Nurturing a love of science

Some 100 school and college students have taken part in hands-on activities at Cardiff University designed to nurture their interest in science.

Students and staff from Caerleon Comprehensive School near Newport and Bridgend College joined in workshops from 3D printing to DIY brain surgery on jelly.

The Full STEAM Ahead activities – covering Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics – were organised by Cardiff University staff and postgraduate students.

The workshops, which took place at the University, were:

• DIY brain surgery with Dr Emma Yhnell – students carried out brain surgery on jelly
• 3D printing with Alex Safar – students designed and printed their own memento
• ChemCoding with Luke Smallman – students used computer code to build and use a Lego spectrometer (instrument that measures radiation types and wavelength)
• Game theory with Nikoleta Glynatsi – students modelled how players interact in a game

Scott Morgan, from Cardiff University’s School of Mathematics, said: "It was great to see so many students get together for a day of fun STEAM workshops. I hope that the activities have helped open their minds to the wonderful possibilities of these subjects. The organisers would particularly like to thank Carl Clement from Emotion Robotics who provided lunch for all of the students on the day."

Stuart Ball, head of maths at Caerleon Comprehensive, said: "Our students had an excellent experience at Full STEAM Ahead. Throughout the day our students were positively engaged in many different activities. The game theory behind The Prisoner’s Dilemma has turned into a hot topic of debate among our students. We look forward to continuing our work with Scott to develop further STEM opportunities in the future."