Marine Biological Association in
Plymouth, MarLIN is the source of all information to do with marine life…
6

MarLIN is the marine ‘node’, or section, of the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) which
is a UK-wide project to build a network of biodiversity information. MarLIN collates all
the records of seashore and seabed wildlife and sends this onto the NBN. If you like the
sound of that, you and your students are welcome to get involved.
The network works with volunteers and school groups taking part in field work and getting
stuck into identifying and recording all the marine species that they find. This information
is a valuable resource showing how marine life in Britain and Ireland is changing.
The records can indicate changes in climate, especially when non-native species paddle
over here. (It’s not just us humans who like to travel to warmer climes.)
MarLIN also provides educational resources. The Learning Zone has stacks of information
on everything you need to know to identify the variety of marine flora and fauna and
sections for volunteer recorders, with online forms. It doesn’t matter if you’re a non-specialist
or you’re studying for a degree in marine biology – there’s useful stuff for everyone.
Working with organisations such as Plymouth Young People’s Agenda 21 and the British
Trust for Conservation Volunteers as well as the Dove Marine Laboratory at the University
of Newcastle, MarLIN encourages future generations to take notice of their marine surroundings.
After all, being the British Isles, we have plenty of shoreline to investigate.
School groups with access to the shore are being recruited to offer a helping hand with
rocky shore recording. Primary students, aged 7-11 years, can also go on a Seashore
Safari. They use the beach lab to explore the rock pools, and play games, which not
only gets them thinking about environmental issues, but citizenship too. If you’re over
11 (slightly, or actually way over is fine too) you’re welcome to have a go on a Seashore
Safari as well, since they are also held for the general public. Volunteers, if they’re really
keen, can get extra training in identifying species and everything to do with shore
ecology.
Remember to keep an eye out for the Sealife Signpost (which is online too via the Learning
Zone). It’s basically a sticker which you’ll spot on clubhouses, bags and boats giving
information on 12 different recording schemes including the MarLIN 24-hour recording
hotline. So you’re never off duty…spot something fishy (literally), pick up that phone!
There’s a new Sealife Signpost on the way too, and it claims to be more sophisticated.
Recorders will be able to upload mobile phone pictures and send text messages directly
to the MarLIN website.
There’s actually no better way to get your students rummaging around rock pools for
limpets, beadlet anemones and the most petite crabs they’ve ever seen. Fresh air, open
shore, real hands-on science…the world’s your… oyster!
7

MarLIN
http://www.marlin.ac.uk
The Learning Zone
http://www.marlin.ac.uk/LearningZone
Plymouth Young People’s Agenda 21
http://www.pypa21.com/
British Trust for Conservation Volunteers
http://www.btcv.org.uk
Dove Marine Laboratory at the University of Newcastle
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/marine/about/facilities/dml.htm
28

Phenology is described on Dictionary.com as:
phe·nol·o·gy n.
1. The scientific study of periodic biological phenomena, such as
flowering, breeding, and migration, in relation to climatic conditions.
2. The relationship between a periodic biological phenomenon and
climatic conditions.
The word originates from the late 19th century combining “phenomenon” and
“-logy”. Practically, it’s about keeping records of all the biological phenomena
taking place in a particular time period, and comparing it to previous records
(e.g. when do you hear the first cuckoo). It’s an easy exercise for students of
all ages, and their teachers, to get involved in. The information you find out is
extremely useful…
9

Phenology Fact:
Robert Marsham was Britain’s first phenologist. He started recording his first signs of
spring in 1736.
The UK Phenology Network based at the Woodland Trust set up Nature Detectives,
aimed at schools, youth groups and families. They helped set up CBBC SpringWatch as
a cut down version of their spring survey. Results compiled through all these schemes,
including the popular annual BBC’s SpringWatch are most definitely valued by scientists.
Researchers at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology use this information to help investigate
changing seasons and to monitor what’s going on in terms of nature’s events.
There are a variety (and a plethora) of “MegaLab” experiments (i.e. the great outdoors
is obviously the biggest research facility you’d find anywhere), and the results recorded
form a vital database that scientists can access at any time. We offer you 8 fine examples,
plus a site that collects data and gives tips on how to handle it:
Recording Bluebells Online
Geri Halliwell had the right idea by naming her
daughter Bluebell. Her reason: Bluebells are
rare and precious. Aw.
The Natural History Museum are calling far and
wide for everyone to let them know if they spot
bluebells, and to identify which ones they are,
what they look like and where you spot them.
Why? Well it seems there are three types: native,
Spanish and a hybrid. Of the three, our native
lovelies are under threat. It gives everyone
a chance to draw a bluebell too!
Backyard Biodiversity Day
The fact we have such a diverse number of living organisms on Earth is what makes life
worth living. To make students aware of the variety, get them out there and couting up,
looking at the millions of species in the world around them. A few years ago, as an activity
for Science Year, this is just what we did.
The charity, ‘Action for Biology Education’ along with the Chelsea Physic Garden organised
a Backyard Biodiversity Day on 21st June 2002 for all young people (9-12 years)
to look at all organisms, whether endangered or not, inhabiting their local parks, back
gardens, roads, car parks. All they had to do was spend 15 minutes looking for all living
things in their chosen area, observe and record. Even if the smallest amount of knowledge
gained was that a child realised oak trees came from acorns, ABE had done its job.
The website also included pages where children could have their results published. The
initiative was an approved project of International Biodiversity Observation Year.
There’s not much about it on the web, but rest assured that if it ever happens again,
the completely free Planet Science Newsletter will keep you in touch. Do sign up if you
haven’t already.
30

Big Garden Birdwatch: When
was the last time you saw a
Song Thrush?
On January 28th and 29th 2006, people
from all over the UK went outside to count
a record number of garden birds…8.1
million birds, give or take a few! These
records help the RSPB’s (Royal Society for
the Protection of Birds) conservation work,
since they can find out more about the
population trends of UK’s garden birds.
Check out the website to find out which
ones were the Posh ‘n’ Becks of the bird
world i.e. those that were spotted everywhere
(not out shopping for diamond-encrusted
watches of course, apart
from magpies).
This initiative came into being as a result
of a one-off activity back in the 70’s asking
the RSPB’s junior membership to count
the birds in their garden over an hour one
weekend. Now it’s one of the most popular
events in the science calendar. It’s so simple,
easy, and before you know it, and hour
has passed and you’ve tallied up every
single bird you’ve seen. Everyone can get
involved. It’s an ideal way to get primary
school students thinking about what’s happening
in the world around them and how
different factors affect the local wildlife.
The presence of wild birds indicates a
healthy countryside. For example, we now
know that the decline in song thrushes has
been a result of intensive farming and the
use of chemical pesticides. If the RSPB get
information fast enough that certain bird
species are in decline, they are able to step
in quickly to save the species.
Ratty was a vole?
It is said that Ratty from Wind in the Willows
wasn’t a rat, but a water vole. Water
Voles are mega cute but mega shy and
they’re Britain’s most endangered mammal,
so it’s important to keep track of
sightings of them.
1
The British Waterways’ survey does just
that. The water vole’s in danger because its
habitat is disappearing, and the American
mink (an escapee of 1960s fur farms, now
settling in nicely, thank you very much) is
threatening poor old Ratty.
Wild Wales
This is nothing to do with the nightlife in
Cardiff. It’s a biodiversity project allowing
school students to work together to collect
and analyse data. Students aged 9-14
get out of the classroom for a bit to collect
species data near their school. SETPOINT
Wales collects this valuable data to pass
onto older students – 16-18 year olds.
They then have real raw data to get their
mathematical teeth into, and on which to
perform statistical analysis etc. The results
are then passed back to SETPOINT
who distribute this to local councils. Is this
useful information? Without a doubt! Local
councils need this data to produce their
Biodiversity Action Plans.

Manchester Fieldwork
Keep an eye out for a pilot initiative set
up by the Field Studies Council and British
Ecological Society. Working with schools in
and around Manchester, they have carefully
planned activities in school grounds and local
areas (parks, playgrounds, woodlands)
where they have mapped out the flora and
fauna that is available.
Teachers spend the day observing fieldwork
being delivered to 30+ Year 9 students and
discuss extended fieldwork opportunities
that they can then deliver independently.
Not only do the students help compile and
record new data, but they can also make
new discoveries of their own AND they’re
not stuck in a stuffy classroom…
Bitten by the bug…
Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation
Trust, the only organisation in Europe
dedicated to conserving invertebrates, has
managed to convince all the invertebrate
enthusiasts to get on their hands and
knees, out in the grassy greens of Hertfordshire,
searching for the mysterious and
rare Scarlet Malachite Beetle (Malachius
aeneus). At only 7mm long, and around for
three weeks during summer, it’d be quite
easy to miss if it weren’t for its ruby and
emerald markings. This was the project in
2006, to keep up to date with other Buglife
projects have a look at their website:
http://www.buglife.org.uk
For further educational resources on mini
beasts and everything creepy and crawly,
check out the Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council website: http://
www.bbsrc.ac.uk/society/engagement/
schools/resources/download.html.
Raindrops keep fallin’ on
my head…
Not everything is to do with counting insects,
plants and small creatures. Why not
check out RainCatch, an educational initiative
of The Royal Meteorological Society.
Aimed at 8-12 year olds, it involves making
your own rain gauge (very simple –an
empty fizzy pop bottle) and recording rainfall
over the week of 6th-10th November
2006. You can even try out the online rain
data calculator. All data will be stored on
the website, and scientists will access it for
their complex calculations, analysis
and predictions….
Malcolm Walker, Education Resources
Manager at the Royal Meteorological
Society has also discovered something
extraordinary.
Some participants have measured rainfall
with both homemade and commercially
available rain gauges. The results showed
that the homemade gauges systematically
recorded about 3% too low.
Malcolm says, “All of the online calculations
we provided were correct so we looked for
other explanations and the only one we
have thought of is that the surface tension
of the inside surfaces of plastic bottles is
different from that of the copper gauges
which are commercially available.”
The Royal Meteorological Society plans
to repeat the project year on year for the
data to be really useful, and they also run
a project for older children called Metlink
where real collected weather data from
the school students is added to a global
database, and is used by meteorologists in
their work.

Real Statistics in the Classroom
Being able to collate and analyse heaps of data is a great skill to have for many different
reasons. There are Real Science benefits of course, but also students get experience in
data handling as a skill in itself.
Have a look at The Royal Statistical Society Centre
for Statistical Education (RSSCSE)’s AtSchool projects,
which include: CensusAtSchool, ExperimentsAtSchool,
SurveyAtSchool and the brand new, IssuesAtSchool.
They all target 7 to 16 year olds and aim to use
“Real Data for Real Learning” i.e. students collect
real data, add it to data already recorded, analyse it,
make their own conclusions and so contribute to the
bigger picture.
ExperimentsAtSchool in particular contains investigations and experiments for the stu-
dents to do which are online and interactive. If you’d like to play, you can access the
sites with a special Planet Science code of Lea 500 and School 8562.
The site is accessible to all – and there’s proof that academics from as far away as Mel-
bourne University, Australia have used the data for their research. Fair dinkum.

