With free experiment kits for every UK school and an interactive touring exhibition for the whole family, there will be an opportunity for everyone to explore what happens in our bodies and minds when we take part in sport, exercise or everyday movement.
The Wellcome Trust’s In the Zone initiative was formally launched by five-time Olympic Gold medallist Sir Steve Redgrave CBE at the Association for Science Education conference in Liverpool on 6 January. Sir Steve took take to the stage with medic and physiology expert Professor Hugh Montgomery and BBC Science Presenter Greg Foot for a live and interactive demonstration of some of the experiments from the free school kits.
Commenting on the launch, Sir Steve said: “It’s often said that there’s more to sport than winning medals, but there’s also more to winning medals than sport. Science played a huge role in my Olympic success, and understanding how my body works was as important on race day as any brutal training regime.
“With In the Zone, the Wellcome Trust are giving kids everywhere an opportunity to understand their own bodies and how to use them, which will hopefully see them inspired in both science and sport.”
From February 2012, the Wellcome Trust will deliver free kits with all the equipment and information needed to conduct hands-on experimental investigations into human physiology to every UK school and Further Education college. Does having long legs help you jump further? How does the cardiovascular system adapt during exercise and sport? These questions and more are explored in the curriculum-linked experiments developed in collaboration with Pearson Education.
In the Zone has been awarded the Inspire Mark from the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and is a key strand of Get Set+, part of the official London 2012 education programme.
