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Good News: Chemistry Showcase
Chemistry Showcase – 4th November
All About STEM’s “Showcasing Chemistry” teacher CPD inspired our local teachers to connect STEM ambassadors to the chemistry curriculum. 3 brilliant ambassadors from across the country introduced who they are and what they do relating to the chemistry curriculum. Valentina, from Hub Merseyside and Cheshire, and her presentation on ‘Chemistry in the NHS lab’ covered why chemistry skills she learned were so important in her biology-based job – from understanding the differences between non-ionic and ionic detergents to picking the right chemical stains for tissue samples in the pathology lab.
Abigail, a quality assurance specialist, told us about the amazing experience she had doing an industrial placement before stepping out into the world of work. Increasing her confidence and building her problem-solving skills the project had the potential to save millions of pounds for the company – showcasing real life applications of chemistry and engineering knowledge! Telling us about her master’s project focused on renewable energy, we learnt that solar cells only have around 14% efficiency and how important work is being done to find new, more efficient materials to help the climate crisis.
Maike, from RGU in Aberdeen, passed on the important message of not being afraid to change your path or career when you know it isn’t for you. After coming from an analytical lab in Germany, their important work now uses lab skills like filtration, distillation, and mass spectrometry to detect small, but potentially dangerous, amounts of pharmaceuticals in the environment. Did you know, beta-blockers aren’t fully absorbed by humans and can affect fish in ponds and rivers?! We didn’t either!
All About STEM works on lots of exciting STEM projects. As part of the STEM Learning family, we manage the STEM Ambassador Hub in Merseyside, Cheshire and Warrington, working closely with the regional Science Learning Partnerships in Merseyside and Warrington and Cheshire and Stockport.
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