The UK Phenology Network
http://www.phenology.org.uk/
The Woodland Trust
http://www.woodland-trust.org.uk
Nature Detectives
http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk
BBC’s SpringWatch
http://www.bbc.co.uk/springwatch
CBBC’s SpringWatch
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/wild/helping/springwatch
BBC’s AutumnWatch
http://www.bbc.co.uk/autumnwatch
Bluebell Recording
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/british-natural-history/survey-bluebells/bluebellsexploring-british-wildlife.html
Big Garden Birdwatch
http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch/index.asp
Water Vole spotting
http://www.waterscape.com/features/wildlife/
Minibeast projects
http://www.buglife.org.uk
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council website:
http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/society/engagement/schools/resources/download.html
Rain Catch:
http://www.raincatch.org
The Royal Meteorological Society Metlink Project:
http://www.metlink.org
Real Statistics in the classroom:
http://www.rsscse.org.uk/activities/atschool.asp
34

Plants are the basis of all life on Earth and are used all over the world as
food, medicine, fuel and shelter. However some plants may not be around
for much longer. Human activity is causing the loss of habitats. When
habitats are lost, species become extinct. Once a species becomes extinct, it
is lost forever. So begins the decline of biodiversity, including the plant species
that could have been of some benefit to the human race. Going, going, gone…?
Well, we can’t let that happen, can we?
35

This year, two schools are involved in a
pilot study to help protect plant biodiver-
sity and contribute to the formal research
already going on in an ambitious conserva-
tion project.
International Baccalaureate students from
Ardingly College in West Sussex and A-
level students from Mexborough School
Specialist Science College in Doncaster are
helping scientists at the Millennium Seed
Bank (MSB) test the lifespan of seeds when
put in storage.
The Millennium Seed Bank Project is a
global plant conservation initiative based at
Wakehurst Place, in Ardingly, and managed
by the Seed Conservation Department of
the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
With the support of the Millennium Com-
mission and The Wellcome Trust, one of the
project’s aims is to collect and conserve
10% of the world’s seed-bearing plants
– that’s over 24,000 species by the
year 2010.
It has already achieved 97% of another
aim: to collect and conserve the seeds of
all the 1,400 species of UK’s native
flowering plants.
6
The seed bank is a huge, underground
vault, containing seeds from all over the
world. The most efficient and cost-effective
method of conserving seeds is to dry them
and place in cold storage.
That’s really quite cold, -20°C, and seeds
can then be monitored regularly…say,
every ten years.
Seeds from different species have different
longevities (life span). Some seeds are
viable (i.e. still able to germinate) for
thousands of years, but some only last
a decade.
So if you’re only monitoring every ten
years, and the seeds only remain viable for
ten years, you won’t get plants from
sowing those seeds.
What if they’re the last seeds on Earth of
that species?
No more species, that’s what. To improve
seed conservation and make sure that
there are viable seeds for re-introduction
into the wild in the future, scientists need
to do some research to find out which
seeds have a shorter life, so they can be
monitored more frequently.

Some information is already known, which
always helps. For example, did you know
that Heathers and Rhododendrons have
short-lived seeds. We wouldn’t want to lose
these by keeping them in the cold too long,
in the hard to imagine event there’s ever a
Heather or Rhododendron scarcity.
The scientists perform ‘comparative lon-
gevity’ or ‘accelerated ageing’ studies on
the seeds to find out which species have
short or long lived seeds.
Scientists expose the seeds to varying age-
ing conditions (different humidities, and
different temperatures - 60% RH (relative
humidity) 45°C) and then based on a se-
ries of complex equations, they can extrap-
olate the results back to see how long the
seeds will remain viable in the bank.
Seeds are plated on agar after 1 day, 2
days, 5 days, 9 days, 20 days, 30 days, 50
days, 75 days, 100 days and 125 days of
being in artificial accelerated ageing condi-
tions.
The seeds are then scored as to whether
they’ve germinated or not – i.e. are they
still viable? By 125 days, you’re not likely
to find any viable seeds!
7
It’s a lot of work, so this is where the
schools come in. The experiments aren’t
quick (125 days plus extra for scoring), no
one knows the answer, and the results are
of global importance…so not your every
day plant science practical.
Kits are sent out to schools with everything
they need to get started and an experi-
mental protocol for some of the stages has
been designed especially for the students
to carry out. They then send their results
to the MSB at Wakehurst.
The pupils are working hard to look at ac-
celerated ageing in British native seed col-
lections. Since these are trials, purchased
seeds will be tested first, before moving
onto the samples from the seed bank. And
all those taking part in the pilot realise
the importance of this research too. Some
have said that they even feel nervous
labelling plates and plating seeds onto the
agar in straight lines!
If you would like to get involved contact
Sue Hunt or Fiona Hay on
schoolswp@kew.org
Kew’s Seed Information Database (SID
to those who want to be on more familiar
terms), is available online for all to view.

Everything you need to preserve
your own seeds
So what can you do in your classroom?
How about getting your own Mini Seed
Bank? Kew have designed a mini seed bank
especially for schools to explore the topics
of seed germination and growth. You can
collect, process and store seeds to your
heart’s delight – exactly the same way real
scientists do at the seed bank. See the
links page at the end of this section for
more details.
Kew has also been involved in
a cool orchid project
Grace Prendergast (Scientific Officer, Royal
Botanic Gardens, Kew) and Simon Pugh-
Jones (teacher at Writhlington School,
Bath) received a Royal Society Partnership
Grant (see our section on Royal Society
Partnership Grants) so that 60 pupils from
Years 7, 8 and 9 could investigate tropical
orchids. The money the school received
enabled them to set up their own micro-
propogation unit to sow seeds, wean the
seedlings and learn more about reintroduc-
ing these beauties into the wild.
38
They even get to show off their orchids at
horticultural events.
And a couple of the students have recently
been featured in the Saturday Times Maga-
zine as Nuffield Bursary students who have
done some great orchid-growing work. The
Nuffield Bursary scheme is also featured in
Hands On Real Science.
If you ever get the chance to meet the
students, get them to give you an unfor-
gettable quick test on what you think each
one smells like. From wafts of fresh grass,
to stinking rotting flesh!
Kew inspired Sci-Art
Not only is the art of protecting the world’s
seeds vital to preserving biodiversity, the
amazing world of seeds has been trans-
formed into stunning works of art.
Have a look at NESTA Fellow, Rob Kessel-
er’s work at http://www.robkesseler.co.uk.
Beautiful examples of visual art, all in the
name of botanical diversity.

The Millennium Seed Bank Project
http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/msbp
If you would like to get involved contact Sue Hunt or Fiona Hay on
schoolswp@kew.org
Kew’s Seed Information Database
http://www.kew.org/data/sid
Get your own mini seed bank kit
http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/shops/miniseedbank_schools.html
More on the Orchid Project
http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=1961
Look at Rob Kesseler’s beautiful pictures of seeds
http://www.robkesseler.co.uk
9

The GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the
Environment) Programme is an international science education project
for primary and secondary schools, where students measure aspects
of their local environment (phenology*, soils, atmosphere etc.), and
then share their results around the world using an Internet database.
* More about phenology in our section called Megalab, Mass Participation Science)
40

With over 100 countries and thousands of
schools involved, the GLOBE Programme
supports practical activities in science, ge-
ography, maths and ICT.
It gives ideal opportunities for cross-cur-
ricular links, and also provides a unique
forum to share ideas, experiments and
experience around the world.
Students have the chance to take scientific
measurements, report their data over the
Internet, publish their research projects
and collaborate with scientists – since the
results they collate and analyse are really
useful.
Pupils from all over, from small towns in
Croatia, to large cities in USA have done
some wonderful projects that are globally
important, from investigating the impact of
acid rain on conifers to looking at whether
air temperature affects the number of res-
piratory diseases.
Here in the UK, the GLOBE Programme has
trained over a thousand teachers in more
than 500 schools and centres, providing
on-going support as well as links to schools
and students across Europe.
41
In addition they have developed new ways
of measuring progress towards Sustainable
Development, with science-based activi-
ties linked to the National Curriculum for
students to carry out in schools. There are
twenty GLOBE-UK SD activities, in the five
areas of Energy, Waste, Transport, Water
and Biodiversity - all with hands-on activi-
ties for students to really get stuck in to.
The GLOBE Programme was initiated in the
USA in 1994 by ex-Vice President Al Gore,
and now it’s run in the UK by The Wildlife
Trusts, a nationwide partnership of envi-
ronmental charities and based at Warwick-
shire Wildlife Trust, Brandon Marsh Nature
Centre, Brandon Lane, Coventry CV3 3GW.
Andy Tasker of the Warwickshire Wildlife
Trust coordinates the GLOBE Programme in
the UK, and links with partners in the 107
GLOBE Countries around the world.

Andy shares some of the feedback received from teachers:
“GLOBE seems like a very good resource just waiting to be used. It is up to us to use it;
any school who doesn’t is foolish!”
- Crown Hills Community College
“At last! A valid reason to use the Internet!”
- Ambler Junior School
(They must mean ‘…apart from Planet Science’.)
“This is an exciting way to make science real to children. It will show them that their
work really does matter and is needed.”
- Edgeware Junior School
“I found it interesting and of wide (and inspirational!) application.”
- ICT Adviser, Barnet LEA
“An interesting project with vast possibilities…”
- Much Wenlock Primary School
“These activities are both valuable as a means of delivering the curriculum and enjoyable
because of the knowledge that we are contributing to a worldwide project.”
- Bredenbury Primary School
You can find out more – at the GLOBE web site: http://www.globe.org.uk
4

The Faulkes Telescope Project began in March 2004, with a single robotic
instrument located at the top of the massive Haleakala mountain on Maui
in the Hawaiian islands.
This instrument, FT North, is soon to be joined by its twin, FT South,
currently undergoing final testing at the Siding Spring Observatory site in
New South Wales, Australia. Sounds like fun…Hawaii, Australia…but you
don’t actually go there.
4

Located on the opposite side of the planet from the UK, these telescopes can be controlled
live by users via a simple web site, as the entire school day over here coincides with
night time at the sites.
Dr Paul Roche, head of the Faulkes Telescope Project (FTP), Department of Physics and
Astronomy, Cardiff University tells us all about how school students can get a real buzz
from scientific discovery.
Equipped with research-grade scientific instruments, these large telescopes (each with
a 2-metre primary mirror) mark the start of a much bigger project, the Las Cumbres
Observatory Global Telescope (LCOGT) network. LCOGT’s slogan is “Always keeping you
in the dark”, and that is exactly what is planned – a network of robotic telescopes spread
across the globe, with several in each hemisphere so between them, always in
night time.
These telescopes may be serious research tools, used by professional astronomers to
study the mysteries of deep space, but at the same time multi-million pound, stateof-the-art
equipment will be used to link students with real science and they also get a
chance to work alongside astronomers.
The universe is a big place, with plenty of exciting things happening all the time, so the
telescopes are not short of things to look at!
Through the FT web site, users are kept informed of any interesting new targets that
researchers are interested in, such as comets, Near Earth Objects (NEOs), supernovae
or Gamma-Ray Bursts. There are a host of other predictable events too, such as variable
stars, eclipsing binary systems and even the transits of alien worlds across the face of
their parent star.
The FTP part of the programme already allows free use by educational groups (mostly
schools and science centres) across the UK and Ireland, and to date over 400 schools
have registered to take part. Small pilot studies have taken place in Europe, with support
from the British Council allowing several dozen schools in Poland and Russia to participate.
It is hoped that UK schools will have access to FT South from September 2006.
44

