A MUSICAL comedy is helping to get pupils interested in chemistry, and teach them about the subject at the same time.

Pupils from four Teesside schools have seen the production, thanks to the joint efforts of the Quantum Theatre-in-Education company and Teesside-based Dow Haltermann and the Dow Chemical Company.

The Big Drip, a quick-fire musical comedy, aims to show how different materials behave under certain conditions and how their properties can be harnessed in real-life applications.

It has been staged this month for pupils at North Ormesby Primary School, North Ormesby, near Middlesbrough, Breckon Hill Primary School and High Clarence Primary School, both Middlesbrough, and Oakdene Primary School, Billingham.

Dow has sponsored the Quantum company, which has been working with schools for 16 years. It specialises in performances linked to the National Curriculum for Science and the National Guidelines for Environmental Studies.

Breckon Hill headteacher Cherry Diemoz said: "It was a fantastic play that really entertained and managed to get some quite tricky scientific points across."

Andy Paterson, headteacher at Oakdene primary, said: "The scientists who will be working for companies like Dow Haltermann and Dow Chemical in 20 years' time are today's primary school pupils. The children had great fun watching the performance."

Published: 25/09/2004