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Since an experimental scheme in 1998, research-based learning
has multiplied in a truly microbial fashion.
To increase participation in this sort of activity and
to test the notion that able youngsters are blinkered by
goals that are exam-driven only, a scheme was piloted that
enabled Y12 and Y13 students to become more involved in
the business of learning and communicating science at a
more sophisticated level than their curriculum encourages.
The experiment was a success and this initial feasibility
study has now given way to the fully-fledged national programme
called Science for the 21st Century Initiative (SCI).
Conducting cutting-edge experimental research in a collaboration
of state and independent schools with partner universities
and industry is one of the key features of the scheme.
Within this aspect of the SCI, Y12 students opt to learn,
on a one afternoon a week basis (for 2 hours), research
techniques in chemical and biological sciences. Typically,
30-35 students from a partnership of five schools participate
in the training and about half this number progress onto
the actual research projects in the second year of their
A level studies. There are currently five such clusters
organised. The analytical work is carried out at a local
research-active university and the funding is obtained from
industry, research councils, charitable organisations dedicated
to supporting research in the UK and learned science bodies.
The post-16 students also publish a national biannual science
reviews journal (N-Lighten) with a nationwide circulation
that includes universities, colleges and schools and stage
a biennial national conference entitled Showcase Science.
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