What’s happened so far?
NEOs: Remember the Hollywood films `Armageddon’ and ‘Deep Impact’? That’s why
Near Earth Objects make astronomers slightly uneasy. FT has teamed up with the ama-
teur and professional NEO community in order to offer students and teachers the oppor-
tunity to carry out NEO observations.
Through close links to the international Spaceguard organisation, and particularly Jay
Tate of the Spaceguard Centre in Powys, schools have been involved in following up
newly discovered asteroids, as well as performing observations to allow asteroids to be
assigned numbers and eventually names.
Deep Impact: On July 4th 2005, NASA slammed a fridge-sized copper “bullet” into
the nucleus of comet Tempel-1, to see what lay inside. Cameras on a fly-by part of the
spacecraft captured the impact, but observers on Earth had to wait around 15 minutes
before the light travelled from the distant comet to an array of ground-based telescopes.
The first ground-based images released to the public were not from NASA but from FT.
A sixth form student, Jon Yardley (who now works for FTP!) went out to Maui in July to
run the ground-based observations. Dr Roche says, “These were the first publicly avail-
able images (obtained from the ground) of the event, anywhere in the world, which was
a real coup for us!” The data from the Deep Impact observations are being analysed by
Prof. Alan Fitzsimmons and his team at Queens University, Belfast.
Supernovae: Since September 2005, a programme to monitor supernova explosions
has been piloted by Polish schools, working through the British Council. When a massive
star explodes at the end of its life, the glow from the explosion can be viewed across
vast distances.
Measuring the changes in the brightness of the supernova as it gradually fades over the
following months can help astronomers better understand the processes that govern the
end of these giant stars.
45

Students get some good perks out of work-
ing on these astronomic projects. Laura
Wyglendacz, from Rougemont School,
Newport, worked with Dr Paul Roche
in 2004.
Her project involved looking for undiscov-
ered distant galaxy clusters and as a result
she was invited to present her work at a
Young Scientist Conference in Poland.
There is also currently a draft research
paper in production that uses data ob-
tained by students at Oundle School in the
Midlands, who have been assisting astrono-
mers at Leicester University with observa-
tions of a new type of binary star system.
The FTP started as an educational pro-
gramme based in the UK, but having joined
up with LCOGT, this large robotic network
will act as a global tool for research and
education. The best is yet to come…
Dr Roche says, “The FTP markets itself as
“real time, real science, real scientists” and
after the first full school year of operations,
we are finally starting to see the realisa-
tion of this dream, and the beginnings of a
much bigger future as part of LCOGT.”
For more information on the Faulkes’
Telescope, have a look at their website:
http://www.faulkes-telescope.com/
Learn the tricks of the trade of
professional astronomers!
Want to get involved in a little more as-
tronomy research? Every year the
International Astronomical Youth Camps
organise summer camps for those aged
16-24 years.
46
All attendees get a chance to work on an
astronomical project of their choice, with
young scientist role models to nudge them
along in the right direction. At night there’s
time to study the twinkling stars, plus
throughout the camp there are plenty of
non-astronomical fun and games planned.
Most projects in the International Astro-
nomical Youth Camps (IAYC) don’t involve
completely new research, due to time con-
straints, but there’s so much to learn about
what real astronomers do, and the highly
specialised equipment they use.
The projects are centred around design-
ing and conducting experiments confirming
results from very newly published work.
However, one student, Alex Golovin from
Ukraine, took a project he was working on
to the IAYC, and he continued the project
at the camp itself.
The work was accepted for publication in
the electronic edition of the Journal of the
American Association of Variable Star Ob-
servers. Have a look here, if you’re reading
this online or put
AAVSO “Alex V Golovin” into Google.
For further details on IAYC see:
http://www.iayc.org/next_camp.php

The Royal Society offer their partnership grants of up to £3000 to
primary or secondary schools to work in partnership with a scientist or
an engineer to make those extra special teaching ideas come to fruition.
There are many examples of the big success of this scheme; here are a few
that caught our attention.
47

Beetle-Mania
Think back to your playground at primary
school, all that really mattered then was
who your best friend was, and who you
were going to play with.
Well times have changed. Anne Sweeney,
who teaches Year 4 (aged 8-9) at Herries
School in Cookham Dean, Berkshire tells us
that her pupils use their playground for a
spot of research.
Back in 2001, Herries School were awarded
their first Royal Society Partnership Grant
to study the microclimates in the school
grounds.
This got the students thinking about the
conditions in the different areas of the
school, and how this would attract species
who liked that particular habitat.
Then a few stag beetles were found walk-
ing in the playground, minding their own
business, as the kids went out
to play...
Anne and her class wanted to study these,
the largest beetles of Britain, which are
becoming endangered.
48
This is just what they did, with the help of
another two Partnership Grants, and a PhD
student, Deborah Harvey.
Sponsored by Royal Holloway, University of
London and The People’s Trust for Endan-
gered Species, Deborah needed help with
her stag beetle count.
Stag beetles lay their eggs in dead, de-
caying wood (since it’s nice and soft). The
larvae hatch, live and feed on rotting wood
underground for around 5-7 years.
This was going to be one long science
project, involving real-time research, to
help find out why one of Britain’s largest
beetle species is slowly dying out.
Deborah visited the school with a bee-
tle and a grub, talked to the children and
looked round the Herries School grounds.
The work the students had already done on
microclimates helped with deciding where
to put log piles to attract stag beetles.
So Deborah and Anne’s class chose two
sites where the beetles were most likely to
want to set up camp.
The pupils got to work building two con-
trasting log-piles on these sites in the hope
that female beetles would lay their eggs
in them.
The log-piles were not to be disturbed or
else they risked killing the very creatures
they were trying to preserve. This was
exciting stuff, and the local paper even ran
a feature on it.

The children asked questions such as:
What sort of wood do stag beetles
like best?
Do they like sunny or shady places?
Are they like frogs, needing damp places?
Will the sound of children playing scare
them away?
Do they like smells (in the way some
insects like flower smells)?
The first log-pile was made of ash in varying
states of decay, at the top of the playground,
and the other had a variety of
different woods which were felled the year
before, at the bottom of the playground. A
data logger was used to record the conditions
of both log-piles i.e. temperature,
light, sound and humidity.
All the data was logged by the eager
young scientists, recorded onto a computer
spreadsheet, and converted into a spreadsheet.
Yes, we’re talking 8 and 9 year olds,
not university students. Deborah supplied
an experimental nesting box for log-pile 1
too. Using prompt sheets they also interpreted
what they saw.
The children worked with Deborah to see if
her newly designed trap would work. They
caught stag beetles and recorded their
size, sex and where they were found. To
mark each stag beetle so one individual
could be recognised from another, that
stationery essential – Tippex - was used.
49
Results for the temperature, humidity, light
and noise levels in the nesting box were
that they didn’t fluctuate the way they did
on the log-piles. Even the noise of playtime
was drowned out in the box. The students
waited to see whether the beetles would
breed in the log-piles or nesting box.
Teacher Anne Sweeney said “It really isn’t
a lot of extra work. Year 4 children study
‘habitats’ as part of the national curriculum.
This project covers that unit, but
goes way beyond the QCA requirements,
inspiring the whole school and the wider
community in the search for Stag Beetles.
However, it is essentially a simple project
which any school could easily adopt without
a lot of extra work for the teachers.”
Later in the year, the children noticed that
the log-piles were sprouting lots of fungi.
They wanted to know whether or not Stag
Beetles were attracted to logs with a particular
fungus on them.
Log-pile 1 had a huge variety of fungi, but
log-pile 2 had some spectacularly large
ones (not edible mind you, and remember
to wash your hands!). Each student was
responsible for taking a weekly picture of
a particular log (using a digital camera,
which only the Royal Society Partnership
Grant could have allowed).
However it was still not clear which logpile
the stag beetles liked, as there were
very few sightings on the piles themselves.
Children found beetles all over the playground,
and dead ones (victims of ravenous
magpies, or was it the attractive shininess
of their shells?) were nearest log-pile
2. This was not very helpful as there was
no way of knowing where they were when
the magpies found them.

But then in 2004, it all went belly-up. Ex-
tension work to the school hall meant that
log-pile 1 was seriously disturbed because
of builders’ rubbish thrown on it. The nest-
ing box was crushed. As were the students
hopes.
The box had to be re-made, and Anne and
the students realised that they would need
to continue the experiment in more than
one area.
This mirrors the rollercoaster journey
that grown up scientists go through when
they’re doing ‘real science’. Exciting, yet
unpredictable.
The People’s Trust for Endangered Species
was running a national programme to ‘Bury
a Bucket for Beetles’. Anne applied for
another Royal Society Partnership Grant to
fund 32 ‘beetle buckets’ which were to be
distributed to local schools and homes.
During National Science Week in 2005,
they launched their ‘beetle bucket’ project.
The children buried buckets in the grounds,
the Marsh Meadow Schools’ Environment
area and send out a further 30 buckets,
along with instruction letters, to the par-
ticipants who were asked to record all the
creepy crawlies (whether beetles or not)
found in them on 16th April, 16th May and
16th June.
50
The questions the students came up with
were, ‘do the beetles like to breed in these
buckets?’ and ‘is there a ‘best place’ to
bury the buckets?’
The project is still going strong, with all
the participants from the bucket-burying
project now being asked to dig up their
buckets and find evidence of stag beetle
grubs.
Unfortunately no one has yet found any
stag beetle eggs or grubs, but they have
learnt a lot about the type of creatures to
be found in each habitat. The results were
shared with all the participants.
Anne is hoping to set up a webcam to see
if any beetles are emerging from their own
log-piles when no-one’s at school. These
webcam pictures will be shared with the
Borough Sustainability Co-ordinator and to
help a wider science community network
through a possible ‘Science Across The
World’ project.
Deborah now plans to include the students’
monitoring studies in her thesis, especially
on the work with the buckets – the tech-
niques of which the children have almost
as much expertise as Deborah.
Anne tells Planet Science, “One benefit to
the children is the awareness of an endan-
gered species, not ‘out there in the jungle’,
but ‘right here in our back yard’.
Another benefit is that some children
become really engrossed by the beetles,
making up little research experiments at
home and writing up projects themselves,
without being asked to, but because they
have found something to inspire them.
This, for me, is priceless.”

