TONY BLAIR is the first to admit that when it came to his school science lessons, the teachers' age old mantra rang true: Could do better.

So it was a real education for the Prime Minister when he opened a new £25 million National Science Learning Centre at the University of York.

He saw how the pioneering centre - funded by the Wellcome Trust - will help teachers inspire the children of the 21st century to take an interest in science.

He stood transfixed as several teachers, including Brian Rees, of All Saints' School, and Kate Bloom, of Archbishop Holgate's School, showed him a startling series of experiments to illustrate a range of scientific principles.

Brian illustrated how, after heating the inside of a metal pipe with a Bunsen burner, air rushed in from below, vibrating the tube and creating a loud noise.

Kate showed how, when two ice cubes were placed on plastic and metal dishes, the cube on the metal dish melted much faster - even though the metal felt much colder - because it was a better conductor of heat.

Another teacher pumped gas through a container of washing-up liquid, scooped off some of the bubbles, and then lit them with a taper, causing a spurt of flame to burst over the Prime Minister's head.

Mr Blair admitted science had been his weakest subject at school and exclaimed: "It should have been like this 40 years ago! It's fantastic."

Later, he told assembled guests: "I've seen many good ways of teaching science today.

"This centre shows a great vision of how science can be taught.

"At school, we all knew that the one thing that made a difference was if the teacher felt personal enthusiasm for their subject, then it was communicated to their students."

The prime minister said science was vital to provide future skills if the nation was going to compete in the global economy.

In its first year, about 1,000 teachers and technicians are expected to attend courses at the York centre, with numbers expected to double in the second year and rise to more than 5,000 a year by 2013.

John Holman, who is the the centre's director, said its goal was to help British teachers, technicians and classroom assistants lead the world in science education by 2015.

"The centre offers a fantastic opportunity to reconnect science teachers to the frontiers of science, as well as showing them new ways of teaching science in an engaging way," Mr Holman said.

"We hope that a visit to the National Science Learning Centre will be a defining moment in the career of every attendee."

Clare Matterson, director of Wellcome Trust's medicine, society and history division, said: "The centre is about the future of science.

"It will help the UK to nurture promising young minds and inspire them to become scientists."

Updated: 09:47 Saturday, March 18, 2006