In response to the recent Department for Education and Skills (DfES) report on the deployment of maths and science teachers the Royal Society of Chemistry says that to enthuse and inspire the next generation of chemists more new specialist chemistry teachers are needed to teach the subject at all levels in schools and colleges. One way of attracting undergraduates to a career teaching chemistry is to let them see first-hand what teaching is really like and how rewarding it can be. This is the aim of the Undergraduate Ambassadors Scheme (UAS), a national initiative launched in 2002 and funded by the Training Development Agency. 

Introducing UAS 

Aimed at undergraduates in the final or penultimate year of a science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) degree, the scheme is run locally by each student’s university by using its links with local schools. Students spend three–four hours per week in a school for about 10 weeks, working closely with one teacher. From the start students are given training and materials to prepare them for working in the classroom. Participants keep a journal of their experiences and at the end of the module give a presentation. These, combined with a report from the teacher, form the assessment for the module, for which students receive academic credit towards their final degree.

In its first year, 28 maths and physics students from four universities took part in the scheme. Three years on and the scheme has grown quickly with ca50 STEM departments in 24 universities running UAS modules as part of degrees for 2005/6. Of these six are chemistry departments. The initiative appears to be achieving its aim too. Of the 174 undergraduates who took part in the scheme in 2004/5, 18 per cent have applied for teacher training courses. 

A chemist’s experience 

So what’s the UAS experience like for a chemistry student? To find out Education in Chemistrytracked down Martin Bennett, undergraduate at the University of Southampton. Along with three of his peers, Bennett completed a UAS module in the third year of his MChem degree in 2004/5, the first time the scheme had been run as part of Southampton’s chemistry degree course. ‘I’ve always been interested in teaching as a possible career so the UAS module seemed a great opportunity to get some teaching experience’, he says.  

Bennett chose to do his placement with Hounsdown School in Totton, Southampton, an 11–16 comprehensive with science specialist school status. Here he worked closely with science teacher Nicky Cook. ‘For the first few weeks of the module I arranged a timetable for Martin to observe and support me and my colleagues in the classroom so that he could see different teaching techniques and pick up tips along the way’, she explains. Cook also discussed with Bennett his special project. The school was looking to expand its enrichment activities to younger pupils so she suggested he organise and run six one-hour, after school sessions for Year 8 pupils. ‘I decided to teach light and luminescence’, says Bennett. The idea of an after school ‘club’ also meant that Bennett could fit his teaching at the school around a busy third-year chemistry timetable of lectures and lab work. 

Bennett spent the first ‘nerve-racking’ lesson finding out what his 14 students knew about light. In the remaining lessons he taught the students about luminescence. ‘I used lots of demonstrations and got the students doing practicals. In one lesson the group discussed the risk of overexposure to the sun and investigated the protection offered by different factor sun creams the students had brought in from home. Using fluorescent marker pens, the students made marks on pieces of paper and placed these inside a plastic wallet’, he explains, ‘they then smeared onto the plastic a different factor sun block to cover each pen mark. To determine each cream’s blocking ability the students observed how much the pen marks showed up under a uv light’. In another lesson Bennett demonstrated phosphorescence and fluorescence using natural phosphorescent rocks, and glow-in-the-dark toys brought in by the students. Following a brief introduction on polymers the students got to make their own glow-in-the-dark and fluorescent slime.  

Many of the materials for Bennett’s practicals were supplied by the university. ‘The department’s schools liaison coordinator, Dr Gill Reid, was a great help because she could supply props and activities that we knew worked’, he admits.  

UAS – a recommendation

Although the module is hard work, the benefits are many and varied according to Bennett, ‘The highlight for me was the special project. I now realise it takes a lot of time to plan and prepare a good lesson but it’s so rewarding when the students give you positive feedback. I developed new skills and with each lesson my confidence grew in my presenting skills and in my ability to run group discussions and answer students’ questions’.  

According to UAS organiser at Southampton University, Professor Ray d’Inverno, other students have had similarly rewarding experiences on the scheme. ‘In the space of just one semester, they blossom into articulate, reflective, enthusiastic individuals’, he says. 

Currently completing his final year Bennett is yet to decide on his next step. ‘I really enjoyed the module so teaching is definitely something I’ll consider’, he says. Since the UAS module, however, another option has opened up to him – a company developing methods for removing nitrates from groundwater has offered him a job following a six-month placement he completed as part of his final year.  

Bennett recommends the scheme to other Southampton students. ‘Even if you’re not thinking of going into teaching it’s a good way to learn and develop transferable skills and build confidence in yourself when speaking to an audience. You don’t get many chances to do that in a chemistry course’, he says. Meanwhile, Hounsdown School will welcome two UAS students this year. ‘I recommended our ICT department get involved too’, says Cook, ‘Martin’s contribution has enthused our students to find out more about chemistry’.

 James Berressem