Anne and Gatsby
Anne is also a Gatsby Teacher Fellow. Gatsby Fellowships allow teachers to develop new
curriculum materials. Find out more about being a Gatsby Fellow in the Real Science
feature about the Teacher Scientist Network. Although the Stag Beetles project was gen-
erously supported by the Royal Society, the Gatsby project was what initially got Anne
thinking about inspiring her colleagues and students with how wonderful science is.
She used her Gatsby Fellowship to produce a box of ‘off the peg’ practical science les-
sons for non-specialists. The boxes were fully equipped with everything needed to cover
a science class with an unfamiliar year group and at short notice. Anne did this because
she knew teachers may be hesitant to teach any science they are not too sure about.
The stag beetle project provided an extra dimension of interest throughout the whole
school and raised the profile of science - everyone became a beetle hunter!
Anne also encourages other teachers to apply for these schemes since the support from
both organisations is so motivating. At Herries School they also use BA Young Investiga-
tors materials in their science club, which really gets the kids wanting to do science in-
vestigations. Anne says, “It is very exciting to see children become genuinely interested
in science and not just in it to pass exams.”
More on the mighty stag beetle…
The stag beetle is Britain’s largest beetle, but there aren’t that many all over Europe.
Somewhat counter-intuitively there are more in London than anywhere else in Britain.
The London Wildlife Trust has set up the London Stag Beetle Hunt funded by the Heritage
Lottery Fund to get more information about where the stag beetles are: are they flying
across your garden, under some huge stones in your park, or wandering around your
playground?
The Trust is collecting any data on the beetles i.e. whether you see dead ones or the
absence of where you had seen them in previous years. This all helps to build a record of
how the stag beetles are spread across the London region.
They also want to know if you’ve seen one outside of London, get in touch!
Stag Fact: stag beetles have strong body armour, and even though they can be killed on
roads and by being trodden on, one of them has managed to survive being run over by a
lawnmower.
Check out the UKSafari site for more details on the life and times of Mr (or Mrs)
Stag Beetle.
51

It’s a bug’s life…
Following on from talk about stag beetles,
remember National Insect Week happens
every year in the third week of June. Everyone
can join in the fun of pond-dipping,
entering a photo competition and counting
ladybirds.
It’s the ideal piece of insect research,
where anyone can take part, all ages, all
abilities, and at all times. National Insect
Week is an initiative of the Royal Entomological
Society (of which Charles Darwin
was a Fellow).
Pond Life...
Drs Genoveva Esteban, Chris Reading and
Gabriela Jofre are inspiring pupils to pester
a pond population. Based at the Centre
for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), Dorset,
these scientists are working with Year 4,
7 and 8 pupils, and their science teacher,
Charlotte Sharp, at Dumpton Preparatory
School in Wimborne with their Partnership
Grant.
In 2004, two ponds were constructed in
the woodland area of the school, and as
part of an Environmental Science course,
the older students built paths to the ponds,
making them more accessible to their
younger friends. Now that everyone could
get to the ponds, it was time to get experimenting.
Students were naturally quite inquisitive
about the ponds and the aquatic life within
them. So it didn’t take much to get them
using sampling techniques, recording animal
species and cataloguing them to understand
more about habitat requirements.
52
The project allowed students to actively
interact with scientists and as a result,
this raised the profile of science within the
school. The students have a better understanding
of food webs and aquatic ecosystems,
and it wasn’t all about scientific
skills.
Their designing and entrepreneurial skills
were called into play. Some pupils constructed
frog-friendly shelters (‘frog flats’)
to investigate if frogs used them, and also
to investigate if population density affects
the rate of development of tadpoles.
These pupils knew about protozoa too.
‘Protozoa’ is a term used to talk about
microscopic single-celled organisms (not
bacteria), but most students would only
learn this at A-level. These children weren’t
fazed. They had developed their microscope
skills, manufactured ingenious foam
traps to ‘catch’ protozoa and other small
organisms. Students also learnt sterile
techniques to take samples of pond shore
sediments.
Dr Esteban tells Planet Science that the
students literally all screamed out ‘WOW’
when they saw the microbes actively moving
around in drops of pond water under
the microscope. Well, in answer to that, all
Planet Science can say is also ‘WOW’!
All students involved got the chance to really
enhance their ICT skills too. For example,
they learnt microphotography using
special equipment at the CEH, and then
used the images to make educational posters,
notelets and calendars for the school.
Surely there’s a money-making initiative in
there somewhere?

Get ready to rumble
Chris Chapman, a retired physicist with an
interest in seismology, has been working in
partnership with Stewart Bullen who teaches
at Haileyhall School in Hertfordshire to
find out more about why the earth rumbles
i.e. when there are earthquakes, erupting
volcanoes, tsunamis and so on.
You’d imagine it’s not the easiest subject to
teach in schools in the UK from a practical
perspective, what with being on an island,
and situated away from major tectonic
plates. But that’s where you’d be wrong.
The Mediterranean region, southern Portugal
and Spain, the Pyrenees, the Alps,
Italy, Greece, Turkey and the north coast
of the African Continent are all quite active
and quite close.
Although the UK is seismically fairly ‘quiet’,
earthquakes from these other regions
can be detected, as well as other
earth-shaking events.
Haileyhall School saw a huge trace on their
seismograph when the Buncefield fuel depot
at Hemel Hempstead exploded.
A seismograph is a machine which picks up
seismic signals (you’ve seen one probably,
squiggly lines drawn with a pen moving up
and down, a bit like an earth ECG) and the
record you get is a seismogram.
By studying the seismogram, students can
measure how far away the earthquake was
and also estimate it's strength. But they’ll
53
have no idea of the epicentre (origin of the
earthquake). To do this they need to have
recordings from at least two other seismographs
in other parts of the country,
maybe from other cooperating schools with
on-line seismometers. See
http://www.scieds.com/spinet/
Students can look up larger quakes on
http://www.iris.edu/seismon/
But school seismology isn’t just about
recording these natural disasters. For large
quakes, the initial damage analysis, the
progress of emergenecy relief, foreign aid
and eventual recovery can all be followed
from reports on the internet. These may be
related to the local geography, geology,
agriculture, local constructional resources,
the re-establishment of road and rail links,
water and drainage supplies. Many foreign
catastrophies are also reported in
languages other than English, Spanish
being common!
Students can now experience 'real live
science in school' on a day to day basis,
maybe adding significantly to their CVs
and also relate in direct humanitarian
ways to what is going on in other parts
of the world.
Thanks to their Royal Society Partnership
Grant and the help of the British Geological
Survey they’re working on a project to
develop a seismometer suitable for use in
schools, and getting students inspired to
learn more about the earth’s activities,
and contribute to the ongoing database of
seismic signals. This is real world-wide
science coming into the classroom.
Look at the SciEds web site for more
information on educational seismology.
The Royal Society gives out grants to a
variety of projects and to schools all over
the country.

Other eye-catching projects include:
Students from Thornhill College, Londonderry looked into renewable energy generation
i.e. wind energy and solar heating. They aim to make a final presentation to their local
government.
Resistant and Blight-susceptible tomato plants were investigated by pupils from Prince
Henry’s Grammar School in West Yorkshire in an attempt to really understand how they
could help combat this devastating plant disease.
Mr Kirk Sargent and pupils at Redbridge College, Essex studied the ecology of the water
vole in the inner Thames Marshes. They’ve been looking at ways to stop cattle poaching
river banks (voles’ homes) but still allow them access to water.
If you’ve been inspired by any of these ideas and you’d like to know more about the
Royal Society Partnership Grants Scheme see the links below.
Royal Society Partnership Grants
http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=1948
Royal Entomological Society
http://www.royalensoc.co.uk
National Insect Week Info
http://www.nationalinsectweek.co.uk
Herries School environment projects
http://www.herries.ws/environment.htm
Science Across the World project
http://www.scienceacross.org/
BA Young Investigators
http://www.the-ba.net/the-ba/ResourcesforLearning/
Stag Beetle Research Site, London Wildlife.
http://www.wildlondon.org.uk/stag_beetle.php
UK Safari Stag Beetle Info
http://www.uksafari.com/stagbeetles.htm
National Stag Beetle Hunt
http://www.greatstaghunt.org/
Educational seismology
http://www.scieds.com/spinet/
54

It would be logical to assume that teachers could get more ideas and
extra assistance with their science lessons if they buddied-up with some
practising scientists. A good way to get some REAL science in the
classroom. So how easy it is to do this? This section will give you a few schemes,
pointers and ideas to help you join forces with the scientific community…
55

The Teacher Scientist Network established
in 1994, and regarded nationally as a bea-
con of best practice in this area, matches
up scientific staff from the Norwich Re-
search Park with science teachers across
Norfolk area (and even into Suffolk).
This unique collaboration allows scientists
to interact with teachers and children, to
get real science into the classroom, and to
get a chance to learn more about what sci-
ence topics are taught in schools.
As an added bonus, they get to disprove
the ‘stereotyped theory’ that all scientists
are old, white-haired eccentrics.
The network get together each year at
their October Annual Meeting, a chance for
teacher and scientist to meet socially and
with others in the network to share ideas
and experiences.
This vibrant evening includes an entertain-
ing science talk and a giveaway of
surplus resources.
Scientists can talk directly to the students
about what it’s like to be a scientist, help
the teacher develop new investigations,
and drop the topic of Real World Science
into the average classroom.
56
Talking about their actual research always
goes down well, and it not only shows
students how science is really valuable, but
also offers the scientist some new perspec-
tives including getting the opportunity to
go away thinking, “Hmm, I’m not doing a
bad job after all!”
The Teacher Scientist Network, based at
the John Innes Centre (JIC), Norwich is
funded by the Gatsby Charitable
Foundation.
Coordinator Dr Phil Smith, himself a part-
nered scientist with a teacher in Essex,
reveals the key to the success of TSN, “we
truly believe in responding to what our
teachers ask for.”
Find out more about Dr Mimi Tanimoto,
a student who did a research placement
at JIC, a world leader in plant and micro-
bial sciences, by looking at the first Real
Science section on The Nuffield Bursary
Scheme.

Full Marks
Dr. Phil Smith told us about sixth-form student, Nicholas Johns, who benefited from a
partnership between his A-level chemistry teacher Neil Gordon and food-scientist Mark
Roe in a project to “turn paper into sugar”. He scored 50/50 for his project.
These were the best ever results for the school. Nicholas thought that since paper is
mainly cellulose, and cellulose is nothing more than lots of simple sugar (glucose) mol-
ecules – then surely he could turn paper to sugar?
Miracle or science? Mark, a researcher from the Institute for Food Research, was more
than happy to help Nicholas and Neil with some technical input and set realistic goals for
the project.
He was also able to provide access to a highly sensitive spectrophotometer which ena-
bled Nicholas to accurately measure small amounts of glucose. Scientists, teachers,
students and resources – who could ask for a better collaboration?!
The TSN also runs a Kit Club supplying free to loan resources for teachers and scientists
to use in the classroom. This activity was recently recognised as an example of best
practice, with the DfES providing funds to TSN to replicate some of the kits at three
Science Learning Centres around the country (East of England, North East and
West Midlands).
57

Teachers getting in on the act!
Why should students be the only ones to
get researching?
The TSN also offers mini-grants to allow
teachers to develop classroom ideas and
activities based on topics they think need
more attention, or could do with being
brought to life. With the help of their
partnered scientist…
Dr Charles Hill used to be Head of Biology
at Wymondham College, Norfolk and was a
TSN-partnered teacher for ten years – one
of the originals.
He was awarded a Robinson College/SAPS
Schoolteacher Fellowship which allowed
him to work for a term at Cambridge in the
plant science department.
Charles wanted to continue this work one
day a week, so he decided to approach
Dr Wendy Harwood, his TSN-partnered
scientist.
58
He completed a project in extracting DNA
from plants, and has developed other mo-
lecular biology protocols for schools at the
John Innes Centre with advice from
staff there.
For details of Dr Hill’s work on using PCR
in schools to identify dwarf and tall Arabi-
dopsis plants, have a look at: http://www.
embo.org/scisoc/tw03Hill.pdf. PCR stands
for Polymerase Chain Reaction which is a
molecular biology technique used to repli-
cate a specific piece of DNA.
Dr Hill has also used these practicals in
BBSRC-funded and TSN-supported National
Science Week events for his own pupils and
those from other schools.
Dr. Phil Smith says, “The scientist working
in partnership with a teacher becomes a
normal person, someone willing to talk to
the pupils, work with them and help design
their investigations and make the science
REAL. Equally, for the teacher too, there
are tremendous professional
development opportunities.”

