I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here is a project that scales globally, engaging the curiosity of students from Ho Chi Minh City to New York.

With a social justice mission and a capacity for international delivery, I’m a Scientist can offer an international company’s employees – no matter where they are – the same experience of high-quality public engagement. As such, I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here was an ideal delivery partner for Johnson Matthey’s ambitious, international Science and Me programme.

The Clean World Zones and Healthy World Zones ran in both I’m a Scientist (UK) and I’m a Scientist (USA), funded by Science and Me. Students were able to explore the themes of the Zones by connecting with scientists in those fields.

Between November 2021 and May 2022, the 4 Zones featured 120 scientists and reached schools across the UK and in 8 U.S. states.

Engaging students with science, no matter where they are

Science and Me explicitly prioritises young people at a socio-economic disadvantage. The Healthy World and Clean World Zones were effective in engaging priority school students from disadvantaged backgrounds. 

In I’m a Scientist (USA), 85% of active students were from Title 1 schools*.  Meanwhile, in the UK, 48% of students who took part were from WP schools**.

Socio-economic disadvantages aren’t limited to low incomes and free school meals. Our research shows that schools within a 15-minute drive of a Higher Education Institution are twice as likely to have visits from university scientists than a school 30 minutes’ or more away. All 4 Zones hosted schools that miss out on these face-to-face visits due to being at a geographical disadvantage. 

Jackson Intermediate School in Alabama is over an hour’s drive from its nearest HEI. Students at that particular school are statistically very unlikely to receive a visit from a scientist. Yet, through I’m a Scientist, they could feel as though they were having 1-to-1 conversations with 4 scientists at once. 

My principal observed [the Chat] and she was very excited to see that our little rural babies had this opportunity!

Terri, a teacher at the school, said: “My kids loved every minute of this! They were engaged the whole time and couldn’t stop talking about it afterwards! My principal observed during this time as well and she was very excited to see that our little rural babies had this opportunity.”

Meanwhile in the UK, 88% of students who took part in the Clean World Zone were from target schools – 58% of those are underserved.

Ultimately, the Clean World and Healthy World Zones in both the UK and the USA were able to support school students to engage with STEM. As one participating teacher commented, “The chat gave my students an authentic audience.”

*Title 1 schools are schools which have been identified by the U.S. Department of Education as having a high percentage of students from low-income families

**Find out what we mean by widening participation (WP) schools, and how you can support us in working with more of these: about.imascientist.org.uk/under-served-and-wp