Secondary and Further Education

The Ostrich and the Dolphin

An entertaining drama about the lives of Charles Darwin and Robert Fitzroy the Captain of the Beagle. The Beagle took Darwin around the world and the recordings and collections he made formed his ideas on evolution. The play inspired year 7 pupils about life at sea, how Fitzroy pioneered weather forecasting and the energy that Darwin put in to understanding his environment.

Christmas Lecture 2009

Lord Julian Hunt came to Pembrokeshire for a few days discussing climate change. During this time he gave a lecture to sixth form students from Milford Haven School and Whitland.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Lecture 2008

Professor Ron Douglas, Visual Science at University College London came a fascinating talk on deep see creatures, vision and light.

Marine Benthic Field Trip and WorkShop 2008

Milford Haven Secondary School undertook an investigation into Sandy Haven Estuary. They took samples of the sediment, which they dried in the lab and separated the grain sizes to show the diversity of the estuary bed. This also illustrates that different habitats are available for benthic (bottom-dwelling) species. Phil Wensley, Senior Tutor at Dale Fort Field Studies Centre, showed the group how to sample the area for organisms and demonstrated that organisms are specialised to live in different types of sediment.

 

 

 

Bionic Ear 2008

The show, sponsored by Specsavers, features “the world’s largest ear”, and is designed to be fun and interactive. The presenter builds a model showing the different parts of the ear which stretches to a huge 22ft long – 116 times the size of a normal ear! In an interactive demonstration the audience learns how the ear works, what can go wrong, and what can be done to fix it.

Deafness Research UK hopes that the show, will help get across the message about limiting exposure to loud music and preventing premature deafness, particularly from the use of MP3 volume controls which continues to be a serious problem for teenagers hearing.

The Christmas Lecture - Dr Simon Boxall

Santa’s Grotto 2070 Ice or Water!
Dr. Boxall fresh from an early winter expedition to the high Arctic, brought with him materials, data and footage of his trip. The expedition on board a 100 year old schooner was filmed by the Discovery Channel and West Wales secondary schools had a preview of exciting footage of the adventure. Part of the trip was used to deposit buoys (pictured) which transmit temperature data back to a globally shared databank, demonstrating the global effort now being afforded to ‘Climate Change’.

Usually a lecture only for schools, the Darwin Christmas Lecture  stirred up so much interest in parents and  Friends of the  Darwin Centre that Dr. Boxall very kindly agreed to give two lectures, allowing around 100 members of the public to enjoy his presentation. Obviously a topic of our age this  ‘Climate Change’ lecture really brought relevant cutting edge science to schools in west Wales, all of which involved acknowledged the pertinence of Dr. Boxall’s talk and the efforts of the Darwin Centre to the current secondary school curriculum. The schools involved were Ysgol y Preseli, Greenhill, Milford Haven, Dyffryn Taf, and Sir Thomas Picton, as well as home education groups.

Sediment Sampling Workshop, July 2007

In July 2007 Sixth Form students from Milford Haven and Pembroke schools visited Pembrokeshire College to take part in a sediment sampling workshop put on by Darwin. The students collected sediment samples from Sandy Haven and using scientific techniques discovered the organic content and the variety of grain sizes within the sediment.

 

Christmas Lecture 2006

The Christmas Lecture has set the ball rolling for the 2006/7 Festival year, and Santa was in town. Dr. Stephanie Matthews an expert in cholesterol and its effects on coronary heart disease, conducted a consultation with Santa and Mr. Good Elf.

The lecture was attended by 120 students from 6th form science groups in Pembrokeshire’s Secondary Schools. The audience took part in the consultation by offering their opinions and knowledge. Pembroke School 6th former Melanie Farrier gained an extra Christmas present after winning a competition on the fat content of fast foods.

Darwin would like to thank Stephanie, Mr. Elf, Santa and our sponsors for the Christmas Lecture, South Hook LNG and The British Association for the Advancement of Science.