Various schemes can help you get a real scientist
into the classroom:
SETNET’s Science and Engineering Ambassadors (SEAs):
SETNET is a UK charity aiming to make sure all young people get some really good STEM
(science, technology, engineering and mathematics) experiences. They run the Science
and Engineering Ambassador scheme to promote STEM in schools by recruiting vetted
volunteers from academia, industry and all sorts of STEM companies to be role models
in the classroom, and they offer their thoughts on science and science careers. SEAs is
funded by the Department for Trade and Industry and is supported by the Department
for Education and Skills. So, why not invite a scientist, technologist, engineer into your
classroom to tell all the class about what it’s like to be a scientist and what they do!
Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme (UAS):
This scheme enables STEM undergraduates to gain credit towards their degree by work-
ing in local schools. Undergraduates gain an insight into the teaching profession and
transferable skills, and schools gain young, enthusiastic role models who can show
school students that you can have fun doing science at University.
59

Researchers in Residence
Researchers in Residence is funded by
Research Councils UK and the Wellcome
Trust, and is now managed by the Univer-
sity of Edinburgh.
The scheme encourages all PhD students
and postdoctoral researchers in the field of
STEM to spend time in a secondary school.
This gives students another chance to chat
directly to positive role models, as well a
learn a bit more about current research.
Researchers also love the chance to work
with teachers to develop more activities
that students can do in the classroom.
If you’d like to find out more about the
scheme contact info@rcuk.ac.uk, or go
to the Researchers in Residence Website:
http://www.rinr.ac.uk
Researchers in Residence will be evolving
to integrate its activities with other estab-
lished schemes for school science and engi-
neering enrichment. The main candidates
will be our friend the BA CREST awards and
the Science and Engineering Ambassadors
scheme (SEAs).
School Teachers who are Research
Fellows too!
Dr. Mo Afzal knows what it means to do
Real Science, and the importance of getting
students interested when they’re young.
He is Head of Science at Warwick School
but is also a Research Fellow at Warwick
University.
Mo runs research projects to give his
chemistry students a real experience of
lab work.
One example includes discovering novel
ways to make aspirin so that it’s cheaper to
produce for third world countries.
60
Gatsby Teacher Fellowships
As mentioned earlier, Anne Sweeney,
a teacher at Herries School, is a Gatsby
Teacher Fellow as well as a Royal Society
Partnership Grant awardee.
Twelve fellowships are offered in one aca-
demic year, offered by the Gatsby Technical
Education Projects (GTEP). Up to £3,000 is
on offer to enable teachers to be creative,
inspiring and motivating and develop novel
methods of teaching their subject (either
mathematics, science or design and tech-
nology).
This can even be in the form of developing
new project materials and experiments.
Fellows also have the chance to network
with their fellow Fellows, and enjoy men-
toring by wiser souls and buddying up for
extra support and advice.
There’s more…
Information on the Royal Society Partner-
ship Grants is also featured in this Real
Science collection.

The Teacher Scientist Network
http://www.tsn.org.uk
Science Learning Centres
http://www.sciencelearningcentres.org.uk
SETNET’s Science and Engineering Ambassadors (SEAs):
http://www.setnet.org.uk/cgi-bin/wms.pl/29
Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme (UAS):
http://www.uas.ac.uk/
Researchers In Residence (RinR)
http://www.rinr.ac.uk
Gatsby Teacher Fellowships:
http://www.gtf.org.uk/
Royal Society Partnership Grants
http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=1948
61

School students of all ages have their own opinions on everything from
music and fashion to genetic modification and vivisection. As scientific
advance changes the world, it’s important to hear what those who
will be living with the consequent future think about it. They are
entitled to an informed opinion and to be able to voice their thoughts
and it seems more organisations are listening. We explore five
examples of students making their voices heard in various ways.
6

Thinktank and the Council of
Science and Technology
“Scientists should listen as much
as they speak”
(Quote from a KS3 student)
Dr Kenny Webster works at Thinktank, the
Birmingham science museum, as the resi-
dent scientist and tells Planet Science of
his proudest achievement to date.
Forget the time he managed to convince
Lord Robert Winston to come up to Bir-
mingham for an event…the thought of how
he got school students’ ideas heard by
the Council of Science and Technology still
gives him goosebumps. This is how it
happened.
Thinktank and the Birmingham REP theatre
submitted a grant to the Wellcome Trust to
make a dramatic production of the life of
Rosalind Franklin (the woman who did the
crystallography experiments that led to the
discovery of the structure of DNA).
The REP did the production and Thinktank
did an education programme alongside it.
6
There were workshops in which over 200
students came in and ‘made’ their very
own DNA and took it home in a necklace.
They also had Meet-the-Scientist type
event and talks. The best bits though,
were the two debates.
The Rosalind story raised lots of issues,
such as the role of women in science and
also research ethics that are as relevant
today as they were then; for example, the
events surrounding the fraudulent stem
cell work in Korea.
For the debate Dr Webster included a sec-
tion on DNA structure and function which
was very much a teaching session using
the Thinktank interactive voting system.
He then moved onto research ethics and
got the students to define right from wrong
in a very black and white situation such as
‘making up results’. He then made the ex-
ample situations greyer and greyer to give
them a flavour of how real research is done
and how difficult it is to tell when results
have been tampered with.
By chance the Council for Science and
Technology (CST), the UK’s highest level of
Government advisory committee, had just
published the draft version of their Code of
Conduct that they wanted all universities,
industries and schools to take up. This was
because Sir David King, the government’s
Chief Scientific Advisor, asked for a work-
ing group to help him develop a universal
ethical code for scientists i.e. a code that
would make scientists think more about
the ethics of their research and the respon-
sibility they have to society.
The CST were asked to tell all universities,
institutions and organisations about it and
find out how useful it would be.

At this stage, all they were asking was for people to give feedback. Obviously, the CST
was only expecting Vice Chancellors, Heads of Industry and Learned Societies to re-
spond, but Dr Webster had other ideas. He rang them and mentioned the workshops and
debates, and asked if it would be OK to include some of the CST questions within
the debate.
Not only were they very happy for Dr Webster to do this, but they also asked if he could
include some extra things that would be useful for them to know, for example, ‘whether
having the code of conduct in place made science a more attractive career option.’ Dr
Webster did just this, and wrote up the results, which were semi-quantitative due to the
Thinktank’s interactive voting system, and sent them off to the CST.
“At best I was hoping that they would send a letter saying thanks very much, which I
was then going to send on to the schools that had participated, to close the circle as it
were. However, what they actually did was read the report and include it in their public
response to the consultation.
There is a half page section that specifically deals with education and the code and it is
almost entirely based on our results. I was delighted. This Government body had actual-
ly read what the students said and responded publicly to it, including the things that they
specifically asked us to do, which none of the other learned societies could have done.”
To summarise: the students agreed that there should be a code with the majority want-
ing to follow it in their own work. If you’d like to read more, go to this web address to
see a copy of the ‘Universal Ethical Code for Scientists: summary of responses to CST’s
consultation’ and for Dr Kenny Webster’s report on the debate day and their findings:
http://www.cst.gov.uk/cst/reports/#11
“The debate session was very intensive and the students deserve a lot of credit for mak-
ing it through to the end in one piece!”
Dr Webster
64

Bioethics Consultation
In January 2006 The Nuffield Council on
Bioethics launched a consultation paper on
the ethical dilemmas in public health topics
i.e. infectious diseases, obesity, smoking,
alcohol, and the supplementation of food
and water.
The Council wanted youngsters to have
their say and listened to all responses…and
who knows what lies ahead if students can
influence the influencers. The consultation
ended in September 2006, and the results
will be published in the autumn of 2007.
Examples of questions asked in the consul-
tation were:
• Should there be any cases where the
vaccination of children takes place against
the wishes of the parents?
• What are the roles of parents, schools,
school-food providers and the government
in tackling childhood obesity?
• Should people who smoke or drink
excessively be entitled to fewer resources
from the public healthcare system, or
should they be asked for increased
contributions?
65
The consultation was open to all, and
teachers were welcome to run debates in
one or all of the issues involved.
There are plenty of opportunities out there
for students to engage with ethical issues
in science.
The Planet Science Newsletter will keep
you informed of all the latest opportunities
as they come up. If you haven’t already,
you’re welcome to sign up, it’s completely
free. You’ll find the link to the sign up page
from our home page.
This actually isn’t the first time that the
Nuffield Bioethics Council has sought the
views of school pupils.
In 2005 and early 2006, the Council
worked with Thinktank’s Education Man-
ager, Julia Kingston, and ecsite-uk, the UK
Network of Science Centres and Museums,
to develop and run workshops for young
people on the issues surrounding the treat-
ment of premature babies.
The Working Party on ‘Critical Care Deci-
sions in Foetal and Neonatal Medicine:
Ethical Issues’ helped to produce the work-
shop materials.
The results from the workshops were made
available to the Working Party for
consideration.

SuperSize Discussion
Emma Faragher, Education Outreach Of-
ficer at the Royal Society of Edinburgh
(RSE) tells Planet Science how they give
young people the opportunity to truly have
their say in issues that affect society.
Held at a different location each year,
the RSE’s Young People’s (YP) Discussion
Forum aims to offer 15-17 year old stu-
dents a chance to get to grips with com-
plex topical issues such as Climate Change,
Energy, Obesity and Cloning. The students
hear evidence from experts before getting
into smaller groups to discuss the issues in
more detail. The students then put for-
ward their own ideas and proposals which
are compiled into a report and sent to
policy-makers and decision-making bodies
throughout Scotland.
In 2003 the YP Discussion Forum focused
on ‘Obesity in Scotland’. Three experts
introduced the topic and spoke about dif-
ferent approaches to weight management:
drug treatments, clinical aspects, and the
risks of associated diseases.
Following the talks, students were split into
workshops to consider the issues and come
up with a plan as to how Scotland should
proceed. The groups then fed back their
ideas, even if some of them found the idea
of making a presentation quite daunting.
66
In summary, the students called for more
education on a healthy lifestyle, and clear-
er labelling and taxation of the advertis-
ing of ‘unhealthy’ foods. They were on the
whole, in favour of drug treatments for
severely obese individuals, but felt that
patients should be encouraged to make
lifestyle changes and avoid long term
drug treatments.
Following the YP Discussion Forum, the
report was sent to decision-making bodies
including the Scottish Parliament, Scot-
tish Science Advisory Committee and Food
Standards Agency (FSA).
And what about this for a result: FSA Scot-
land did use the results from the YP Dis-
cussion Forum to disseminate information
on Obesity in Scotland.
Students enjoy the YP Discussion Forum,
especially since it’s not only about learning
new facts; they also meet new students
from other schools. Learning whilst social-
ising…a winning formula.
In 2005, the RSE launched a new teach-
ing resource so that wherever you are, you
can run your own YP Discussion Forum.
This is available as a CD ROM and on the
RSE website. Who knows who your stu-
dents will influence next?!

