How do you explain biochemistry to a five year old? This was the challenge given to the Department of Biochemistry's Miriam Sharpe and Shar Rae-Whitcombe when they spent a week at Koraunui Primary School in Lower Hutt. They met up with science facilitator Suzanne Bassett, of Victoria University, who is introducing science to children in the lower North Island using the Lab in a Box.
Lab in a Box is a shipping container converted into a teaching laboratory. Scientists use the Box to provide children with access to equipment and knowledge they do not normally have in the classroom.
The project is headed by the Department of Biochemistry's Professor Peter Dearden, and funded by the Government's Unlocking Curious Minds contestable fund. It has been trucked to many different schools and communities around the country since it was first launched in October 2015.
The children at Koraunui School had loads of fun learning about biochemistry, building models of molecules, extracting DNA out of peas, and finding out how a glowworm glows. By the end of the visit, a lot of the kids had decided to become biochemists.
Read more about Lab in a Box here
Read the stuff.co.nz news story about the Lab in a Box visit to Koraunui School here