This post follows a week of activities hosted by planetary science PhD students Peter Mc Ardle and Megan Hammett for a selection of sixth form students – from Greater Manchester and the surrounding areas – as part of the In2Science 2022 programme. It is written as a collaborative effort between these students and the hosts.
During the week of 8th-12th of August, we hosted five students (Callum, Mohammed, Tamania, Thomas and Xen) for a STEM placement at the University of Manchester. Each of these students were interested in pursuing a science degree after their school studies, with several of them interested in a space-related field. The placement focussed on giving the students a taste of what it’s like to study planetary science, through a series of practical exercises exploring what meteorites can tell us about how our Solar System formed and evolved. Additionally, the students had a variety of campus and laboratory tours, and attended advice sessions on writing university applications and CVs. To round off a great week, the students each wrote summary paragraph for the different days of their placement, examples of these can be found below.
Our motivations for participating in In2Science were to provide opportunities to those who may not otherwise have had them, and to inspire the next generation of scientists.
“I knew that I wanted to be a geoscientist from a very early age. However, my family had no science connections, never mind geoscience. Had I been able to participate in an In2Science-like programme, I would have found it very useful.”
Peter
“I wouldn’t be doing the job I am now if I didn’t experience something similar to In2Science when I was in school, so I’m always keen to provide these types of opportunities to students myself.”
Megan
Summary Account for Day 2 of Placement – written by student Thomas
On the second day, we had a lecture from the hosts explaining the different types of meteorites: Iron, Stony Iron and Stony. We focused on Stony meteorites and the two forms of them: Chondrites and Achondrites. Chondrites contain chondrules, which are a certain type of component which are leftovers from the formation of the Solar System. Achondrites are do not contain chondrules. We first learnt how to differentiate between these different types using hand samples without specialist equipment to aid us. We had to compare the samples by their physical traits, like weight and their appearance, to solve which meteorites belonged in which category. After understanding how to match meteorites to the correct group, we did a scavenger hunt game where we had to apply our knowledge to the situation. Each member of the group had 3 minutes to distinguish between 25 rocks and label whether they were terrestrial (earth rocks) or extra-terrestrial (meteorites).
Later in the day, we learnt how petrographic microscopes work and how they utilise properties of light, such as polarization. Geologists use these microscopes to view high magnification images of meteorites (and other rocks). After this, we were given two meteorite samples, one chondrite and one achondrite, to study under the petrographic microscopes. We analysed their different appearances using plane polarised, cross polarised and reflected light. We then drew a petrographic sketch of our observations.
Summary Account for Day 3 of Placement – written by student Tamania
Day three involved a presentation delivered by one of the hosts dedicated to the introduction of electron microscopy. We learned how electron microscopes use beams of accelerated electrons as a source of illumination. Additionally, the group learnt about scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA) which require a vacuum to analyse samples and explored their advantage of being non-destructive; this allows precious samples, like meteorites, to be conserved. We were given an insight into energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and wavelength dispersive spectroscopy (WDS), which are methods of chemical analysis; these techniques are utilised to determine the chemical composition of meteorites. After developing a greater understanding in electron microscopy and chemical analysis we were provided with a task to analyse the mineralogy and chemistry of chondrules. We used backscattered electron (BSE) images and EDS maps of these chondrules, in addition to EPMA data via Excel spreadsheets to identify the various minerals and mineral end-members that were present; these minerals were primarily olivine, pyroxene and feldspar consisting of a mixture of elements like magnesium, silicon, iron, aluminium and oxygen.
Summary Account for Day 5 of Placement – written by student Mohammed
We mainly spent the fifth day talking about careers. We discussed the type of things that you would want to add to your CV depending on the job you were applying for. The hosts gave us a good tip about researching a company’s values and using those key terms in our CV. We then spoke about interviews and the type of questions that could be asked, and about how to be able to answer those questions. We undertook some mock interview scenarios where we were asked these questions and had to answer them. Our host also gave us useful tips and told us to be honest and show initiative when asked specific questions that we do not know the answer to. When we went out for lunch, we saw Georgie the dinosaur (#GorgeousGeorgie) which was cool. We then finished off by looking back at everything we did this week by writing summaries for this blog. All in all, it was a fun day and we learned useful things that we can take into the world.
At the end of the week, we asked the students to outline if they enjoyed the week and what they would take away from it – apart from the chance to test every variety of supermarket meal deal…
“The science placement was insightful as I had the opportunity of discovering about different microscopy and spectroscopy techniques used to analyse the chemistry of various meteorite samples. Being able to hear from different people about their educational journey and experiences with their respective careers was motivating and encouraging for me to pursue my own career in STEM.”
Tamania
“The science placement has informed me about the similarities and differences between multiple areas of science which is going to be very useful in my application process. I’ve had an insight into what university life is like studying a STEM subject and also learnt a lot about how professional academics operate.”
Thomas
… I’d call that a success!
___________________________________________________________________________________We would like to thank the Earth and Environmental Sciences Department at the University of Manchester for their help in making the placement possible. Particular thanks are due to Dr Katie Joy, Dr Sarah Crowther, Mandy Edwards and Veronica Buckingham-Bostock.
Earth & Solar System 