Aberystwyth celebrates Science Week
Postgraduate students Melissa Day (left) and Anni Vanhatalo (on the bike) from Sports and Exercise Science showing pupils from Bro Ddyfi how an athlete's performance – oxygen intake, carbon dioxide output and heart beat - is monitored during exercise in the Physiology lab.
16 March 2006
Aberystwyth celebrates Science Week
As part of National Science Week over 800 primary and secondary school pupils from Ceredigion, Powys and Gwynedd have visited the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
On Monday 13 March over 600 Ceredigion primary school pupils attended Kolour Kaleidoscope at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre. Organised by the Aber Bio Centre – Institute of Biological Sciences, Institute of Rural Sciences and the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research - the theme for the day was exploring colour use in nature.
Amongst the many exhibits and experiments were how insects see flowers, how seashore creatures use camouflage, how the brain can sometimes trick you into seeing the ‘wrong' colour, the power of flowers and how genetics controls colour.
A model making competition generated a huge and colourful response. Giraffes, exotic fish from the Amazon and centipedes and millipedes galore were created using materials of all kinds. The first prize for the best school entry was shared between Comins Coch and Ysgol Gymraeg, with each school receiving £150.
Individual entry winners were William Barker from Comins Coch and Gwenno Stevens from Ysgol Gymraeg who shared the first prize, Aaron Lewis from Comins Coch and David Marvelly from Ysgol Gymraeg who shared the second prize. Third prize winners were Daisy Farrington, Rowena Donnison and Kirk Belcher from Comins Coch, and Matt Phillips, Sian Spence and Nathan Edwards from Ysgol Gymraeg. First prize winners each received a £30 book token, second prize winners received a £20 book token each and third prize winners received a £15 book token each.
On Thursday and Friday (16 and 17th March) secondary school pupils from Dolgellau, Ysgol Bro Ddyfi Machynlleth, Tregaron, Penglais and Lampeter visited various science departments at UWA. At the Department of Sports and Exercise Science they visited the Biomechanics Lab, were given a demonstration of calculating body weight using the underwater weighing tank in the Anthropometry lab and how the body reacts to physical exercise in the physiology laboratory.
Science On Air
Science Week at Aberystwyth was launched with a 25 minute phone in programme on Radio Ceredigion on Friday 10 March. Members of staff answered questions posed by secondary school pupils on Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Full versions of the answers, including some which could not be answered on the programme due to lack to time, will also appear online.
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