One experiment showed the children how shaking someone’s hand transfers glitter, which represented bacteria, to the other person’s hand. Another experiment demonstrated how washing hands properly gets rid of microbes. By pressing their fingers on an agar plate (where microbes can grow) before and after washing their hands with normal soap and Dettol soap, the children were able to compare the soaps and see if there was a difference.
Dr Snoeck, who is the Senior Business Manager at the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences, commented: ‘The children were all very engaged; they absolutely loved doing real experiments and translating this into everyday life!’
Workshops on subjects including cyber security, paper programming, biology and microbiology were run throughout the week at St Nicholas’ Primary School and the parents of the pupils were the ones to deliver them. Dr Snoeck is a member of the Parent Science Network at the school and has previously run a science club for year 4 children on microscopy.