On Wednesday 17th April, the BBC highlighted the statistics that surround Women in Physics in Wales and the work the Physics Mentoring Project is doing to help.
Students from Islwyn High School in Blackwood and their mentors Lille and Isabelle were featured on Wales Today (BBC 1, 6:30pm). Tarin, a female student in Year 10 at Islwyn said that the mentoring involved more fun and practical experiments than those in the classroom.
Lille was a guest, alongside Dr Sarah Roberts, project contact for the University of Swansea, on Good Morning Wales (BBC Radio Wales, 6:30am). Lille spoke enthusiastically with Rachel Garside about the content of the mentoring sessions; “we go into where these really simple concepts can take them. It’s the sort of thing they would go on to study in more depth at university and you can get jobs in these things.” You can listen to the whole segment on iPlayer (55mins in).
The BBC also filmed at mentoring session at Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bryn Tawe, which was featured on Newyddion 9 (S4C, 9pm). Rhidian, the mentor from Swansea University, spoke to the BBC about making physics interesting and letting the students know that, while they need mathematics skills, they don’t need to be geniuses to pursue the subject.
If you missed the news pieces on television, you can read more on BBC News or Cymru Fyw. The project team thanks all mentors, mentees, teachers, colleagues and the BBC for making this possible.
