The Physics Zone ran from 2 to 27 November 2020. The Zone was one out of 4 Zones that ran as part of I’m a Scientist: On Demand in November 2020.
I’m a Scientist: On Demand aims to offer greater flexibility to teachers in how, and when, they can take part in I’m a Scientist. This is in response to the COVID-19 situation and greater restrictions and uncertainty in schools.
The Physics Zone was funded by the Ogden Trust.
Scientists
- 36 scientists created profiles in the Zone.
- 35 scientists engaged with students through live Chats and/or Ask questions.
- Scientists from a broad range of fields and career stages took part. For example:
- Leah Morgan – project engineer for the UK Atomic energy Authority
- Pratik Samant – Postdoctoral researcher at University of Oxford
- Viviene Dela Cruz – development scientist working for the STFC
Students
- 616 students from 20 schools logged into the Zone.
- Turnout was 61% of the 1,000 capacity.
- 70% of active students were from target schools (WP and/or U).
- 38% were from widening participation (WP) schools.
- 48% were from underserved (U) schools.
Chats & Questions
- 34 live Chats took place took place during the activity.
- 46 live Chats were booked (77% of expected levels), but dropout was higher thanusual with 9 cancellations and 3 ‘school no shows’.
- On average, 5 scientists attended each live Chat session.
- 1 teacher typed questions in a live Chat on behalf of their students, so the number ofstudents engaged may be higher by up to 25.
- 267 student questions were approved. Scientists responded with 535 answers.
