Discovery Planet partnered with Dr Emma Hargreaves, Lecturer in Microbiology and Public Engagement Coordinator in the school of Biosciences, to deliver three days of workshops about the human heart, to schools and the wider community at a pop-up shop in Ramsgate. The event was a collaboration between Discovery Planet and the School of Biosciences and School of Sport and Exercise Sciences. The academics involved included;
- Professor John Dickinson, head of the Respiratory Clinic at Kent
- Dr Alex Moores, Lecturer in Microbiology
- Dr Jake Bowd, Lecturer in Biomechanics and Statistics
- Dr Steve Meadows, Senior Lecturer in Sports and Exercise Science
Alongside some of our absolutely wonderful ambassadors, they supported the workshops and shared their experiences. The workshop offered the opportunity to learn all about how the heart and circulatory system work through four different activities:
- Make a model of a heart using water bottles and understand how pressure and valves work.
- Blood typing with food dyes – discover who is the Universal Donor
- Just dance and use pulse oximetry to understand how our heart rates change with exercise
- Listen to your heart with a stethoscope – learn where the ‘lub-dub’ heart sounds really come from.
Feedback from participants included comments such as, “Exposure to people who work in these fields gets people thinking about future careers they might not otherwise have done.” “This is brilliant because it’s free and local. It’s like a science museum – accessible and interesting. We need more things like this in the area and in the other nearby towns.” “I didn’t know sleep is good for the heart!”.
Dr Emma Hargreaves said:
“We were extremely excited to be involved in running the “Listen to Your Heart” workshops with Discovery Planet. It was so inspiring to see both children and adults in our local community exploring how the heart works and understanding how to keep it healthy”
Nikki Hildesley from Discovery Planet said:
“I have to say that it was a fabulous experience working with the brilliant scientists from both departments and we are particularly grateful to Emma Hargreaves who devised and produced such an interesting, thought provoking and interactive workshop for all our workshop participants of all ages. The feedback for the event overall was overwhelmingly positive which is always a great relief after such thorough preparation.”
Are you able to help Discovery Planet extend the project?
Discovery Planet brings inspirational, enriching and creative experiences to the heart of communities. Since opening on 10 March 2021, their pop-up shop in Ramsgate has hosted over 2650 workshop attendees and connect them with Kent academics from a whole range of disciplines. Now they need support to:
- Extend the project for the next five years
- Build the concept and brand into something really special for young people and families
- Continue to make science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics accessible and exciting for all
If you have any ideas or can help at all, please email our Strategic Partnerships Manager, Simon Barnes.
Images provided by Discovery Planet and taken by Pete Bateson
