New ways to teach practical chemistry to students will be discussed at the first Bristol ChemLabS ‘Stakeholders Conference’, following the award of funding worth £4.5 million from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), matched by a further £14 million from the University of Bristol.
The money is to be used to create a Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) called Bristol ChemLabS (Bristol Chemical Laboratory Sciences), which will provide completely rebuilt and re-equipped undergraduate teaching laboratories.
An important aspect of the project is to consult widely with key stakeholders involved in education and employment. Those invited to the first Stakeholders Conference include potential employers, teachers from schools and colleges, students, members of professional and government bodies, Bristol University alumni and representatives from educational and scientific charities.
During the conference, participants will hear about the Bristol ChemLabS project and will be asked to help to identify the IT/software needs of the new laboratories, discuss the course content and suggest other activities such as how to reach out to school-age students, as well as offering technical advice on the facilities to be created.
Professor Guy Orpen, head of the School of Chemistry said: “Not only will conference delegates be able to contribute to our vision for Bristol ChemLabS, but they will also be able to actively explore the opportunities offered by the project by participating in various workshops.”
It is anticipated that the student learning experience will be transformed not only through access to new state-of-the-art, professional standard teaching laboratories but also through the development of new e-learning approaches to the teaching of laboratory science. In due course the results of the project will be disseminated nationwide with the assistance of the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Higher Education Academy.
Part of the funding will also be used to host school teachers at Bristol ChemLabS and to develop outreach programmes to engage pre-university students and the general public. END
The conference will take place on Monday 16th May in Bristol University’s Chemistry Department. It starts at 10 am.