On Wednesday, 11th February, a group of pupils and teachers from Rugby School travelled to Oxford to visit the famous university’s Natural History Museum. I have reviewed our day out for the school science magazine.
We arrived in Oxford just before lunch time, so after a brief lunch break we headed to Oxford University's Natural History Museum. We were ushered into a large lecture theatre, hidden away upstairs, by one of the museum's education officers, who spoke to us about the theory of evolution. During this talk, we learnt that Charles
Darwin’s favourite animal was the barnacle and were allowed to pass round
various taxidermy animals. However, my personal highlight was when a tank of Madagascar
hissing cockroaches where pulled out from behind the desk, and we were then
offered the opportunity to hold them. The squeals of excitement from some only
added to the comedy of the looks of pure disgust on the faces of others. Unfortunately,
all too soon, it was time to return Jemima (the name that a few of us had given
to our cockroach). After more information on the topics relevant to our AS course, we were taken upstairs to a long, narrow room, which housed
thousands of invertebrates in wooden cabinets. This room was the location of
the “Great Debate”, in 1860. This event saw a clash between Thomas Henry
Huxley, a great believer in the concept of evolution, and Samuel Wilberforce,
Bishop of Oxford and an absolute creationist. You can read more about the "Great Debate" here.
We were then given time to wander around the museum, with a
booklet, to help us relate our trip to the relevant parts of our AS course.
Along with the invertebrates that we had seen upstairs, the museum is home to
thousands of other creatures. The biggest of these welcomes you as you first
enter the museum; “Stan” is the cast of a Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, and is a
massive 12m long. The museum also houses many other skeletons, including a
polar bear, a horse, an ostrich and various other dinosaurs. As well as
skeletons, the museum has various animals which have been stuffed, such as a
penguin, a koala and a dodo.
Following our trip to the museum, one of the teachers had organised
for us to visit biological sciences department at Oxford University. Professor
Martin Speight, one of the professors of zoology there, spoke to us about the
“value added” areas at Oxford University, such as Wytham Wood and their Botanic
garden. We were then told about the modules that made up the biological
sciences course, and some of the different research and the trips involved,
including one to Borneo to study rainforest ecology. He finished his talk by discussing
about the application process. We were then given a tour of the zoology department,
where we were shown various labs and some other facilities that they have
there.
Emily Lauterpacht
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