Our Laboratory Manager, Emma, was delighted to take part in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) afternoon at the local junior school recently. The afternoon was designed to inspire the children with an enthusiasm for STEM subjects outside of the national curriculum and to showcase their applications in the real world.
The whole school was involved, many children had made posters about a STEM subject of their choice which were displayed around the school, others had created experiments that they demonstrated to their peers. Alongside this there were practical stalls from adults who work within STEM subjects showing what they do and how STEM is used in people’s careers.
Eco Marine’s was one of several stalls the children could visit alongside others including the Bath Geological Society and the Herschel Museum of Astronomy. Emma took along a large selection of preserved marine fauna from the Eco Marine reference collection for the children to have a look at which demonstrated the diversity of marine fauna found around the UK coast. Specimens ranged from larger fish, starfish, and crabs, including some invasive non-native species such as the Chinese Mitten Crab, Eriocheir sinensis, through to smaller specimens such as annelids, caprellids and pycnogonids that could be viewed under a microscope. The children loved not only looking at the specimens but being able to get hands on and handle the larger specimens. There were a lot of shrieks and giggles alongside the amazement and questions! The feedback from both the children and staff was really positive and Eco Marine look forward to taking part in future events that will inspire children with a love of science and our environment.