Science fun days an interview with Dr Elizabeth Archer

Posted on July 1, 2025   by Microbiology Society

Supported by the Microbiology Society’s Education and Outreach Grant, Science Fun Days is an initiative led by Dr Elizabeth Archer, a postdoctoral microbiologist at the University of Essex. Designed to engage primary school pupils from disadvantaged areas, the project introduces young learners to the importance of microbes through fun lab activities and nature-based exploration, inspiring enthusiasm for science and higher education.

Can you introduce yourself and tell us about ‘Science Fun Days’?

My name is Lizzie, I’m a postdoctoral environmental microbiologist in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Essex.

In celebration of British Science Week, I organised ‘Science Fun Days’ to give primary school pupils from local disadvantaged areas the chance to visit the University and experience life as a scientist. These events involve pupils taking part in hands-on activities in our STEM teaching laboratory and a nature ‘treasure hunt’ around our biodiverse campus grounds. A key aim of running such activities is to highlight that microbes are essential to the functioning of our everyday lives and the interconnectedness of microbiology and nature.

What inspired you to start these outreach activities?

Microbes receive a lot of negative attention for causing disease, leading many people to believe that all microbes are “germs”. By contrast, the positive roles of microbes, which underpin the functioning of life on earth, are rarely celebrated and publicised. Modern lifestyles in urban cities also disconnect us from natural environments and the beneficial microbes associated with them.

To counter this, Science Fun Days provide an opportunity to share with local pupils, aged 9-11, how important microbes are to everyday life and healthy environments through fun, engaging activities- with the aim of increasing pupils’ microbiology literacy and enthusiasm for science. By attending, pupils also get a snapshot of what university life is like, providing inspiration for future learning.

Can you tell us about some of the hands-on activities during a Science fun day?

In our STEM teaching laboratory, pupils put on their mini-lab coat and gloves before rotating around several activities. Thanks to Microbiology Society funds, pupils were also equipped with a booklet so they could continuously draw, write down thoughts and answer questions related to the day’s activities to further boost their engagement and learning.

After encouraging pupils to think about medicines and different food products created with the help of microbes, pupils peered down the microscope at bacteria and fungi, including Penicillium spp. and yeast cells, helping them to visualise the link between invisible and visible worlds.

We discussed with pupils the importance of being able to identify microbes via the ‘Legopore’ activity, created by my colleague, Dr Ben Skinner. Pupils built their own DNA sequences with different coloured bricks representing different nucleotide bases and passed them through the Legopore sequencer, which read their sequence onto the screen.

Another highlight for pupils was a mini-practical, run with my colleague Dr Rob Ferguson, to grow bacteria from different surfaces using scientific equipment, including pipettes and spreaders, contributed to by the EU InChildHealth project. After incubation, pupils were sent photographs of their agar plates to discuss in class and compare the diverse colonies they grew.

In addition to time in the laboratory, pupils headed out onto campus grounds for a ‘nature treasure hunt’. During the walk, we highlighted deadwood habitats and encouraged pupils to take a closer look at lichens and fungi with magnifying glasses, explaining their links to the microbial world.

What responses and feedback have you had since it started?

We gathered the impact of attending a Science Fun Day on pupils’ attitudes towards science, nature and microbiology through survey responses collected at the start and end of the events.

Delightfully, at the end of the 2025 Science Fun Days, the proportion of pupils who said they know why microorganisms are important quadrupled from 11% to nearly half (46%) of the 155 pupils surveyed. Responses also showed increases in the proportion of pupils who said they enjoy learning about science and nature, to 78% and 75%, respectively. Thinking about the future, at the end of the day over 70% of pupils indicated they would like to go to university. We also saw an increase in pupils who would like to have a job in science, from 22% at the start of the day to 34% by the end.

Pupils’ feedback about the event was overwhelmingly positive; 89% of pupils rated their enjoyment of the day positively and 93% of pupils said they learnt something new.

When asked to name their favourite part of the day, comments from pupils included:

• “Overall I liked everything in the Science Fun Day because everything was unique!”
• “The indoor activities and when we used the microscopes”
• “Definitely the experiment with the testing bacteria! I thought it was very interesting.”

Feedback from schoolteachers echoed this positivity in comments about pupils’ “experience of meeting genuine scientists” and “increased confidence of new experiences prior to secondary school” as well as the “amazing activities - including lab coats + gloves”.

What’s next for your outreach work?

We are very grateful to the Microbiology Society for the Education and Outreach Grant which has enabled me to organise Science Fun Day events of this scale, supported by University of Essex Student Ambassadors, with interactive booklets for every pupil and special prizes for the mini-scientists who shone throughout the day. We were also delighted to invite additional pupils with funds from NHS England.

I am thrilled to see the positive impact of Science Fun Days on pupils’ enthusiasm for science and microbiology through their excitement and wonder during the events, as well as our survey results. If possible, I would love to continue organising these events each year to inspire a new cohort of local pupils and maintain relationships with the schools and wider community.

As part of a ‘Tiny Forest’ planting project at one of these local schools, I am creating a forest-themed toolkit of activities and resources for teachers with a focus on microbiology and nature. I plan to visit the school this summer to share results of our research into the impact of the tree-planting on the soil nutrients and microbial community with pupils and teachers.