It’s so not Happy Families
or Snap…
The New Economics Foundation provide a
top notch card game called Democs (DE-
liberative Meeting Of Citizens) that enables
small groups of people to discuss issues of
public concern.
Democs kits aim to:
• give information on a topic
• create space for players to decide what
they think on a topic
• have a voting system to link into policy
and decision making.
Participants are usually given a choice of
four policy positions (but they can add
their own too). For example, positions in
the Animal Experimentation Democs
game are:
Policy position 1 - Researchers should be
able to decide for themselves when to ex-
periment on animals.
Policy position 2 - Animal experiments
are justified when the benefit (largely to
humans) clearly outweighs the harm to
animals.
Policy position 3 - In addition to 2, intro-
duce a phased outlawing of experiments on
animals. The use of alternatives to animal
experimentation will be prioritised and
enforced.
Policy position 4 - Animal experimentation
to benefit humans is never justified.
People vote whether they find each posi-
tion: unacceptable, they can live with it,
support fully, or don’t know – before and
after they’ve played the game.
67
The main games (used in Café Scienti-
fiques and at many other public science
events) have been used as a policy-making
tool e.g. in the GM Nation debate, by the
Greater London Authority on their Noise
Strategy, by the Human Genetics Commis-
sion etc.
Now Democs has been adapted to the cur-
riculum, promoting discussion-based learn-
ing in the classroom.
Games for students include the topics of:
stem cell research, climate change, vac-
cinations policy, animal experimentation,
neuroscience and GM (genetically modi-
fied) food, and you can also upload your
results and view all the votes online.
What a neat way for students to lend their
thinking power and really start to influence
those policy makers.
Look at their website for more information
on the Democs card game, and to down-
load the games for free.
A practical guide for teachers and science
communicators on how to adapt Democs
for schools is also available from this site.
Check out the students’ game.

Taking part in real research… in a museum?
What better way to catch the public, than grab them at the Science Museum? Researchers
are doing just this.
They ‘set up camp’ in the Museum for a week (or even months) to draw on the visitors
as subjects for their research, asking lots of questions and find out what everyone really
thinks about subjects like music, smells, or how to stop a satellite from crashing to
Earth!
Anyone is most welcome to join in, whether you’re a teacher, parent or child or
school student.
Thinktank
http://www.thinktank.ac/
Dr Websters findings for the Council of Science and Technology
http://www.cst.gov.uk/cst/reports/#11
Nuffield Bioethics Consultation
http://www.nuffieldbioethics.org
Research in Museums
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/lets_talk/livescience.asp
Royal Society of Edinburgh, young people’s discussions
http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/
Run your own young people’s discussion
http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/schools/index.htm
Information and downloads on Democs
http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/democs.aspx
Students’ Game
http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/node5959.html
Café Scientifique
http://www.cafescientifique.org/
68

The take-off run is 6,250 ft. There is a 250 ft obstacle 9,740 ft from
start of roll. The runway altitude is 7,200 ft. It’s a 5 kt. tailwind. It’s
1.2% uphill. It’s 30°C. It’s a wet runway. It’s 2,350 nautical miles to JFK.
This may not mean a lot to many of us, but it is important
information for aircraft pilots. Without these facts there would
be no such thing as a safe flight. So, how can students use this
information to help pilots and ensure the course of true flight runs smooth?
69

Soon after the launch of NESTA’s Real Sci-
ence report a member of a small company
based in Hersham, Surrey, got in touch
with Planet Science.
William Lonergan, a Royal Air Force pilot
who is now Aviation Systems Director of
Maestro Aviation, says he knows exactly
how to get students contributing to real
world science.
We take it for granted that when we get on
an aeroplane, the pilot will take us to our
destination, safely and with the smoothest
of flights but pilots constantly have to
make calculations.
What’s the minimum altitude before fuel
becomes a problem? What’s the maximum
altitude before oxygen becomes a prob-
lem? What if there’s a sick passenger – can
we recalculate the flight path?
These are the all-important safety critical
calculations that an aircraft captain must
do before each flight.
If an incorrect calculation is made then, in
the case of say, an engine failing on take-
off, the aircraft could crash with
fatal consequences.
70
Maestro Aviation have found a solution to
make pilots lives a little easier (and less
scary). In order to keep cockpit paper-
work to a minimum, they’ve introduced an
Electronic Flight Manual (in the form of a
handheld computer) which offers pilots in-
stant access to data by carrying out all the
performance-related calculations.
The team at Maestro have taken the
graphical data in the Aircraft Flight Manual
and turned it into digital data to run on the
small computer on the flight deck.
The fact that the airlines can move away
from error prone, paper-based calcula-
tions to a highly accurate digital solution
will have a major effect on the way future
airlines operate. It may even give the first
airlines to use this system a competitive
edge over other airlines.
William has managed to recruit a few A-
level students from local schools, to work
at Maestro Aviation’s Headquarters for 1-2
afternoons a week – to gain an experience
that they’re unlikely to forget. The students
do the digitising of the graphical data and
they’re responsible for the quality of the
work they do. This has some very interest-
ing consequences for both Maestro and
the students.

One student, James Stearn from Rydens
School, Hersham, happened to be in the
area of Maestro Aviation HQ for violin
lessons.
His friend, Jacob Copeland was already
working at Maestro, and so James was
curious to know more about the world of
aviation. James was invited to come back
and give working at Maestro a go.
In no time at all James was collecting data,
converting it to computerised data and
generally getting into the full swing
of things.
“It’s a very interesting experience; differ-
ent to anything else I’ve been involved in
before. I like the no-blame culture, how if
you do something wrong, you just have
to improve.
It’s such a relaxed atmosphere and a nice
place to work, and even though there are
other people my age to chat to and discuss
the calculations with, there is also the huge
wealth of experience in the staff here.”
“The response we have had from the stu-
dents we have used is interesting,” says
William Lonergan.
Jacob
71
“Once they realise that it is not simply
an academic exercise and that real lives
depend upon them getting it right they rise
to the challenge and produce work of an
extremely high standard.”
Everything Maestro does is new and stu-
dents love being a part of new research.
They also have a chance to see how the
methods they develop in the Maestro office
have an effect on what real pilots do on
real flights.
William tells us of one A-level student,
Rebecca Taylor, who started working at
Maestro Aviation one Tuesday. By Friday
she flew to BAE with William, where she
explained how to get accurate safety calcu-
lations to senior pilots there.
They were not only very impressed, they
couldn’t believe she’d only been working
there for a few days. Surely she must’ve
been working there at least two years!
So, are students really contributing new
information? “The answer is YES,” says
William. “We believe that by giving the
students the right level of training we get
invaluable feedback for our future
product development.”
James

Engineering Go-Karts
We’ve heard about students getting involved in vehicles in the sky, but how about modes
of transport on the ground? Chris Hinchcliffe, Senior Engineering Technician at Wood-
church High School, Wirral has discovered the most fun way to get pupils fired up about
engineering. Get them to design a kart…that they can actually race.
“The karts we build are full race versions and take about 12 months to build. They range
from 45 mph novice karts up to 125mph with a 125cc six speed gearbox. I build the
karts with years 7 through to year 11, but Schools karting age range is 10-18 so they
can be built and raced from year 6 primary to 6th form.”
Not a bad idea to entice pupils into technology and engineering with a little high-speed racing.
Chris and the students race at tracks all over the country with the School Karting Asso-
ciation. Relating topics such as levers, electrics, forces etc. to karting and being able to
show these principles ‘in the flesh’ is really enjoyable to all pupils. Some students take
the project further by building dynamometers to check engine output, experiment with
fuel mixtures or change gear ratios. By making slight changes themselves, they can feel
responsible that their own work has resulted in the perfect kart. And it’s not all about
fuel-powered karts. There are races for electric motors too. Yes, travel in style whilst be-
ing environmentally-friendly, why not?!
Maestro Aviation
http://www.Maestro-Aviation.com/
School Karting Association
http://www.natska.co.uk
Green Power
http://www.greenpower.co.uk
7

Be part of the bigger picture with e-Science...
In the last few years the technology behind the internet has
enabled some very big research projects to be done, utilising the
spare capacity of thousands and thousands of domestic computers.
7

When there’s too much data to shake a
calculator at, scientists need super-su-
per-computers and sharing the calculating
around in this way means they can get the
work done, without the need for building
a computer complex the size of Doncaster.
It is known as distributed computing. The
Internet is then used for relaying informa-
tion back to the scientists.
If you saw the BBC’s programmes in 2006
about Climate Chaos then you’ve already
heard of it. That’s a distributed computing
project. In terms of climate change issues,
we all know we should be doing our bit,
efficient light bulbs, not leaving the TV on
stand-by, and so on.
Imagine though, that you could also do
something very useful by taking a few little
online steps, downloading a screensaver
and contributing to scientific research on
climate change. You’d feel a little better,
wouldn’t you?! Plus students can learn how
they really are part of the bigger picture.
The Climate Chaos campaign centred on
publicising climateprediction.net, and is
the largest experiment to forecast climate
change in the 21st Century.
Climateprediction.net is a PC-based model-
ling experiment, using the same underly-
ing BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure
for Network Computing) software as other
74
distributed computing systems, where you
download the software and then let your
PC run models that then input their data
into a central resource.
Climateprediction.net aims to make results
available to the scientific community, and
you can get involved in this too. Have a
look at the website, and download a cli-
mate model.
Whenever you switch your computer on, it
will run in the background using the com-
puting power you don’t need, and don’t
worry, it won’t affect any of the very im-
portant documents you’re working on. (Or
Free Cell.) You will have your own version
of the world, your own screensaver with
changing weather patterns on it as the
model runs. These results are then sent
back to the climateprediction.net team via
the internet. A sample set of results are
then ready to view on the site.
The aim is to run the model thousands of
times and investigate slight changes in the
model e.g. small changes in the carbon
dioxide and the sulphur cycle. This al-
lows scientists to tweak all these different
factors and look at how the climate would
change in every possible scenario. In the
past only a few computers have been used
to make these estimates – so by recruiting
everyone’s computer, better climate predic-
tions can be made.
Since the amount of data produced is
huge (a couple of PetaBytes – that’s
1,000,000,000,000,000 Bytes), it’s im-
possible to store this centrally. So they’ve
called upon the scientific community to
upload servers on their computers. This is
known as hosting a results node and there
are plenty of node-hosters around
the world.

