Twenty eight pupils from Greenfields Community School in the Meadows will be treated to a full tour of the Plant Sciences Division at the campus on Thursday March 13 2008 before facing a series of challenging tasks.
The trip, funded by a grant from the British Association for Science, is part of the Plant Sciences Division's outreach programme.
Teacher Celia Lyons, from Greenfields, said: “This is a great opportunity for the children to see what plant science is all about. They've heard about the great facilities out at Sutton Bonington, and this is their chance to experience it first-hand. The visit also ties in with their curriculum, so they will be putting what they learn in the classroom to good use.”
The group will be taken on a tour of the division's hi-tech greenhouses, before getting down to the serious business, with help from researchers from the Centre for Plant Integrative Biology, also based at Sutton Bonington.
Professor Malcolm Bennett, head of the division, explained: “We've organised a set of experiments for the children to learn how seeds germinate. We'll set up our microscopes for the children to use, giving them the chance to have a look at plants up close and enhance what they're learning in the classroom. The morning's events will finish with a chance to look deep inside plants using a special microscope used by Plant Scientists.”
The Plant Sciences Division is one of the largest communities of plant scientists in the UK. Around 160 people work in the Division, which welcomes visiting scientists from all over the world, reinforcing its reputation as a world renowned centre. The Centre for Plant Integrative Biology (CPIB) is funded by the Systems Biology joint initiative of BBSRC and EPSRC, which has provided £27M for six specialised centres across the UK.
Source: By The University Of Nottingham
