The William Perkin story started with a child being fascinated by science – and setting out to ask ‘Why?’ and ‘What for?’ What a perfect school for a visit to inspire students to go into research.
Breathing Matters and Dr Pascal Durrenberger, a STEM ambassador and UCL Respiratory scientist, took part in the William Perkins CofE High School Founders’ Day celebrations on Friday 11th May 2018 as part of the Big Bang London Programme @ Schools Events. The Big Bang programme actively helps promote STEM subjects throughout the UK (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths).
Our workshop was called “The Lung Project”. Dr Durrenberger gave an inspirational talk to the students explaining how and why he got into science research.
We then had three main activities for the children:
- X-man Pneumatico (a ping-pong breathing game)
- Play Histologist (identifying lung diseases on microscope slides)
- Help the Lung Scientist (medical quiz).
There were points to win on all sessions and we gave out prizes to the students with the most points.
The Founders Day included many eminent scientists, including Lord Professor Robert Winston (of a ‘Child of our Time’ fame) and Professor Sara Rankin from Imperial College.
Feedback from the day was very positive with numerous students specifically mentioning our workshop: ‘The best thing I did today was… “Breathing session”. “Lung Workshop”.
A special thank you goes to Michelle Drew from Waterstones Piccadilly for donating books as prizes. Funding was also provided by Breathing Matters.