Biomedical scientist impresses at Grangetown

IBMS member Hayley Pincott, Associate Practitioner at the University Hospital of Wales, was invited to speak to Year 4 classes at Grangetown Primary School. This is her account of her experience:

“I was invited to speak and arrange some practical work with a couple of Yr4 classes as they’ve been learning about the human body.

I started off with a quick 5-10 minute talk about our role in pathology and how our work is important to help doctors make sure they give the right medicine to make people better. I then went on to explain how the practical work I’d set up shows the different disciplines of pathology.

Firstly I had a box with some “blood” I had made up to explain the different components and these need to be separated for us to test blood in the hospital. To show this I had some beads sprinkled on top of some jelly in a cup, the children then had to swing the cup around to show how centrifugal force works and move the beads to the bottom of the cup and the jelly on top represented the serum in the blood that is tested in Biochemistry.

I also had them take some cheek swabs which I stained with methylene blue and we had a look under a microscope so they could see some cells. At another station I had a sneeze zone set up where the children could use a water spray bottle to show how germs spread when you sneeze and how covering your mouth can make a difference with how far germs can be spread. Lastly we grew some bugs on some bread.

All the children got very inventive with this, they wiped the floor with a slice of bread, one child wanted to use the bottom of their shoe and another wanted to see what was on their face. I left that with them to see what would grow, I hoped to show them that bugs are all around us and not all of them are anything to be worried about unless in high quantities or if they are ill to start with.

I was taken aback somewhat by all the questions they had and I explained that it’s very important to ask questions, especially in science.  

All the children seemed to enjoy the practical work, it was just a shame we ran out of time. I absolutely loved going to speak at the school to showcase and explain pathology.”

Want to promote the profession to students like Hayley? See our page on public engagement. If you’re already signed up to lead a session on biomedical science and want our help, contact pe@ibms.org.