‘A Discipline’ Of Scientists? ‘An Einstein’ Of Scientists?

We are not sure what  the collective noun for a group of scientists should be ( ‘a bunsen’? ‘A quantum’? ‘A study’? )  but what we do know is that we were extremely lucky that lots and lots of scientists gave up their time this week to come and share their experiences and knowledge with the pupils at Charles Dickens Primary School. We are extremely grateful to each and every one of you.

Today, we welcomed Dr Giovanna Lalli and Dr David Chambers ( both neuroscientists at Kings College London). We also welcomed Dr Kier Shiel, a paediatrician and Ms Ami Sawran, a vet at the Royal Vetrinary College – Mixie, the Shitz- Zu, whilst not a scientist was also a welcome guest and demonstrated how science can improve the lives of animals.

From the photographs, you can see the sessions were both enthralling and interactive. With Dr Shiel, Pickwick class learnt about germs and bugs and how to diagnose illnesses from blood tests, using a stethoscope and from X-Rays. Ms Sawran talked about the job of a vet with Nursery and Reception classes – we met Mixie and learnt how the vets saved her sight in one eye after she suffered from Glaucoma. Dr Chambers taught us all about neurones and how the different parts of the body send messages to each other – our favourite part was seeing how the brain develops in embryos – the human body is a very clever thing!

We held a Q and A session with all the scientists in the afternoon. Here are some of the questions the School Council asked them – can you remember the answers?

1. Can you describe your typical day?

2. What are most proud of about your job?

3. When you were in school, what subjects did you study?

4. What would you like to work on next?