Most e-Science systems seem to take a purely passive approach…this isn’t one of them.
To make it more fun, educational resources have been developed to learn more about
what the model shows, including an interactive web community to discuss your model
runs with your fellow modellers.
There’s a page on the website showing the ‘top participants’ and ‘top teams’ so you can
have a look at just how many school groups are taking part. Jon Gray, at Gosford Hill
School in Oxford, is someone who has had pupils involved with the project at different
times, and really values this kind of project.
“Climateprediction.net allows kids to see real science in the classroom and at home. The
results of their experiment are talked about on the news and on the web, especially with
the current BBC project. It’s a great way to promote an interest in these important issues
and for them to see how scientists are contributing to society.”
It looks like word is travelling fast. The South West Science Learning Centre has piloted
the use of climateprediction.net materials for teacher CPD courses. Research Councils UK
has sponsored four pilot courses at Science Learning Centres across the country which
integrate contemporary science into the new GCSE specifications. They have been so
popular that all the courses have been full so far and the feedback so far has been really
positive:
“A fab course, highly recommended”
“Really enjoyed the course, did not notice where the time went!”
Courses are running on Climate Change, The Big Bang to Earth, Astrophysics
and Nanotechnology.
If you like the sound of these and want to know about other CPD courses in your area,
visit the Science Learning Centre website, and there’s also more information on some of
the UK e-Science programmes within the Research Councils.
To find out more about the Earth’s climate check out the climateprediction.net website.
There’s everything about the atmosphere, oceans, Greenhouse Effect and the energy
budget to help explain the situation to the next generation. Climate change is an issue of
anxiety to us all and finally politicians are waking up to the potential nightmare scenarios
too...with the help of these models.
75

Online Malaria
Don’t worry, you can’t catch malaria from
being online…there won’t be any weird
futuristic mosquitos popping out of your
computer screen.
Students can now learn more about ma-
laria, and how to design drugs to tackle
the devastating disease via an e-Science
project funded by JISC (Joint Information
Systems Committee).
This project allowed students to think like a
pharmaceutical researcher on the quest for
potential anti-malaria drugs.
They followed the path of real-life scien-
tists, using the same workflow used in real-
world drug design.
With around 1.5 million people dying from
malaria every year (that includes ten Brit-
ish holidaymakers), and 300 million suf-
fering from it worldwide, it’s a disease
that should worry everyone, and since the
majority of malaria victims are children,
students tend to feel quite strongly
about it.
A quick recap on malaria: It’s caused by a
protozoan (single-celled organism) parasite
of four main species: Plasmodium falci-
parum, Plasmodium vivax, Plasmodium
ovale and Plasmodium malaria.
76
This parasite is slurped up by a female
Anopheles mosquito (yes, only the ladies
want your blood) from an infected indi-
vidual, and then the parasite reproduces
making sure that it’s larval stage is ready
and waiting in the host mosquito’s salivary
glands to be mixed into the next victim,
with the mozzie’s next meal.
Clever little blighter, but can leave humans
and other animals dead…unless a miracle
drug can be found.
Enabling lots of people to tackle problems
in drug design needs a large amount of
computing power, which is where
e-Science comes in.
Sixth formers studying for their AS-level
Chemistry at Havant College, Hampshire,
worked with Dr Jeremy Frey and his team
from the School of Chemistry at the Uni-
versity of Southampton.
Dr Frey, who headed the e-Malaria project,
says, “This project has created a novel
web-based chemistry teaching tool for
schoolteachers to experiment with. And
the feedback from those who took part in
the pilot has been really positive. Using the
context of malaria to teach chemistry, and
the possibility of designing new drugs, really
appealed to the students. It also raised
the profile of chemistry at Havant College.”

So was this another case of downloading a screensaver? Well, there was a bit more to
it this time. Dr Frey started off with a background session on how computational drug
design is used within industry. Then followed the practical session…
The malarial parasite has an enzyme which the students were asked to design a drug
against. The structure of the enzyme’s active site (region where the drug could bind to)
was known, so students designed a 2D sketch of a possible drug.
This was then converted to a 3D shape using special interactive software which allows
the students to understand exactly what their drug molecule looks like. Chemistry teach-
ers loved this bit too and didn’t have to worry that there was more new stuff to teach
since it had all been tailored to the current A-level syllabuses.
Once they had a drug molecule this was tested on the target enzyme using GOLD soft-
ware – another special type of software that only pharmaceutical industries have access
to. But Dr Jeremy Frey and his team get permission to use this with a licence that allows
students to use it too. Distributed computing is used to convert the 2D to 3D, with dedi-
cated computers for this task.
Dr Frey says, “The students and their teachers have found this to be a very successful
system and have come up with some very interesting variants on possible drugs. The
students can compare their results with the rest of the group and several competitions
have taken place.”
The overall project has been described in a paper submitted to Journal of Chemical
Information and Modelling.
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BBC Climate Chaos
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/hottopics/climatechange/climatechaos.shtml
Climateprediction.net
http://www.climateprediction.net/
Information about some of the UK e-Science programmes within the Research Councils.
http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/escience/
Back in 2003, JISC commissioned three short-term projects with the aim of directly in-
volving school pupils in live research. To see all the projects look at this site:
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/index.cfm?name=project_escience_in_education
E-malaria project
http://emalaria.soton.ac.uk
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As you’ve read, there’s a lot going on in the UK in the way of Real Science
for the school lab and classroom.
Here are some showcase examples of Real Science from Europe, Australia
and the USA, plus some other titbits in a roundup at the end.
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Checking pollution levels in the Swiss countryside
In the past 50 years, the Earth’s wetlands have reduced by half. That’s pretty scary. It’s
a huge environmental problem, since the loss of these bodies of water impacts on the
variety of wildlife and also the number of species we lose. Imagine telling future students
that once upon a time we used to have water voles roaming the wetlands? This is a very
likely scenario if we don’t do anything about it. The health of the wetlands reflects the
health of our planet. If we lose these watery homes, what’s going to happen?
Educational projects combined with research on water can give you, as science teach-
ers, a chance to branch out in a cross-curricular way i.e. join forces with other teachers,
especially your geography colleagues. That’s exactly what happened in this project.
Based in an international school in Switzerland, Aiglon College, studies were carried out
by geography and chemistry students in their final years at secondary school. Aiglon
College is close to Lake Geneva, and has Les Grangettes, an area of wetland with a large
variety of wildlife – including 265 species of birds. That’s a lot of birds. Even though the
area is protected by the Ramsar Convention it’s being threatened by human activities.
The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands aims to protect and conserve all wetlands and make
sure they are used wisely.
The main aim was to look into leaching of fertilisers from the farmed land into the pro-
tected area of wetland (by measuring the levels of nitrates) which leads to eutrophica-
tion and the turning of wonderfully fresh water into the dingy, dank, murky waters of the
underworld. Eutrophication is a process where water bodies (lakes, estuaries etc.) re-
ceive excess nutrients that stimulates excessive plant growth (blooming algae! – literally)
which reduces oxygen in the water and causes organisms to die.
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Rick Harwood and Chris Starr from Aiglon College, worked with the students to collect
water samples from 24 sites in the Les Grangettes region which included: canals, drain-
age ditches and stagnant pools. Hmm, nice. Measurements of the pH, dissolved oxygen,
nitrate and phospate concentrations were carried out on site i.e. pH paper tests and
more swish tests done back in the lab (using ion electrodes to detect levels of nitrates).
Students were able to understand the number of methods required in scientific research
and the need to get reliable results. They were also responsible for choosing the appro-
priate statistical test to analyse their results.
So, was there any relationship between nitrate levels in the water samples from Les
Grangettes and the distance from the nearest farmland? Not really. However, looking at
the water samples taken from within the Les Grangettes reserve land and a set of sam-
ples from outside the region, it seemed that the latter samples had quite high amounts
of nitrates.
Rick and Chris found that there are very strict regulations on the use of fertilisers within
the reserve, but those farmers outside the reserve can pretty much do what they like.
This proved that those farmers within the reserve are abiding by the regulations.
Students who took part in this project valued the fact they were part of something RE-
ALLY important, and their research was also used in their examination projects. Full
details of this Swiss wetlands project are published in Issue 2 of Science in School, a free
European journal to promote inspiring science teaching.
Rick also told us about the Global Water Sampling Project where students from all over
the world can rally round their local river, stream or pond and test the water and all this
data is added to the ‘World Water Monitoring Day’ database. This is one of the many
collaborative projects of the CIESE (Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science
Education).
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Spidernauts: Definitely not
Incey Wincey
Did you know that in the tragic loss of
astronauts during the STS-78 Columbia
shuttle disaster in 2003, that a bunch of
spiders was also lost?
These were no ordinary spiders…these
were the Australian Spidernauts.
This was a three-year project, and a unique
collaboration between Year 9 school stu-
dents (Glen Waverley Secondary College),
university scientists (from RMIT University)
and Royal Melbourne Zoo.
Professor Lachlan Thompson headed the
research team from the RMIT University
and is a senior lecturer in aerospace
engineering.
The aim was to encourage students in
space exploration and scientific research,
and in particular to look at the influence of
microgravity on spider behaviour (how they
make their webs wise, not whether they
deserve an ASBO wise…) and the composi-
tion of the web silk.
Since spider silk properties are affected by
spider weight, students hypothesised that
weightless spiders might spin some ‘inter-
esting’ silk, and a different looking web.
So how did this all come about? An inter-
national initiative known as STARS (Space
Technology And Research Students) called
out far and wide for students to design
experiments to take place on the US Space
Shuttle or International Space Station.
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Caroline Need, teacher of the Year 9s at
Glen Waverley Secondary College, won the
chance for her students to be involved in
the first Australian STARS project.
Ms Need’s class of twenty-six 14-15 year
olds now had to develop their own meth-
ods for selecting spider species, what to
do about feeding the spiders, what they
can do to encourage spiders to build webs
etc. The students interacted regularly with
the scientists and NASA’s educational arm,
SPACEHAB to get the green light for all the
experiments they planned to carry out.
The university and zoo provided mentor
scientists and the teams met each week to
knowledge-share and check that they were
all on target. This project really highlighted
the need for pilot experiments, being part
of a research team and all the skills needed
when setting up a project.
The Spiders in Space team also made use
of their peers’ talents. Technology classes
got involved in designing the spider habitat
boxes, and electronics classes worked on
the video cameras and lighting equipment.
This was real collaborative working
in action.

