Global Summer School 2026 - redefining outreach practicals

How do you transition high school students from following a recipe in a lab to thinking like research pioneers?

Overview

During the summer of 2026, Imperial’s Department of Chemistry tackled this challenge head-on. Driven by initiatives like the Global Summer School (GSS), Year 12 Taster Days, and the Sutton Trust Summer School (STSS), the department unveiled two new outreach practical experiments designed to bridge the gap between school-level science and undergraduate reality.

Indigo carmine synthesis and investigation (ICSI)

The GSS was a two-week summer school event aimed at international students (16-17 years old) interested in widening their STEM subject knowledge and bolstering any future applications to Imperial. The Chemistry department took part for the first time this year, and rather than showcasing a practical that had been delivered before, the task of developing a new one was pioneered by Dr Zarik Yusaf.

Driven by a desire to introduce multi-step organic synthesis in a visually spectacular way, Dr Yusaf created the Indigo carmine synthesis and investigation (ICSI) experiment. Delivered alongside Dr Julie Kalmoni, the practical was structured into four distinct parts:

• Synthesis of indigo
• Synthesis of indigo carmine
• Solubility investigation
• Indigo carmine and glucose redox demonstration

On the day, the delivery of the practical was led by both Dr Yusaf and Dr Julie Kalmoni. While the synthesis stages provided essential foundational procedures, they actively challenged students with inquiry-based prompts to teach good lab practice and techniques (e.g., "Which size round-bottomed flask makes the most sense for this step and the next?").

The session then transitioned into a self-directed solubility investigation where students devised their own methods to explore the differences between indigo and indigo carmine. The finale - a vibrant redox indicator demonstration changing between green, red, and yellow - proved highly popular, sparking brilliant student discussions on the underlying chemistry.

Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction and investigation

The second practical was also developed by Dr Yusaf, and it was delivered during the Year 12 Taster Days and the STSS. This involved the wonderfully weird and visually interesting Belousov-Zhabotinsky (BZ) reaction and an investigation into the kinetics of the reaction by changing factors such as the temperature and catalyst. The aim was to introduce the students to concepts such as reaction kinetics, chemical oscillations, and non-equilibrium thermodynamics in a fun and exciting way.

Like the ICSI practical, the BZ practical was structured into four parts:

• The standard BZ reaction with ferroin
• The effect of temperature
• The absence of a metal catalyst
• The effect of a different metal catalyst

While the first part provided a structured procedure to see the reaction in action, the remainder of the session empowered students to test their own hypotheses. For instance, one pair investigated temperature effects during the final part, discovering that room temperature yielded no oscillations, while warming the mixture triggered a distinct yellow-to-clear colour change that oscillated.

As well as exploring their own ideas, the practical also came with unexpected outcomes. A common occurrence during the temperature investigation was the ultimate end of the reaction. When the reaction failed to revert to red upon swirling, many students were initially perplexed. However, this perfectly illustrated the nature of non-equilibrium processes where the "fuel" source runs out. Demonstrating higher-level problem-solving, some pairs successfully solved the issue by adding more “fuel” to restart the reaction loop entirely.

A huge thanks to everyone involved in student support, teaching, and technical aspects  during the development and delivery of both outreach experiments: Ms Kat Harris, Dr Julie Kalmoni, Ms Fatema Khatun, Dr Norman Chan, Mr Jame Carvalho, Dr Hannah Case, Ms Roberta Stinga, Mr Owen Lawler, Ms Lottie Dyce, Ms Ngozi Osuji, Dr Ray Lau, Mr Sam Goldwater, Ms Sara Thayammal, Ms Raj Sandhu, and Ms Jessie Allen. Special thanks also to our GTAs, UTAs, and work experience students for their help during the delivery of the outreach experiments.