14 March 2008

Local school children "pop" into Chemical & Process Engineering

Groups of future engineers and scientists visited Chemical and Process Engineering this week to take part in a series of events organised for National Science and Engineering Week, called "Chemical Engineering in the Kitchen". These events attracted school children aged between 9 and 13 years old from three local schools - Tapton School in Sheffield, Bawtry Mayflower Primary school in Doncaster and Aston Comprehensive School in Sheffield.

National Science & Engineering Week is a week long series of events designed to promote science, engineering and technology. Chemical Engineering in the kitchen is designed to highlight to school children - the chemical engineers of the future - how interesting, challenging, and above all, fun chemical engineering can be.

The children conducted experiments in our labs which taught them the basic principles of chemical engineering. They made candy floss and pop corn, investigated the smells used in common confectionary and drink products and produced their own Pot Noodle flavours!

Simon Butler, the Schools Liaison Officer for Chemical and Process Engineering, was thrilled at how enthusiastic the children were about science and engineering. He said "it was great to see how much they enjoyed taking part in the experiments and how they had a real thirst for knowledge about chemical engineering and science in general".

The schools definitely noticed how much the children enjoyed the event. Julie Jenkinson, Headteacher of Bawtry Mayflower Primary School said "the children thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience of coming to university and learning about chemical engineering in the kitchen - the popcorn proved to be very popular!".