Earlier this year, members of Girlguiding Dundee launched the Medicine Maker badge, with support from staff at the University of Dundee.
Young women from across the county were given the opportunity to try out some of the experiments and ideas from the badge at a special launch night in February, as well as learning about the role of women in science.
The badge and activity pack have been developed by Dundee psychology undergraduate and Guide leader, Jess Morris, along with Brownie leader and medicinal chemist at the university’s Wellcome Centre for Anti-Infectives Research (WCAIR), Fiona Bellamy.
Jess said: “Following a talk that Fiona gave to the girls about her work as a scientist, they were surprised to find out about Dundee’s world-leading role in ‘medicine making’. We decided that we wanted to make sure that Girlguiding members could learn more about science in a fun way”.
Ahead of the launch, Fiona said: “We are very excited to welcome so many girls to the University. They will be learning about infectious diseases and how we develop new medicines by trying out some of the activities from the pack. These will include making play-doh bacteria, experimenting with dry ice and extracting DNA.”
Members of Girlguiding from across the UK are able to download the activity pack from our website or at the bottom of this page and work on the challenges within their own units.
Badges are sold for £1 each and profits will be split between Girlguiding Scotland’s work in Africa where infectious diseases are prevalent, and the Girlguiding Dundee Financial Assistance Fund which helps units in the city who are most in need of funding.
For any questions related to the badge, or to order some, please contact the team at email@example.com and don’t forget to share pictures and drawings from units doing the badge on twitter by tagging @GirlGuidingDund and @WCAIRDundee