Community Trust Study Programme students from Nottingham Forest and Mansfield Town visited Nottingham Trent University on Monday for a ‘Student Experience Day.’
The day started with a micro lecture based around human physiology with one of the lecturers at the university. Learners did a mini experiment to see what happens to their heart rate when they hold their breath, and to see what it is that causes them to breathe. Is it lack of oxygen in the blood or is it something else? The answer: It was the increase in carbon dioxide as the monitors (pulse oximeters) used didn’t show a difference in blood oxygen levels.
They then moved on up to the Physiology lab with the same professor and carried out a handful of practical experiments.
- An experiment to see what the normal breathing of a person is like and what the air is made up from. They connected one of their team to the douglas bag and timed them for a minute and then connected the collected air sample to a machine to analyse the air.
- An experiment to see what the impact of putting head and face into a bowl of cold water has on heart rate with different variables introduced, such as being able to breathe or not (hence the scuba breathing apparatus)
- An experiment on the components of blood. A blood sample was taken from an individual and then put into a centrifuge machine to separate the components for them to see in the tube.
Prior to lunch, the learners were then taken on a campus tour by two student ambassadors.
After lunch, there was a student life workshop involving lots of information on applying for courses, student finance, student life, accommodation and part-time jobs. This was facilitated by one of the student ambassadors and someone from the recruitment team. Good questions were asked by learners about the different types of degrees available and about sports teams, clubs and societies.
Elizabeth Skeavington, LFE’s CT Regional Officer said: “Nottingham Trent University – Clifton Campus has lots to offer students wanting to study sport in Nottingham. I was surprised at the size of the campus and the facilities that are available there. The learners from Mansfield Town and Nottingham Forest had a really practical and engaging day to get a taste of what life is like as a Sports Student studying for a degree. Hopefully it gave some of them some more ideas to consider for their future plans at the end of the programme.”
