Merck’s Curiosity Cube made a four-day stop in Oxford last week as part of its third annual tour. The Curiosity Cube was hosted at Greyfriars School, with groups from other local schools visiting. Across the four days the activities reached almost 500 local children.
The Curiosity Cube is a mobile science lab run by science and technology company Merck out of a retrofitted shipping container. Equipped with the latest technology, the Cube offers interactive hands-on science experiments designed to spark scientific curiosity and passion in young minds and to encourage students to pursue careers in STEM fields.
In anticipation of the visit, organised in collaboration with the University of Oxford, Head of the Department of Chemistry Prof Steve Faulkner said
Curiosity about how the world works is essential for any aspiring scientist, and I’m pleased that hundreds of Oxfordshire children will have the opportunity to combine curiosity with their own observations to explain and explore the world around them. This will be a memorable beginning to their scientific journey.
A series of workshops for Years 4–8 (8–13–year olds) were led by Merck employees as well as ambassadors from the Department of Chemistry, along with volunteers from other science disciplines.
The event ran across four days, delivering workshops focused on the theme of sustainability. Students participated in three interactive science experiments exploring sustainability through the life cycle of a T-shirt and had opportunities to meet real-life scientists and ask questions about science and scientific careers.