These were lucky students. They had the
chance to be real scientists, working on a
space mission but they had to work hard.
It wasn’t just your average school textbook
information that they had to get to grips
with either.
For example, do you know what
clinorotation is?
Clinorotation is used to simulate weight-
lessness. The clinostat is like a very slow
fan, with spiders in containers where the
blades would be.
Keeping spiders in a weightless environ-
ment on the ground is extremely costly. So
a device has been engineered to make sure
spiders don’t know which way is ‘down’…or
‘up’ for that matter. This enables scientists
to hypothesise just how spiders will
behave in space.
Previous studies showed that clinorotated
spiders were pretty adaptable, they’d
adjust to spin webs and not show a prefer-
ence for which way up they should be. So
you’d think they’re not a good species to
send into space.
Well, not quite.
That’s what makes them interesting.
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The study of how a spider’s body adjusts
to weightlessness can help scientists from
NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Ad-
ministration) understand how more com-
plicated beings (i.e. your average Homo
sapiens) could adapt to weightlessness.
This all adds to the ultimate goal of finding
out whether we humans (and other life-
forms) could make our home in space.
Although the project perfectly comple-
mented areas of the curriculum, the stu-
dents were quite prepared and happy to
continue the project out of school hours.
The Year 9 team had developed many
skills, but no one could have imagined
they’d start to think like scientists. The
team had planned ahead i.e. what to do if
the spiders’ feeding mechanism failed and
whether they would need back up spiders.
These are skills that practising scientists
are used to: the ‘what-if’ scenario. Any
project that can make a student think like
a scientist is already a great success.
Even though the Columbia mission spiders
were the first Australian creatures in space,
they weren’t the first spiders in space.
Anita and Arabella, two female Cross spi-
ders (Araneus diadematus) blasted into
space in 1973 for the Skylab-3 Space Sta-
tion. They both successfully spun webs in
weightlessness, but died before the experi-
ment was completed.
The ‘Anita and Arabella’ experiment was
also a student project, by Judy Miles from
Lexington, Massachusetts.

In our Aussie project, two month old Garden Orb Weaver spiders (Ericophora transmarina)
spiders were chosen, since they were not too young that they couldn’t produce webs,
and not too old that they would die of old age by the time the shuttle launched.
Whilst one set of spiders were up in space, another set of spiders were on the ground
undergoing the same trials. They had to be monitored day and night, since they’re
nocturnal spiders (so they get really busy at night). Both sets of arachnids were kept in
identical habitat boxes and watched to see what they’d get up to. A feeding system was
designed by placing fruit-fly larvae in agar gel at the bottom of the boxes, and when flies
hatched from their pupae, spiders were able to catch and feed on them in the same way
they’d do in the wild.
Two lead spiders were compared, Wako who was in space, and Cadbury who was on the
ground (it always helps to name your research subjects…honest). Shapes of both Wako’s
and Cadbury’s webs compared well to the 1973 mission results, but Wako the Spidernaut,
wove her web in half the time it took Cadbury to weave hers.
Israel’s first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, was particularly close to the Spidernaut team since
he took notes, samples of the spiders’ webs, and sent experimental data to mission control
which was then passed onto the team. The tragedy of losing Columbia meant that
(aside from losing much of the data and the web samples and spiders) the team members
lost their kind and helpful astronaut crew, which was of course, far more devastating.
It also showed the students just how scary and unpredictable real research can
be…but this only made the students more determined to continue with their studies…in
tribute to the crew.
The national curriculum in any country may be everyone’s longest to-do list, but there
are ways to infiltrate it, and stuff it full of wholesome goodness, in the form of characterbuilding
real science projects. Spiders in Space is an example of incorporating a project
within the national curriculum.
This was a pilot project, and there are now plans to have a more worldwide project,
recruiting more schools, so if you’re interested in Spiders in Space, or in a new project:
Bees in Space, contact Naomi Mathers at naomi.mathers@rmit.edu.au or Lachlan
Thompson at lachlan.thompson@rmit.edu.au for further details.
More information on this project can be found on the Science in School journal website.
84

Real Kids, Real Science….On The Telly!
In the United States of America, youngsters are getting their ‘fifteen minutes of fame’ by
being on telly for presenting their science project, which isn’t very Andy Warholish really,
but there you are.
DragonflyTV is overflowing with hands-on, interactive science. It’s really hip and happenin’
too – exploration, latest fashions, celebrities and music…but all with subliminal
scientific messages.
Split into the topics of Body and Brain, Earth and Space, Living Things, Matter and Motion,
and Technology and Invention…you can choose the topic you’re most interested in.
DragonflyTV also shares ideas you can do in the classroom, shorter projects for science
fairs and extra desk-based or web-based research. There are plenty of handy hints for
you to encourage those inquisitive youngsters.
Snorkelling with sea cows
Kristen and Christopher live near the manatees’ winter home on the Crystal River in
Florida, and were two youngsters featured on DragonflyTV. They wanted to find out more
about these creatures, also affectionately called ‘sea cows’.
These poor, endangered creatures like people, and since they venture too close to hu-
mans in speedboats, the manatees often get scarred by propeller blades. As horrible as
this is, these scars and marks are what researchers use to identify individual manatees.
And Kristen and Christopher got the chance of a lifetime, to go snorkelling amongst the
migrating manatees and take underwater digital photos.
These sightings were then compared to the researcher’s database, and they managed to
match a manatee cow to one they had seen two years earlier. It now had a baby mana-
tee with her. Since Kristen and Christopher were the first to see this manatee with her
new bouncing (well, buoyant) baby, they had contributed a small, yet very meaningful,
piece of new knowledge to the manatee database.
For details about Kristen and Christopher’s manatee adventure, look at the website.
85

Wonky Frogs
DragonflyTV also featured two girls, Susie
and Katie, who looked at malformed frogs.
Some people aren’t that fond of frogs, but
some love them and, better still, want to
find out about them.
Susie and Katie are the ‘love them’ type.
They wanted to try catching them to get a
closer look. When they studied the frogs in
their neighbourhood pond, they found the
frogs had ‘funny looking legs’. These were
the malformed frogs.
The girls recruited their friends to help
them catch more frogs, and found that
nearly a third of the frogs caught had mal-
formed back legs.
So what was causing the
‘Malformations in Minnesota’?
Answer: a parasite bloom in the pond.
It’s the kind of story that occasionally gets
the attention of the local science commu-
nity, and the local media: it makes great
news if you find weird frogs lurking in
your area!
However, in terms of research, interest in
this subject waxes and wanes…and it’s all
to do with funding.
86
From 1996 to 2001, this area of research
was well-funded, so it was really impor-
tant. However when this story came out
on DragonflyTV, only one researcher from
Wisconsin was interested in the findings.
This is a prime example of how students
are interested in finding answers to REAL
questions, if only they could be heard…
For details of Susie and Katie’s quest for
odd frogs, take a peek online - url at the
end with the links.
Rick Swanson, Science Content Director,
DragonflyTV conducts many workshops
about the content of DragonflyTV for teach-
ers and says, “In my experience, teachers
are especially delighted by our video and
by our teacher’s resources. The students in
our stories may not always make new dis-
coveries of benefit to scientific community,
but I believe all of our video stories serve
as excellent examples of how to encourage
students to develop sound scientific inves-
tigations, and how to invest oneself in
the process.”

More international morsels
How about these little beauties we found
on our travels…
Prokaryotic electricity
Kartik Madiraju, a 16-year old from Mon-
treal, was asked to find a way to help the
environment in a school science project.
He used bacteria to make electricity.
Knowing that he had to come up with an
idea, and whilst noseying through top-class
science journal, Nature, he came across
magnetic bacteria. These aquatic bacteria
contain teensy crystals of magnetite and
since he already knew the theories of spin-
ning windmills using magnetic generators
to produce electricity – he wondered why
he couldn’t use bacteria?
Talk about alternative energy; and… it
worked. By putting the bacteria into small
plastic boxes and using metal electrodes
either side to get them spinning, he gener-
ated a magnetic field and electric current
- with half the voltage of an AA battery!
Find out more about other über-clever
science students from around the globe.
Mr. Reiblein’s Experimental
Biology Course
This course provides students at Horace
Mann college in New York with the chance
to try some real scientific research.
87
They gain experience of scientific method,
problem-solving and really getting their
teeth into a long-term lab project. They
may not become a scientist at the end
but at least they know more about what’s
required to be a scientist and have gained
valuable transferable skills in the process.
Knowledge gained from the projects is
collated and it’s hoped that scientists and
other students from all around the world
can benefit from this data.
Cool Stuff
And finally, as they say at the end of the
news, we’d like to pay tribute to Erasto
Mpemba, a secondary school student in
Tanzania, who pointed out to his disbeliev-
ing teacher in 1963 that ice cream froze
faster when the mixture started warm than
when it started cool.
Mpemba persisted and experiments at a
nearby university proved him right. Since
then this effect has been called the Mpem-
ba effect. Several factors lead to this coun-
ter-intuitive effect, including evaporation
rates, dissolved gases, number of nuclea-
tion sites, starting temperature and super
cooling. There’s a brief explanation and a
review article online.
We hope you’ve been inspired by this
roundup of Real Science, and we hope your
students will be as inspired as Erasto was
all those years ago.
Keep it Real!

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
http://www.ramsar.org
Science in School
http://www.scienceinschool.org
Global Water Sampling Project
http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/waterproj/index.shtml
CIESE (Center for Innovation in Engineering and Science Education)
http://www.ciese.org/
Spiders In Space
http://www.scienceinschool.org/2006/issue1/spiders/
DragonFly TV
http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/
Snorkling With Sea Cows
http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/show/manatees.html
Wonky Frogs
http://pbskids.org/dragonflytv/show/malformedfrogs.html
Those Über-Clever International Students
http://www.intel.com/technology/techresearch/research/rs05041.htm
Mr. Reiblein’s Experimental Biology Course
http://www.horacemann.pvt.k12.ny.us/academics/science/expbio/main.html
Erasto Mpemba
http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/explan4.html#mpemba
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/physics/pdf/0512/0512262.pdf
88

To everyone mentioned in this Real Science roundup -
and you all know who you are, since your names are
already in lights within the feature - we’d like to extend
a very big, hearty thank you to you all.
Alan Walker, Alex Brabbs, Alison Rivett, Andy Bullough, Andy Parkin, Andy Tasker, Ang-
harad Snow, Ann Borda, Anne Sweeney, Bonnie Laverock, Catherine Joynson, Charlotte
Cureton, Chris Chapman, Chris Hinchcliffe, Colin Osborne, Dave Stainforth, Debra Hur-
comb, Dominic McDonald, Eleanor Hayes, Emma Faragher, Eric Topham, Fiona Hay, Fiona
Marchant, Frances Chapman, Genoveva Esteban, Ginny Page, Gurjit Singh Sidhu, Jacqy
Hale, Jane Delany, Jeremy Frey, Jo Oladejo, Joerg Dietrich, John Readman, Judith Ward-
law, Julie Crawford, Karen Devine, Kat Ferris, Keith Roberts, Kenny Webster, Lachlan
Thompson, Lisa Page-Berelian, Liz Willcocks, Malcolm Walker, Mark Brake, Mark Rich-
ardson, Martin Rosinski, Michael Moore, Mimi Tanimoto, Mo Afzal, Nicola Pollock, Nicole
Harris, Paul Denton, Paul Roche, Perry Walker, Peter Finegold, Phil Smith, Rick Harwood,
Rick Swanson, Rob Kesseler, Simon Jones, Simon Parsons, Stephanie Forman, Stewart
Bullen, Sue Allenby, Sue Hunt, Sylvia Knight and William Lonergan.
This is the end of Hands On Real Science, but of course not the end of real science - we
promise to keep you up to date in our Planet Science Newsletter with all and any new
“real science” type projects, NESTA funded or not. The newsletter is free and you can
sign up at: http://www.planet-science.com/about_sy/index.html?page=/about_sy/list .
Do keep in touch if you have a project you’d like to tell people about:
planet-science.news@nesta.org.uk
89