Through the TGAC4Kids on the road programme, the Public Engagement and Society Group at TGAC arrange trips to schools, running activities to engage children with genomics, genetics and bioinformatics. With a range of activities designed for different age groups, the programme will build on its early success with more events for the next academic year.
These visits, specially coordinated to complement the Year 6 science curriculum, saw a group of 46 pupils at Norwich High and 26 for Lionwood enjoy an afternoon of fun science activities.
After a brief introduction to TGAC, the pupils learnt about the structure of both animal and plant cells. They each were given a cell party hat that related to a different organelle and, by reading facts off each other’s hats, the students learnt about the functions of a range of cell components.
The pupils then rotated around a series of activities. They got hands-on with DNA raspberry, blueberries and satsuma extraction; making the DNA visible to the human eye to see which fruit yielded the most genetic data. As well as learning about the structure of DNA through using a collection of sweets to construct models of the molecule.
A phylogenetics activity, where pupils arranged the family tree of either a group of vertebrates or land plants, helped the students to understand the complex evolutionary relationships between living organisms.
Peter Bickerton, Public Engagement and Society Officer in the 361⁰ Division at TGAC, said: “It’s great to see that TGAC4Kids on the road has been a success every time. Although we have a relatively new programme of activities, the events have gone from strength to strength and the teachers were delighted with the activities we provided. The pupils clearly enjoyed themselves, judging by the positive feedback we received from all of them, and they learned a lot in just two hours. We look forward to taking TGAC4Kids on the road to as many schools as possible.”
Volunteer at the event, Vicky Goody, Research Assistant at TGAC, commented: “This was a great opportunity for us to show the kids how fun learning about the genome can be. The games and activities got everyone involved and the kids were very enthusiastic and excited to be taking part. I very much enjoyed volunteering at this event and hope to do so again at events in the future.”
Feedback from the students and teachers on the visits included: “Thanks a lot, I really enjoyed it. It inspired me to be a scientist”, “Fun, interesting, different, amazing and inspiring! Thank you for an awesome time!”, “I found the day interesting and exciting. My favourite activity was the DNA extraction when we removed DNA from the nucleus” and “Thank you very much for Friday, the kids loved it – the teachers were very impressed too.”
Image: Pupils used a collection of sweets to construct DNA models
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For more information, please contact:
Hayley London
Marketing & Communications Officer, The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC)
T: +44 (0) 1603 450107
E: [email protected]
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