Be a Scientist for a Day

On our 'Be a Scientist for a day' programme we welcome primary school groups to visit our labs and find out what it is like to be a real biologist.  They carry out experiments, examine specimens under our microscopes, meet our insects and carnivorous plants and explore the wonders of our zoological museum.

Our lab visits are themed, class teachers can choose from a range of topics including insects, predators and prey, plants and fossils. If you’re working on a specific theme in school let us know, we may be able to put together a package just for you.

In the lab

In the lab we focus on what scientists do. We ask questions and then help the children to answer them using observations and experiments.

We might ask ‘how do insects avoid being eaten by predators?’ The children then look at and handle a range of different insects that use different adaptations to avoid being eaten. Or we might ask ‘How do insects behave in different environmental conditions?’ the children then carry out experiments to find out the answer.

In the Museum

While half the class is in the lab the other half is exploring our zoological museum. The reaction of most children (and adults!), when they walk through the door is ‘Wow!” It’s an ‘old-fashioned’ museum packed with skeletons and whole animal specimens in glass cases, a type of museum that most children have never seen before.

Here we always start with some free time where the children can explore and ask us questions about what they see. We then look at themes such as ‘adaptation’ and ‘animal groups’. We play animal detectives, fill out worksheets and make drawings.