×
Me, my health and my children's health
PI: Marcus Grace
Aims
- To provide and determine the impact of establishing a classroom project, LifeLab for secondary school pupils within a university hospital research setting.
- To test a new method of student participation to tackle major contemporary health issues facing young people.
Methods
The initial pilot project for LifeLab was funded through a Wellcome Trust People’s Award .
Students visited their local university hospital medical research facility and gained first-hand experience of modern biomedical practices and techniques.
The project enabled students to:
- Experience for themselves some of the latest exciting developments in science with a focus on understanding how our early lives have effects on our later health
- Learn about how they can improve their own health and the health of their future children under a framework of ‘Me, my health and my children’s health’.
- Become enthusiastic about science such that they consider further study and careers in scientific disciplines.
The project ran for one year (Jan 2009-Jan 2010) and employed two teachers part time to trial and evaluate the feasibility of running LifeLab activity days
Impact to date
You can read the paper here .
The project was very successful, two 天发娱乐棋牌_天发娱乐APP-官网|下载 state schools participated – Redbridge Community College and Upper Shirley High - and it culminated in a schools’ conference and celebration event attended by parents and local dignitaries, at which the students showcased their science posters and took part in a debate around health issues.
This pilot study measured students’ knowledge and views before and six months after the LifeLab visit.
Key findings were that the one-day LifeLab visit created a sustained understanding that early life nutrition can have a long-term effect on our health, and it raised students’ interest in taking science beyond compulsory schooling and following science-based career.
Upper Shirley High were commended for taking part in Lifelab in their school’s Ofsted report