Pupils perform 'keyhole surgery' as Edinburgh festival encourages students to study science

Pupils across Edinburgh and beyond have been gaining an insight into STEM careers this week at the National Museum of Scotland.

Careers Hive is a mini interactive science festival aimed at addressing the decline in pupils choosing science-based subjects and to give children the chance to get a hands-on experience of different industries.

Hosted by Edinburgh Science, the event aimed to inspire S1-S3 pupils to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and maths.

It featured hands-on activities, discussions with STEM professionals, and workshops to equip them with skills and confidence to progress in their chosen field.

Zoe Clark, a mission manager at Spire Global – a space company in Glasgow was among those speaking about her career at the event.

Zoe Clark (left), from Spire Global, teaching pupils how to build a satellite.

She said: “My role basically includes making sure that all the satellites that my company manufactures out of Glasgow are launched into space so these kind of set ups are really important. I think the kids don’t really realise what fundamentals go into building satellites so this really sets them up to do that.”

But it’s not just space the pupils were getting stuck into. They also learned how to programme robots, power radios and perform keyhole surgery.

Laura Young, an environmental scientist and campaigner, also spoke to children at the event and said similar events would have been invaluable to her when she was at school.

She said: “Ultimately we don’t know what we like or what we’re good at unless we give it a try so I would have loved to do a lot more interactive stuff like this when I was at school to just know what’s out there and think about that when considering really importing things like picking your exams.”

Laura McLister, head of learning at Edinburgh Science, said: “The idea with this event is to try and get them to really think about what they’re really passionate about, what their skills and strengths are and to get them to understand that a stem profession doesn’t just mean a small number of jobs, it’s a massive breadth of opportunity.”