Swale Schoolchildren Discover Science Is Fun

Posted on 11 May 2012

On the 4th May, Kent Science Park held a prize giving ceremony for the winners of its annual “Science is Fun” competition. 50 primary school children from around Swale won a fun science kit as a prize, with all winners invited to the park to take part in a prize giving ceremony and activity afternoon.

Accompanied by parents, guardians and siblings, the 50 winners received their prizes from real life scientists who work at Vivacta Ltd, a KSP based company who have revolutionised point of care diagnostics in the healthcare sector. The winning children also took part in some hands-on science experiments in the laboratories of the Kent Science Resource Centre, before being accompanied outside to watch the explosive reaction caused by combining soft mints and diet cola.

Kent Science Park has been running the “Science is Fun” initiative for four years now, with the aim of the initiative being to inspire Swale’s budding scientists. In total, there were over 400 entries from 50 schools across Swale, with the 50 winners being selected at random. Each school that took part received enough science activity sheets for every child, containing a dot-to-dot colouring-in page, fun science experiments and interesting facts.

Paul Price, Marketing Director at Kent Science Park, said: “I was incredibly pleased to see so many of Swale’s school children visiting the park last week. The point of our ‘Science is Fun’ competition is to encourage young people in Swale to engage with science, as they will become the scientists of the future. I sincerely hope that over the next ten years we see some of our winners coming back to Sittingbourne to work in high-tech science jobs right here on the park.”

Vivacta scientists Kirstin Whibley and Jason Thompson presented the children with their prizes. The pair entertained the children with stories about their jobs and spoke about the exciting careers that studying science can lead to.

Jason commented: “I think that what Kent Science Park is doing to get young people involved in science is wonderful, and Kirstin and I were delighted to have been asked to help out. If just one child goes away from the day with a renewed interest in science then the day is more than worthwhile.”

Julie Coleman, Manager of the Kent Science Resource Centre also commented: “This kind of event is an excellent use of the Kent Science Resource Centre. Our facility was originally created to provide technician training for scientific industries in Kent and we are delighted to augment the science teaching in schools by providing access to state of the art facilities and engaging children with simple science activities they can try at home.”

Pictures from the afternoon can be found at facebook.com/kentsciencepark

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