CITER activities
CITER offers a number of curriculum linked school engagement activities as part of the Primary Schools outreach programme. Some of the activities are also demonstrated at public events.
Our team of scientists delivers the portfolio of activities to enthuse young children about science. Activities are aimed at children in key stage 1 and key stage 2 and teach them about the wonders of tissue engineering and repair.
Activities include:
- maggot racing
- blood and cells
- bones and organs
- blast-a-biofilm
- virtual rehabilitation movement games.
Take part
We are inviting primary schools to attend our schools engagement workshops within the University, as well as visiting primary schools in Cardiff and the surrounding areas where required.
Our workshops are open to all and free of charge. For more information contact:
CITER office
Online video activities
Did you know that there are good and bad microbes or that maggots can be used to heal wounds? Ever wondered what each of our organs does or which is the smallest bone in the body? Request our video activities to help find out the answers to these cool science questions and many more!
Contact CITER directly to request the video links and all associated activity sheets and competition details for these fun activities!
How maggots can be used to help heal wounds
Watch our video about maggots and wound healing
The weird and wonderful world of microbes
Watch our video about the world of microbes
Bones and organs
Maggot racing
The maggot racing workshop aims to outline the clinical application of maggots in wound care and healing using a short poster presentation. Following the presentation children get the opportunity to take part in a fun and interactive maggot race. Each group names a maggot and encourages it towards the finish line. The owner of the winning maggot receives a certificate.
Blood and cells
The 'blood and cells' activity includes a session on blood in the body including ‘guess how many bottles of blood are in our bodies’, blood cell facts and job descriptions plus a hands on creating element where the children make (and keep) a cell out of modelling clay.
Bones and organs
The 'bones and organs' activity includes a 'guess how big' game where the children guess how long the guts in our body are, how heavy our brains are, and how much skin covers our bodies plus an activity where the children have to work out where various bones and organs go in our bodies.
Blood, bones and gory bits workshop
The 'blood, bones and gory bits' workshop includes the above aforementioned three activities (bones and organs, blood and cells and maggot racing) whereby the activities are delivered simultaneously in a morning or afternoon session to a class of 30 children.
Blast-a-biofilm
The 'blast-a-biofilm' workshop is a hands-on activity for school children and members of the public, developed to introduce microbes and biofilms. Biofilms are common in nature and, as the favoured mode of growth for microbes, biofilms affect many parts of everyday life. This activity is two fold in that it firstly introduces children to good and bad microbes whilst children participate in their own experiment.
It also highlights the key concepts of biofilms in relation to dental plaque. Children use plasticine to model bacteria, with hair gel as the extracellular polymeric substance to form a biofilm matrix (slime). The children then attempt to 'blast' first the free, non-adherent bacteria, then the biofilms they built using water pistols. The outcome is that biofilms are much harder to remove which explains the importance of regular brushing to remove dental plaque.
Virtual rehabilitation movement games
The 'virtual rehabilitation movement games' teach children about body movement, the function and importance of muscles and how rehabilitation is needed when muscles have trouble functioning properly. This workshop highlights the key concepts of how physical exercises can help make muscles stronger.
The games perform up to 17 unique movements which are grounded in movement sciences to enable standardised, objective analysis of movement performance via wireless motion sensors attached to the front and back of the body. The sensors capture the tiniest movements in the body in 3D and in real-time. In a 25 minute session for a group of eight to 10 children, each child will play the selected game for two minutes.