Education: Science in safe hands?
Spider-hunting and blood sampling help to equip children for later life, says Sian Griffiths
Will held his middle finger tightly and squeezed. The sterile lancet pierced his skin and a moment later a bead of blood oozed out. He smeared it onto a slide, slid it under a microscope and discovered, for the first time, that his blood group was AB+.
Will, 15, may not realise it but he is one of a few children still able to do the kind of hands-on science that has been outlawed by red tape and safety fears in many schools.
When Andrew Allott, Will’s teacher at Shrewsbury school, posted a call in an e-mail discussion group for schools to reintroduce “blood practicals”, his suggestion was greeted with remarks such as “mad” and “hope you’re not sued”.
“No state schools are doing the blood experiment any more,” he explains — it was banned a decade ago when worries about HIV infection were at their height.
So when he decided