Portable laboratory one out of the box

Victoria Dearden (11), a pupil at Kaikorai Primary School,  takes a close look at what is on...
Victoria Dearden (11), a pupil at Kaikorai Primary School, takes a close look at what is on offer at the launch of the ''Lab in a Box''. Photo by Gregor Richardson
Pupils await the opening of the display. Photo by Sharron Bennett
Pupils await the opening of the display. Photo by Sharron Bennett

A University of Otago initiative involving a portable laboratory in a shipping container could soon play a big role in boosting science awareness among youngsters in remote rural schools with fewer facilities.

The ''Lab in a Box'' mobile science laboratory was launched at Kaikorai Primary School in Dunedin this week with a talk and an educational science presentation organised by the Otago Museum.

The mobile laboratory project is headed by Associate Prof Peter Dearden, of Otago University, and funded by about $150,000 from the Unlocking Curious Minds contestable fund.

Prof Dearden was ''ecstatic'' about how well the laboratory, developed in the container by Otago Polytechnic, had worked at the school.

Equipped with powerful modern microscopes, telescopes, a 3-D printer and other scientific equipment, the mobile laboratory would be travelling in the coming months to schools in Otago and Southland and on the West Coast, he said.

The university, polytechnic and museum all ran outreach programmes, but some youngsters in the wider Otago-Southland area were ''feeling a little bit left out'' in terms of access to advanced scientific equipment, he said.

The laboratory initiative is linked to the Government's ''Science in Society'' National Science Challenge, and implemented alongside a Participatory Science Platform pilot programme.

john.gibb@odt.co.nz

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