Lightning strikes, astronaut training and a human fireball are some of the unusual teaching techniques used in new TV series led by the University’s Dr Pete Wothers.

The teaching fellow in the Department of Chemistry embarks on a mission to enlighten pupils from a school in East London in the new TV series starting tonight.

Dr Wothers teams up with Chemistry Department technician Chris Brackstone and University of Liverpool physician Laura Grant in the Discovery Channel’s ‘Big Experiment’.

The new six part series aims to fast-track a group of pupils through science GCSE 18 months early using dramatic and sometimes explosive experiments to help the teenagers learn at an accelerated rate.

Experiments include students being suspended 40 feet above the ground with helium filled balloons, lightning bolts hitting a variety of structures and a simulated meteor strike.

Each of the six episodes represent one week of learning and encompass one module of the curriculum. The episodes each culminate with a large scale experiment that brings together the principles and ideas being learnt throughout the week.

Dr Wothers said, ‘I got involved with the Big Experiment because I hoped I would be able to make a difference with a group of children who expressed little interest in science. With the right large-scale experiments, you can hardly fail to be impressed. The key thing is getting the children involved in the experiments themselves.’

The series is being shown on the Discovery Channel every Thursday at 9 pm for the next six weeks. The first episode will also be available free as a DVD in this weekend’s Sunday Times.

A special screening of the first episode is to be held on the opening day of the Cambridge Science Festival, at 6pm on Monday. The programme will be introduced by Wothers and Brackstone and followed by a discussion about the challenges of taking part in a TV series.

The Cambridge Science Festival is the UK’s largest free science festival, with over 130 events for people of all ages. Running from March 10 to 20 the Festival will feature lectures and exhibitions for adults, and a weekend of hands-on activities for all the family on 15 and 16 March.

Full details of all events are available in the festival brochure available from the Tourist Information Office, Cambridge University Press book shop on Trinity Street and the Pitt Building on Trumpington Street.

For further details please see the links at the top right of the page.

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