York

The Chemistry at Work event at York, which takes place annually at the University of York, has become a popular event in the school calendar. The event in 2006 took place on three days in March and welcomed almost 500 students from 14 secondary schools from across York and North Yorkshire. 

Feedback from teachers and students attending the event is consistently positive. They welcome the opportunity to get ‘hands-on’ experience of how chemistry is applied in a wide range of work situations. Businesses and organisations that provided practical workshops included: 

• Yorkshire Water (water is just water isn’t it?)   
  
• North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue (bang box)   
  
• University of York (green chemistry, solving a murder with DNA and using IT in industry)    
  
• Croda Oleochemicals (various experiments)    
  
• SETPOINT North Yorkshire (‘slime’ and ‘getting plastered’)    
  
• Coca-Cola Enterprises Ltd (with freebies!)   
  

The talk by Andrew Rogerson on ‘smart materials’ was extremely popular. Almost all of the teachers there wanted more information! Finally the two brave PGCE students from Joseph Rowntree School had everyone transfixed with the ‘screaming jelly babies’.   

Success of the event is due to the outstanding organisation provided by partners: SETPOINT North Yorkshire, NYBEP and Science City York, as well as the excellent venue in the Chemistry laboratories.   

Keep an eye out in SETPOINT North Yorkshire’s regular newsletter ‘STEM News’ for details of the event in 2007.