On Wednesday 22nd of June 2022, volunteers from the Department of Biochemistry and the Centre for Medicines Discovery (CMD), led by Darragh Ennis and members of the Department's Public Engagement Committee, organised a science fair in the John Henry Newman Academy in Littlemore. We had 10 stalls organised for what would be a very fun day with a lot of different scientific activities for 4-7 years old.
It was very rewarding for us to give a chance to children to learn some science by a range of fun activities going from DIY Lava lamps to experiments with rocket balloons, a protein separation activity, DNA precipitation from a banana and DNA bracelets, microscopy and foldscopes, activities on cell organisation, virus and vaccines, and dressing up to look like a scientist in lab coats and goggles.
Both the children and volunteers really enjoyed it, and it was amazing to see kids getting so involved and so excited about the different activities!
The school has already asked us to organise a similar science fair for older kids in a few months and we have been hearing that some other schools would be interested as well. We will be very happy to have more volunteers coming with us in our next events!
If you want to know more about it or if you are interested in taking part in our next science fair, please contact Darragh ( darragh.ennis@bioch.ox.ac.uk ).