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| Children are captivated when they see the sophisticated Computer Aided Design programme that is used when designing the machines that are built by Sartorius Stedim Biotech |
After taking part in several science lessons which reinforce their understanding of the science learned in school, as well as preparing them to get the most out of the Children Challenging Industry (CCI) experience, children are ready for a visit to the company that they have been partnered with.
The children from St Thomas More RC primary school have been partnered with Sartorius Stedim Biotech and recently the day of the eagerly anticipated visit to the Sartorius site in Royston arrived. As soon as the coach pulled up children were given an introductory talk which reminded them of the work that they had been doing in school and how it related to what they would see at the Royston plant.
Children then went for a tour of the factory and were shown the different stages in the production and testing of the Ambr machines which are built at the site and used for growing the microbes that are needed to make some medicines. The tour began with a demonstration of the sophisticated Computer Aided Design programmes that are used to design and test the machines. The children were all given the chance to try manipulating the images on the screen. As they left this department they were given a list of parts that they would need to collect in order to build their own pump.
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| Children watch the pump that they have built being tested |
Next they were taken to the stores where they were amazed at the fully automated parts collection process; they only had to key in the serial number of the part that they needed to have it delivered to them by the machine! They then took their parts to the department where the pumps are assembled and tested. They worked as a team to build their pumps and then to progamme the machine to test it under several different conditions. This was a tense moment for the children as they knew that the results of all the pumps were being recorded and compared.
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| Children watch a demonstration of a full scale Ambr in use. |
For the last stage of the process children donned white coats as they took part in an activity which involved handling microbes. They learned that you do not always need to wear white coats when doing science but only where there is a good reason. This might be to protect themselves from micro-organisms or harmful substances - or it might be to protect the experiments; in this case the children need to be careful not to contaminate the yeast that they were working with, with dirt from either themselves or their clothes.
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| Wearing white coats so that they do not contaminate the samples. |
