A total of 530 pupils attended the Science Master Classes which took place across the University of Cambridge last week as part of Cambridge Science Festival. They came from 30 different schools within a 70-mile radius of Cambridge.

The school groups included 15 high-achieving year-11 pupils from Arthur Mellows Village College near Peterborough. Their programme started with a lecture on quantum mathematics given by Dr Andrew Pontzen.

Before having lunch at Clare College they were given a talk by Dr Giles Yeo from the Institute of Metabolic Science, which operates in partnership with the University. His lecture - titled “Are my genes to blame when my jeans don’t fit?” - summarised some of the latest research into the causes of obesity.

The Arthur Mellows students said that the lectures were challenging but at the right level, extending the science they were doing at school. Although many had been to Cambridge, few had been inside the University before.

“I thought the lecturers would be stuffy and old, a bit like the buildings,” said Shaun Bladen, 15, (far left) who wants to be an RAF pilot. “But Giles made his talk really interesting and it makes you want to learn more. You can tell by the way he talks that he’s really enthusiastic about his work.”

Kate Dobbs, 15, (second from right) who wants to be a psychologist in order to help people, said she was pleased that she could grasp quite advanced subjects. Dr Yeo told the pupils that the talk he had given them had been “more or less first year undergraduate level with some simplification”.

Shelley Bolderson of Cambridge University, who organises the Science Master Classes, said: “Cambridge Science Festival has been running for 15 years and attracts around 25,000 people, many of them families with youngish children. The Master Classes offer a day of exciting and challenging science talks for teenagers in school groups.”

Hundreds of free events for families will take place at Cambridge Science Festival this Saturday. For details go to www.cambridgescience.org.
 

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