Science Lab Camp

It may be of particular interest to students hoping to pursue a career in biochemistry, medicine, pharmacy, marine biology or other disciplines with a focus on laboratory techniques.
You will spend your week at one of our field centre’s and experience working in an industrial standard laboratory.

You will be working in teams to complete workplace-linked science investigations exploring sampling and analytical techniques.

Lab work will be combined with adventurous outdoor activities to allow you to develop your problem solving, effective communication and team working- all essential for those wishing to pursue a career in science.

Please see the example timetables on this page for further details on what to expect.

Our residentials also give you the chance to develop a range of transferable skills. These types of skills help across many areas of life and are particularly good for including in job or education applications. Here are some of the transferable skills that are likely to be covered in this residential:

• Communicating with others
• Working as a team
• Managing your time
• Taking the lead
• Resilience
• Reliability
• Keeping focused
• Problem solving
• Decision making

The course is suitable for a Duke of Edinburgh Award Gold residential.

We want to ensure participants get to share in their experience with those of a similar age. Please consider what age the attendee will be on the course date and check they fit into the age category when booking. 

If the attendee is under 18, the booking must be made by a parent/guardian.

When attending the residential dates which welcome 16-18 year olds, all participants will be expected to follow the behaviour and conduct rules which will be in place to safeguard young people.

If these course dates do not suit you, we run similar courses at many of our other centres.

 

Example Timetable

Below are example timetables for our Science Lab Camp at Millport Field Centre and at Castle Head Field Centre. This will give a good indication of the subjects you'll be studying during this course but they are only examples.

Millport Field Centre

Day 1 - Arrive 12.30pm
Afternoon
Welcome to the Centre introduction, tour and ice breakers.

Evening
Introduction to the lab

Day 2
Morning
Introduction and application of different sampling techniques from the deck of RV Actinia in the Firth of Clyde 

Afternoon
Processing of the samples analyzing primary production of the phytoplankton. Simultaneously we conduct a filtration experiment with mussels.  

Day 3
Morning
Spectrophotometry of the chlorophyll, analysis and modelling of the results for the areas around Cumbrae and different water depths.

Afternoon
Mussel dissection and histological investigation to clarify how and why micro and nanoplastics affect the filtration rates of mussels.

Evening
Rock climbing, snorkeling, or archery

Day 4
Morning
Cycle around the island and collection of freshwater samples and their analysis with regards to their fertilizing capacity potentially affecting primary production of the phytoplankton in the Firth of Clyde back in the lab.

Evening
Campfire

Day 5
Morning
Data analysis. We bring all results into context to evaluate the impact of land-based activities on the water quality and primary production around the island. There will be working time to finish projects.

Afternoon
Team presentation

Depart 3pm

Castle Head Field Centre.

Day 1 - Arrive-12.00pm
Please bring a packed lunch for the first day.

Afternoon
Welcome to the centre introduction, tour and ice breakers.
Team building activities

Evening
Introduction to the lab, Health and safety, team roles and​ micro-pipetting workshop

Day 2

Morning
Sea level traversing

Afternoon
PCR in Medicine - breast cancer investigation.
Selecting bacterial clones and set up cultures

Evening
Gel electrophoresis of PCR product

Day 3

Morning
Isolate DNA from bacterial cultures and enzyme reactions

Afternoon
High ropes

Evening
Gel electrophoresis of enzyme reaction samples

Day 4

Morning
Forensics

Afternoon
Ghyll scrambling

Evening
Campfire

Day 5

Morning
Team presentation

Afternoon
Low ropes, fire lighting/egg challenge

Depart at 15.00

Please note: to ensure safe and quality learning experiences for students, the timetables may alter depending on weather conditions and local factors at centres.

 

 

• 
  Expert Tuition
• 
  Free Wi-Fi
• 
  Full Board Accommodation
• 
  Hot and Cold Drinks
• 
  In Course Transport
• 
  Picnic Lunch

What to bring

Castle Head

• Walking boots​
• Waterproof coat and over-trousers​
• Plenty of comfortable warm clothes (layering is important as temperatures are changeable at this time of year)​
• Clothes you don’t mind getting wet for the ghyll, including old trainers which will get wet​
• Towel and personal toiletries.​
• Hat and gloves (it can still be cold at this time of year)​
• Rucksack (around 25 litres is great for a day sack)​
• Lunch box​
• Drinks bottles/flask (at least 1 litre)​
• Sun cream, sun hat (baseball cap is ideal) and sunglasses​
• Small first aid kit for personal use​

Millport

• Further details to follow

Please note:

This residential is only open to young people who will be aged 16 - 18 years old at the time of attending. 

We want to ensure participants get to share in their experience with those of a similar age. Please consider what age the attendee will be on the course date and check they fit into the age category when booking.

If the attendee is under 18, the booking must be made by a parent/guardian.

When attending the residential dates which welcome 16-18 year olds, all participants will be expected to follow the behaviour and conduct rules which will be in place to safeguard young people.