• Question: what will you do with the prize money

    Asked by whharryandyaseer to Anil, Blanka, Cees, Emma, Mike on 2 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: Emma Trantham

      Emma Trantham answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      We’ve all written what we will do on our profiles (mine is here /niobiumj12-zone/profile/ ) but to give you a bit more detail…

      Microbes (bacteria, viruses, fungi, algae, protozoa) are everywhere, all around us. In fact there are 10x as many bacterial cells on and in yoru body right now than there are human cells! There are far far more microbes than people. Yet we don’t seem to learn much about them at school.

      I want to show students like yourself how exciting the world of microbes is so I have been developing a badge – currently for Brownies and Guides but I would like to spread it to Cubs and Scouts too – that covers microbe things. I have been trialling some of the activities out in a few units (so far we have made cuddly bacteria, gone pond dipping for algae, been mushroom and lichen hunting and next week we are designing menus where every course has to have something we make with the help of microbes).

      The money would mean I could buy the craft materials to try it out in more units and would mean I could also buy badges (hopefully that will glow in the dark!) for all of the students that complete the activities.

      If I can get the badge successfully trialed in the county then it could go on to be a national activity which would be very exciting. What do you think about the idea? Do you have any suggestions even?

    • Photo: Michael Cook

      Michael Cook answered on 2 Jul 2012:

      I really like everyone’s suggestions for the money. Here’s mine anyway, though:

      Part of the money will be spent on developing an Android application that will let people play ANGELINA’s games, learn about the science behind it, and hopefully get involved in the processes related to ANGELINA in some way!

      The rest will be donated to Code Club, a charity aimed at teaching programming to primary school children. I spoke to the organisers and they say they’ll spend the money on programmable Lego kits that can be taken with volunteers out to schools and science fairs. Teaching programming is vital to equipping the next generation of kids with the ability to understand computers and technology!

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