Written by MoSMed PhD student Ella Sames
Last Autumn, I started tutoring with The Brilliant Club Charity and undertook a placement teaching KS5 students at a local Newcastle School. This placement involved designing and delivering a seven-lesson course, based on my PhD research, with the aim of teaching students the skills to help them thrive at university. Whilst at secondary school, I was a pupil with The Brilliant Club, so I am aware of the positive impact this program can have on raising aspirations.
The goal of this charity is to instil confidence in young people from more disadvantaged backgrounds and encourage them to apply to highly competitive universities. In particular, this program targets students eligible for pupil premium or with parents who haven’t attended university, as there is evidence that meeting these criteria puts pupils more at risk of underachievement nationally.
For this placement I designed a course entitled ‘Decoding DNA: What are the Secrets of Your Genetic Code?’ The idea was to provide students with an overview of some key themes in molecular biology, such as DNA structure and function, the genetic code and X-ray crystallography. The teaching took place in small groups which gave students the opportunity to ask questions and work through problems collaboratively with their peers. It was rewarding to see students engage with the course and express an interest in studying natural sciences at university as a result of the program.
Teaching the course involved giving mini lectures on key concepts, reading through scientific sources and preparing hands on consolidation activities. Students particularly enjoyed the ‘pipe cleaner enzyme activity’ which involved using different coloured pipe cleaners to model the different orders of protein structure.
Overall, my experience as a tutor with The Brilliant Club was extremely fulfilling and a great way to encourage young people to pursue science in higher education
Nov 2024