15 Jul 09

The trail ended with an Accelerate! session. Organized, run and presented by postgraduate students from the University of Oxford Physics department, Accelerate! aims to bring the excitement of particle and accelerator physics to school pupils.

Oxfordshire school pupils followed a new science trail round the city and the University last week, looking at a range of topics, from physics to physiology.

The 75 fourteen and fifteen year olds were split in to three groups, each following a trail named after a famous scientist.

The Marie Curie, Charles Darwin and Robert Winston trails started at the Department of Physics and took in lunch at a college, with science sessions throughout the day in different departments.

Lorna Stevenson, Physics Access Officer at the Department of Physics, says: ‘We wanted to show the variety of science that happens in Oxford and the links between the subjects.’

Sessions included computing programming, an introduction to physiology, cool and crazy chemistry, bioinformatics and making goo in materials science.

Anne-Marie Canning, Access Officer at University College, and Naomi Capell, a University Access Officer, were also part of the team that organised the science trails. Naomi said: ‘I think this is a great collaboration between colleges and departments across the University. They have both been really generous with their time and resources.’

This summer’s trail was a pilot and it is hoped more students can tour the science highlights of Oxford next year.