Paul Roach – Society for Natural Sciences

E-seminar – New Directions in the Teaching of Natural Sciences- an Editor’s perspective

Our January Society for Natural Sciences Learning and Teaching webinar: “New Directions in the Teaching of Natural Sciences- an Editor’s perspective” will be delivered by Sweta Ladwa from University of Greenwich and will take place on Thursday 25^th January 2024 from 12.00-12.50. Please register via this event link to receive joining details prior to the event.

The Society for Natural Sciences Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Group host a series of monthly lunchtime online seminars to support dissemination and discussion of best practice in an interdisciplinary science education. These informal webinars take place online from 12.00-12.50 on the final Thursday of each month and start with an introductory presentation from a member of the network followed by question and answers/discussion. They are open and free to attend (for both members of the Society and non-members)- so do feel free to extend this invitation to colleagues!

SNS PedR/SoTL group (pedr@socnatsci.org)

7th Annual Student National Conference

The 2024 Society for Natural Sciences Student Conference will take place in the beautiful city of Norwich, on Thursday 4^th and Friday 5^th April. This is an opportunity to meet with Natural Sciences students from across the country, and get some real-life experience in presenting your results – both poster and oral presentation opportunities will be available. We encourage finalists to present their final year research project, but students in any year can attend and present.

Download this file here as a ppt to insert in your lecture slides – help us to promote this amazing opportunity to your students.

The Conference will take place at the University of East Anglia, starting around lunchtime on 4^th April. The afternoon session will be followed by a conference dinner and social, and a morning session on 5^th April, finishing around lunchtime. There’s plenty of affordable accommodation in Norwich if booked in advance. Our keynote speakers will be Prof of Volcanology, Jenni Barclay, and Prof of Evolutionary Biology, Ben Garrod – you may have seen him on the BBC.

We look forward to seeing many of you in Norwich in April!

Dr Tharin Blumenschein

Head of School for Natural Sciences, UEA

Seminar – Student attitudes to learning Science

Our November Society for Natural Sciences Learning and Teaching webinar: ” Student attitudes to learning Science” will be delivered by Derek Raine, Emeritus Professor at the University of Leicester and will take place on Thursday 30^th November 2023 from 12.00-12.50. Please register via this event link to receive joining details prior to the event.

SNS PedR/SoTL group (pedr@socnatsci.org)

E-Seminar – “STEM integration and the relationships between STEM subjects”

Our October Society for Natural Sciences Learning and Teaching webinar: “STEM integration and the relationships between STEM subjects” will be delivered by Rory McDonald from Liverpool John Moores University and will take place on Thursday 26th October 2023 from 12.00-12.50. Please register via this event link to receive joining details prior to the event.

SNS PedR/SoTL group (pedr@socnatsci.org)

E-Learning and Teaching webinar, “Interdisciplinary Real-world Sustainability module”

This will be delivered by will be delivered by Alice Jackson (University of Leicester) and will take place on Thursday 28^th September 2023 from 12.00-12.50. Please register via this event link to receive joining details prior to the event.

SNS PedR/SoTL group (pedr@socnatsci.org)

Student Conference 2024

Next year’s Society for Natural Sciences student conference will be held at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, on 4^th and 5^th April. Please save this date in your diary, think about your students who might want to come, and if you are a student ask your supervisors/ course directors about this opportunity.

Please see here for previous events – and keep your eyes peeled for more information about next years plans.

Innovations In Brain Tissue Engineering

This free-to-attend conference is to be held on the 20-21st November 2023 at the Dorothy Hodgkin Building, University of Bristol. There is no registration fee but there are limited places available – please use this form to register your attendance at this event. The information that you provide will not be shared and will be used solely for the purposes of event organization.

E-Seminar: Astrobiology & Natural Sciences: Finding Life On Other Planets – Tutorial With Dr Sarah Gretton, Society For Natural Sciences

July 3 @ 16:15 – 17:00

For more info and registration press here

In this live interactive Astrobiology/Natural Sciences tutorial, we will be joined by Dr Sarah Gretton, Associate Professor, Natural Sciences (Life and Physical Sciences) Programme Director and Admissions Tutor at the University of Leicester. In this session, Sarah represents the Society for Natural Sciences, a national learned society that promotes interdisciplinary science education and research.

This live tutorial will follow an introductory lecture on the Drake Equation (available below), which is used to estimate the number of communicative extra-terrestrials in our galaxy. In the tutorial students will consider each of the terms of the equation evaluating astronomical, biological, and psychological/sociological factors to arrive at the probability of the number of active technically advanced civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy.

A-level, BTEC, T-level and IB links to: Physics (gravity, particles), Biology (proteins, nucleic acids), Chemistry (redox reactions, electronegativity)

The full context/introduction to this live and interactive discussion is provided in the recorded resource below. This recording can be watched as a class activity or independently in preparation for the activity on 4th July.

Suitable for: Year 12 & 13 students, and equivalent, studying Science, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Maths, Earth Sciences.

Preparation or Pre-Reading: Students are asked to watch the above recording and consider some of the key issues, questions and techniques that are introduced.

Channel Talent – Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Spectroscopy

June 12th 2023 @ 11:10 – 11:55

Natural Sciences: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy – How Chemists Can Use Physics To Understand Biology With Dr Tharin Blumenschein – Society for Natural Sciences

Find out more and register

In this session, Dr Tharin Blumenschein, Head of Natural Sciences and Associate Professor in Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy at the University of East Anglia, will cover Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy: how chemists can use physics to understand biology.

To understand how the cell works, we need to understand how different molecules inside the cells perform their roles: their shape, motions and interactions. An excellent technique to obtain this information is nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, as it can give information about individual atoms in a molecule.

This talk will cover the basic physical principles of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, what information can be obtained using NMR spectroscopy, and how it’s applied to biological molecules. This will be followed by a brief discussion of studying multiple sciences at university.

Dr Tharin Blumenschein is Associate Professor in Biomolecular NMR Spectroscopy in the School of Chemistry and Head of School at the School of Natural Sciences at University of East Anglia. In this session, Tharin represents the Society for Natural Sciences, a national learned society that promotes interdisciplinary science education and research.

Follow-up resources linking this webinar to Chemistry, Physics and Biology A-level, BTEC, T-level and IB curricula will be made available after this session via the Society for Natural Sciences website.

Suitable for: Year 12 and 13 students (and equivalent). This session is designed for students from all STEM backgrounds and interested in how interdisciplinary science can tackle humanity’s most urgent questions.

Preparation/Pre-Reading: No preparation or pre-reading is required although you may wish to consider the proposed subject area and related questions you might like to ask.

The IT Setup: The event will be run on Bluejeans and participants will be able to join using laptops, tablets, and mobile devices. If you are joining as a school group, we recommend connecting with one device and projecting on to a whiteboard. You will be able to interact with the university via a microphone and/or typed comments and questions. Full details will be sent to those who have registered (see below) prior to the event.

Booking a Place: This is free for schools and colleges. If you would like to take part in this event, please register here.

E-Seminar: Using STACK for automated maths assessment

Our April Society for Natural Sciences Learning and Teaching webinar: “Using STACK for automated assessment of mathematics on science programmes” will be delivered by will be delivered by Tom Wicks from University of Nottingham and will take place on Thursday 27th April 2023 from 12.00-12.50. Please register via this event link to receive joining details prior to the event.

SNS PedR/SoTL group (pedr@socnatsci.org)