NORTH WEST CHILDREN GET TO GRIPS WITH SCIENCE

A FREE project that will see over 900 North West primary school age children introduced to the wonders of science has received a cash boost to enable it to run over the next year.

The ‘teach the teachers’ Primary Science Enhancement Programme gives primary school teachers the knowledge and confidence to get to grips with teaching science in the classroom.

The project was under threat until the National Skills Academy Process Industries and the North West Regional Development Agency stepped in with cash donations to secure its future.

The programme will see groups of up to 10 teachers at a time across the North West take part in practical, hands-on workshops and employer visits to equip them with the skills to teach science based subjects and carry out classroom experiments with their students. Teachers are also supported by a website where they can download lessons plans and other useful information.

The Skills Academy and the NWDA stepped in with financial support to make sure the project can take at least 30 teachers onto the year-long programme, which is free of charge to schools.

The project’s leader and Advisory Teacher Sue Andrews said:- “This new programme is modelled on the very successful Children Challenging Industry scheme, which gives primary school children the chance to go on site visits and carry out real, classroom-based science projects set by employers. Instead of teaching the children directly, which limits the number we can take, we are reaching a wider audience by disseminating the knowledge to the teacher base – in effect, we are teaching the teachers. A high proportion of primary school teachers do not have science-based degrees but are expected to teach science subjects. We aim to give them the understanding to deliver practical sessions, including investigations and experiments, and the confidence to deal with questions in the classroom environment. By bringing clusters of schools together in groups, we will also help create supportive networks so teachers can go on to build their own links with employers and industry groups. We are very grateful to the Academy and the NWDA for stepping in with the financial support that will enable us to run the programme over the next year. Their help will see us indirectly reach around 900 young children and introduce them to the wonders of science.”

Roger Langford, the Skills Academy’s Regional Skills Manager for the North West, said:- “The process industries have an urgent need to recruit more young people, to replace those workers that will be retiring over the next decade. This is a £67bn industry which employs over 61,000 in the North West alone. We need to engage young people with science at an early an age as possible, to encourage them into STEM subjects so they can make educated career choices. The project will also help dispel some of the misconceptions about the process industries. Jobs are no longer heavy manual type of roles, they require a high level of skill and knowledge and involve predominantly high-tech, computer controlled manufacturing plants that are frequently cleaner than the average home kitchen. We are very happy to support this project, which will help to spark the next generation of the science industries workforce.”

Dr Ryan Donaghey, Strategy Development Manager at NWDA added:- "This is an important project which will introduce young children to the wonders of science in the classroom. The project is a good example of how industry and academia can work together to achieve our collective aims to improve the take up of STEM subjects. These children are set to become our future scientists and we are happy to add our support to such a worthwhile initiative."

Warning Over Winter’s Effect On Local Wildlife
Photograph by Ian Fairbrother & report by James Ellaby, The Wildlife Trust

WHILST we are held to ransom by a serious cold snap, wildlife may also be struggling to cope with the snow and ice, warns the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside. Our wildlife is amazingly hardy and adaptable and can put up with a pounding from the weather. But prolonged periods of cold, continuing for weeks or months at a time, or severe and sudden changes in the weather, can cause it major problems.

Grazing animals, whether domestic sheep or wild hares, may not be able to get to the plants to feed because of snow and ice. And the frozen ground prevents rabbits and hares from nibbling grass, making these plant-lovers stay at home, so predators like stoats and owls find it harder to spot and catch them.

There is also less food around in hedgerows and woodlands for foragers - leaves have gone, plants withered or covered with snow, hedges stripped of berries, and insects dead from the cold or stuck in frozen soil or ponds.

Not many of our mammals actually hibernate for long periods during winter, they simply prefer to sleep when it gets cold, occasionally emerging to see what food might be available. But when severe weather hits, it's much harder for mammals like badgers, hares, stoats and foxes to graze, forage or hunt for food: already we're seeing foxes being more bold and more active in broad daylight. It can cause problems for some insects too.

Those which are active in the winter, such as winter-gnats and minotaur beetles, can cope with periods of cold weather, but deep snow may prevent them feeding for weeks at a time.

Perhaps surprisingly, insects and other animals which hibernate usually do better in cold winters: they use less energy while hibernating, and are less likely to be disturbed and come out to look for food which isn't there. So, butterflies like the brimstone, peacock and comma, which hibernate as adults, and indeed, the other resident butterflies which spend the winter as eggs, caterpillars or crysalids, could benefit from this cold winter.

Likewise the mammals which do go into real hibernation, the dormouse and the bats, may appreciate the cold. Perhaps the most difficult circumstance for most wildlife is bouts of severe cold and snow, interspersed with warmer-than-normal conditions, which wake them up, only for the next cold spell to drive them back (or, in the case of plants, harsh frost might even damage the premature tender shoots).

If you'd like to help our wildlife cope this winter and in future winters, try the following steps:-

► Put out nuts, seeds, fat and water for garden birds.

► Grow patches of tall grass in your garden to shelter butterflies.

► Don't cut back your herbabeous plants till the spring, so their hollow stems can provide snug hibernation sites for ladybirds and other beneficial insects.

► Provide insect homes for over-wintering lacewings and other invertebrates.

► Buy or make a hedgehog home for hibernating hogs.

► Grow climbers like ivy to provide shelter for birds and insects.