Vet student creates unique project to inspire young scientists
Vet students from Nottingham University create and deliver activities in local schools.
A new initiative is linking veterinary studies with the National Curriculum in a bid to inspire the next generation of young scientists.
NextGen Scientists is the brainchild of Ashley Davies, a fourth-year veterinary student at the University of Nottingham's School of Veterinary Medicine and Science.
The project allows Nottingham vet students to design, develop and deliver science-based activities to local school children.
Activities created by the students are unique and innovative, as they are developed based on the student's own individual knowledge and skills.
Ashley says the project also allows the vet students themselves to grow and develop. He believes it has the potential to expand and be rolled out to other veterinary schools.
"The project allows students to design and deliver activities which reinforce the National Curriculum whilst contextualising such knowledge in fun ways," he explains.
Ashley was inspired to develop the project by the positive impact of the outreach work he took part in as a vet school student.
"The work in schools that I have been involved with has hugely developed me as a person and has taught me a huge amount about education," he says.
"I saw an opportunity to create a student-led project that structured the work I had undertaken into an initiative that allows other veterinary students to participate in outreach work.
"I saw a further opportunity to deliver to schools in a more focused way. By understanding what is expected of young people (the National Curriculum) veterinary students are able to link their knowledge and apply it to that of young people at all stages of their education."
NextGen's next event takes place on November 5 and will include 120 key stage two pupils from a local primary school (years three, four, five and six). The team of more than 40 NextGen vet students have designed sessions and activities for each year group, guided by the National Curriculum (year three: musculoskeletal, year four: gastrointestinal, year five: reproduction/evolution, year six: cardiorespiratory).
Two independent vets have launched a podcast to help owners strengthen their bond with pets. Dr Maggie Roberts and Dr Vanessa Howie, who have worked in both veterinary practice and major charities, are keen to use their experience to enable people to give pets a better life.
