Around 150 pupils from a County Durham school weren't afraid to get their hands dirty when they visited our Botanic Garden to learn about soil health.
The year seven pupils from Wolsingham School learned about the importance of good soil health and discovered that getting your hands dirty can actually be good for you.
This is because soil contains bacteria which are good for us such as Mycobacterium vaccae which is absorbed through the skin of the hands, triggering a release of serotonin in the brain.
The pupils were encouraged to explore the soil for insects and even used a pair of underpants to test for soil health.
Burying cotton underpants in the soil can actually be used to measure how healthy soil is because the healthier the soil the more cotton is eaten.
Learning in the great outdoors
The event was supported by the OASES charity (Outdoor And Sustainability Education Specialists), which delivers outdoor learning and sustainability education sessions for children.
Our own soil expert Professor Karen Johnson, from Engineering whose pioneering work on soil health has contributed to policy debates in Parliament, helped plan the activities.
Inspiring the next generation
Professor Johnson said: "This session was part of a Royal Society-funded project in which the University is working with OASES to develop educational resources to teach schoolchildren about the importance of soil health.
"It is hoped that if we can boost soil literacy in children and show that engineering is about building things, but also looking after soil and water, this might lead to a greater diversity in applicants who come to study Engineering at Durham.
"The children were amazed that soil health has anything whatsoever to do with human health or climate change.
"It was so great to see them getting their hands dirty.
"Most importantly, lots of them were excited about maybe coming to Durham in seven years' time."
During the visit, the children were also given a tour of our Departments of Bioscience, Archaeology, Geography, Earth Sciences and Physics.
Luke Heath, Wolsingham School Geography teacher, said that the pupils had a 'fantastic' day.
One pupil said the session was 'way better than learning in the classroom', with another commenting: "Can we do this every day? I really want to go to university when I'm older."
