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Hello Caroline, We had a stand with "hands-on" experiments at the recent BA Festival of Science in Exeter. The kids loved them (and the activities at all the other stands in the hall) ! - I asked quite a few of our visitors if they did do experiments of this kind at school and the majority said that they did not. I also went to a Meccano workshop and one of the educators there commented that many young children had to learn that "for nuts one required bolts, too." Just a few examples of some sad developments and I'm not surprised that less and less children are interested in science and want to study chemistry etc at university level. The solution(s) ? Well, I am sure there are many approaches, we do the following: - project oriented workshops in schools, eg URL http://www.seed.slb.com/en/voices/education/thailand_lwd/index.htm - active learning (constructionism), eg URL http://www.seed.slb.com/en/voices/science/villahermosa/index.htm - virtual experiments that support real experiments, eg URL http://www.seed.slb.com/en/scictr/lab/buoy_exp/index.htm - "Lab in a Lorry", an interactive mobile physics lab staffed by volunteer practising physicists and engineers, URL http://www.labinalorry.org/ Best wishes, Bernd Bernd Eggen Science Expert SEED Foundation (SEED = Schlumberger Excellence in Educational Development) URL http://www.seed.slb.com/ At 14:06 28/09/2004 +0000, you wrote: >I just had lunch with someone who told me that most schools no longer let >pupils use bunsen burners for fear of falling foul of health and safety. Is >this true? If so, what on earth do they do in chemistry/physics/biology >lessons? > > >Caroline Davis >Reporter - Times Higher Education Supplement > >Admiral House >66-68 East Smithfield >London E1W 1BX >Tel +44 (0)20 7782 3296 >Fax +44 (0)20 7782 3300 >[log in to unmask] >www.thes.co.uk ********************************************************************** 1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following message: set psci-com nomail 2. To resume email from the list, send the following message: set psci-com mail 3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message: leave psci-com 4. Further information about the psci-com discussion list, including list archive, can be found at the list web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html 5. The psci-com gateway to internet resources on science communication and science and society can be found at http://psci-com.org.uk **********************************************************************