Are you worried about habitat destruction and endangered animals? Would you be interested in building the ideal environment for zoo animals? Then new degrees in wildlife conservation could be exactly what you need. And about one in seven of these OU students is under 25, which shows that the branch of science is anything but a decaying area of no interest to the young.. The idea is to prevent so many teenagers from being switched off science soon after starting secondary school. “We need a population who feels comfortable with scientific development, which requires a basic understanding of science,” says Holman.But some comfort can be taken from participation levels at the Open University (OU), where there’s been a 90 per cent increase during the past six years in students on core-chemistry courses.

Holman is the director of the National Science Learning Centre at York, now under construction, which will spearhead the work of nine regional centres – some up and running. The £50m funding has come in equal measure from the DfES and the biomedical research charity the Wellcome Trust. The main aim of the centres will be to update school science teachers’ subject knowledge and for them to learn new ways of teaching science. “With our links to the university science centre, we have a great chance to show the kids what science can do for them.”In a similar outreach gesture at York University, Professor John Holman gave a lecture for pupils, teachers and parents last week on the chemistry of Christmas.

This included an explanation of the science of flaming puddings. Off its own back, the school organised a space day, the main attraction of which was the 11-metre Nova/Starchaser rocket – the largest rocket to have been launched from the UK. Matthew Wright, the science college manager, says he’s seeing evidence of increased enthusiasm for science among the school students. The event was the latest in a well-established series of science open days. “We’re trying to show people how lovely science is,” says Parker, “and we’re already seeing the fruits in the numbers of applications we’re getting from sixth formers wanting to come to Kent to study science.”And, as part of a “communicating science” project, nine third-year bioscience students are visiting local sixth forms to deliver practical lectures on their work. One school that has developed close links with the university is St Anselm’s Catholic School in Canterbury. Among many institutions engaged in this new drive is the University of Kent, where the schools of physical sciences and biosciences have set up the science kent centre.