Around 90 final year secondary school pupils from throughout the North-east will attend a special Chemistry seminar tomorrow (Tuesday, September 7) at the University of Aberdeen as part of their Advanced Higher studies in the subject.
Around 90 S6 pupils from 20 North-east secondary schools will visit the undergraduate laboratories of the Chemistry Department to carry out a variety of experiments relevant to their Advanced Higher Chemistry course. Around 20 teachers will accompany the pupils. Local Education authorities represented are Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray, Highland and Angus.
Dr Mary Masson, Senior Teaching Fellow in the Chemistry Department at the University, who has helped organise the visit and will assist participants, said: “Last year, the pupils really enjoyed the opportunity to concentrate on their experiments without constant interruptions from school bells. The large number of visitors is quite a challenge for us, but I have a great team of experienced postgraduate students who are looking forward to helping this year’s pupils with their Advanced Higher Chemistry studies.”
Tomorrow’s Chemistry experiments are taking place as part of the University’s S6 Enhancement Unit that aims to support final year school pupils who are studying Advanced Highers, particularly in Science subjects. Maggie Eggeling, S6 Enhancement Unit Development Officer, said: “This is the second year we have run the programme and are very pleased that this year we have almost doubled the number of school students participating. We are glad that so many teachers have showed confidence in this event by returning again this year.”