Crash, bang, squelch, splat, whoosh, pop!

Any student joining CHaOS, Cambridge’s student-run science education outreach group, must be prepared to get their hands dirty… and eat their own body weight in sweets. “We bribe our volunteers with sweets and chocolate – the amount of sugar we consume is not good,” says Margaret Johncock, a third year Natural Sciences student and CHaOS President.

“We travel round the country visiting schools with a van-load of experiments. We make explosions, we have skeletons, we have vacuum bazookas – we do all sorts of things. It gets children interested in science and you feel like a child again yourself.”

CHaOS – Cambridge Hands-On Science – was founded in 1997 to introduce primary and secondary school children to the wonders of science through entertaining experiments. And since 2002, CHaOS has run annual summer roadshows, with student volunteers giving up one or two weeks of their holidays to travel to different parts of the UK, staying at campsites and visiting schools, museums and libraries. It’s all made possible by donations from scientific and educational bodies as well as individuals – CHaOS is always looking for supporters.

As well as the big summer roadshow, there are other events throughout the year, such as school visits and the Crash, Bang, Squelch! event in the Department of Zoology laboratory, where 1,500 excited children are let loose under the supervision of 100 volunteers. On these occasions, CHaOS really lives up to its name.

Johncock says that even the simplest experiments can blow young minds – a piece of string tied to a Slinky and then held to the ear produces sounds akin to a ‘death ray’, while all children relish making slime or using baking powder to power a homemade rocket.

For their part, club members get to travel, meet other students who share their passion for science and watch young children’s faces light up with delight as they make something else go bang. “We travel and share stories around the campfire,” says Johncock. “But we also get to show kids from disadvantaged backgrounds that they can be scientists – and that a scientist can be anyone. It’s a great way to engage. The teachers often tell us that this is the most excited the children have ever been, and it is amazing to see the impact it makes.”