www.tasteofmedicine.com goes live

Raising aspirations and challenging stereotypes

Tasteofmedicine homepage

Staff and students from St George’s, University of London were joined by teachers from local schools, as well as Aimhigher representatives from across London to test out a new interactive introduction to careers in medicine and healthcare. Taste Of Medicine uses a mixture of games, quizzes and videos to challenge the misinformed and outdated stereotypes associated with medicine, reinforcing the idea that students from any social or educational background can be a success in healthcare.

The website makes use of new technologies to inform and inspire young students.It is a fun, interactive, educational resource that can work equally well in the classroom or at home.There are lesson plans and assembly plans freely available to download, aimed primarily at pre-GCSE students.This allows teachers beyond our immediate area to make full use of this resource. Originally only available to students in London, this new website aims to give the facts in easily digestible, bite size chunks

Kenton Lewis, Assistant Registrar (Fair Access) said “As an institution we are totally committed to widening participation, and this new website forms an important element of our work to ensure that all students have a fair chance of accessing a University education.We feel it is important to work with young students, to support and encourage their educational development and offer freely available resources that teachers can make use of in the classroom.”

Dispelling the myths

Gifted & Talented and Aimhigher manager for Wandsworth LEA, Alex Purssey, said “The design of this resource has allowed great flexibility in its use.It has been used in Wandsworth to stretch the most able students during G&T enrichment classes as well as providing the basis for a series of lessons in science.The cross curricular activities and range of information allows teachers to manipulate it to their advantage across a range of subject areas to produce stimulating and realistic lessons.”