IASUK RSC Zones 2013-21 Evaluation Report (Click image to read full report, [PDF])

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Summary

• We ran 32 zones between June 2013 and October 2021
• Students interacted directly with scientists in 669 live chat sessions
• 13,519 students logged in with 86% actively engaging:
  • Students from 401 schools took part.
  • 61% of participating schools were widening participation or in underserved areas.
• 377 scientists took part:
  • Scientists represented a wide range of areas within chemistry, and showed students a wide range of backgrounds, careers, and routes into STEM.
• Every school live chat included a discussion around chemistry; at least 51% of live chat conversations included chemistry related terminology:
  • Additionally, 26% of questions in ‘Ask’, and 55% of answers from scientists included discussions relating to chemistry.
• Taking part in IAS supports students’ science capital:
  • Research carried out in 2019 into the impact of taking part in IAS shows that IAS maps well onto the Science Capital Teaching Approach, supporting science capital dimensions including: science literacy, seeing science as relevant to everyday life, knowledge about the transferability of science/science qualifications, and especially, knowing people in science-related jobs.
• Taking part has a positive impact on participating scientists:
  • Participating scientists reported increased skills (82%), confidence (75%), and enthusiasm (80%) for communicating research with lay people.
  • 86% increased their understanding of young people’s views on medical research.
  • 71% increased their interest in taking part in future public engagement activities.
  • 77% reported benefits to their profile as a scientist and benefits to their professional reputation.
• Feedback from scientists:
  • I enjoyed the text based nature of it as I have a stammer so it makes it harder to engage with strangers through speech.
  • I’d recommend that every scientist should try this and find out how younger members of the public view us!
  • A very positive experience that definitely encouraged em to engage more with the public and look for outreach opportunities.

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IASUK RSC Zones 2021 Evaluation Report (Click image to read full report, [PDF])

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Summary

• • Throughout 2021, RSC members participated in 10 Zones across the IAS platform, 3 of which were directly part-funded by the RSC
  • 7,327 students logged in with 80% actively engaging:
  • Students connected with RSC members in 180 live chats:
    • Students from 185 schools took part.
    • 64% of participating schools were widening participation or in underserved areas.

• 51 reported RSC members took part:
  • • Scientists represented a wide range of areas within science, and showed students a wide range of backgrounds, careers, and routes into STEM.
• Taking part in IAS supports students’ science capital:
  • Research carried out in 2019 into the impact of taking part in IAS shows that IAS maps well onto the Science Capital Teaching Approach, supporting science capital dimensions including: science literacy, seeing science as relevant to everyday life, knowledge about the transferability of science/science qualifications, and especially, knowing people in science-related jobs.
• Taking part has a positive impact on RSC members:
  • • 83% of survey respondents reported an increase in skill in communicating with lay people.
    • “Taking part and winning has increased my reputation for outreach and I am asked to do outreach for the lab more now.”
    • 77% of participating scientists were more interested in continuing with other forms of engagement activities after IAS.
    • “A very positive experience that definitely encouraged me to engage more with the public and look out for outreach opportunities.”

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IASUK MRC Zones 2018-20 Evaluation Report (Click image to read full report, [PDF])

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Summary

• We ran 5 zones between June 2018 and November 2020
• 5,335 students logged in with 80% actively engaging:
  • Students from 141 schools took part.
  • 59% of participating schools were widening participation or in underserved areas.
• 226 researchers took part:
  • Scientists represented a wide range of areas within medical research, and showed students a wide range of backgrounds, careers, and routes into STEM.
• Every school live chat included a discussion around medical research; at least 59% of live chat conversations included medical research topics:
  • Additionally, 41% of questions in ‘Ask’, and 57% of answers from researchers included discussions related to medical research themes.
• Taking part in IAS supports students’ science capital:
  • Research carried out in 2019 into the impact of taking part in IAS shows that IAS maps well onto the Science Capital Teaching Approach, supporting science capital dimensions including: science literacy, seeing science as relevant to everyday life, knowledge about the transferability of science/science qualifications, and especially, knowing people in science-related jobs.
• Taking part has a positive impact on MRC researchers:
  • MRC researchers reported increased skills (91%), confidence (86%), and enthusiasm (88%) for communicating research with lay people.
  • 82% increased their understanding of young people’s views on medical research.
  • 86% increased their interest in taking part in future public engagement activities.
  • 41% reported benefits to their profile as a researcher, and 40% reported benefits to their professional reputation.
• IAS is different to other engagement projects MRC researchers have taken part in:
  • IAS is easy to participate in; it fits around schedules, there is no need to leave the office, lab, or home.
  • Pseudo-anonymity encourages a broader range of students to actively engage and ask questions.
  • Student-led discussions allow for a greater depth of engagement.

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I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here is an online, student-led STEM enrichment activity. Since 2008, we have connected school students with scientists through energetic instant messaging-style chats.

With the fast onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’m a Scientist, Stay at home was planned in a short four week period of turmoil and uncertainty from late-March to mid-April 2020. The pandemic completely changed the way we run our activity.

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This report is a summary of the activity in, lessons learnt, and an evaluation of the impact of this event.

Our capacity modelling was based on 5% of UK schools requesting space in the activity. This seemed reasonable based on promotional support and our unique position of being able to provide online STEM enrichment at scale. This would involve up to 150,000 students connecting with 1,800 scientists.

Recruitment

Interest levels were excellent. By the end of the first day of school activity we had over 1,000 scientists and engineers signed up. By the end of the summer term we had 2,450 applied to take part.

Interest from secondary school teachers was strong too. Teachers from 12% of UK secondary schools signed up to take part with their students.

However, interest from primary schools was weak. Only 1% of primary schools signed up. As the demands placed on primary schools became clear — children of key workers; return of EYFS, Y1 and Y6 after half term; and uncertainty over it all — it wasn’t altogether surprising.

Converting interest into activity also proved to be a challenge. Out of the 1,068 teachers signed up, only 262 had students participate. 190 schools in total.

The intention and interest from secondary schools was significantly higher than expected, but conflicting pressures prevented that intention from converting into action.

We created capacity for 100,000 students but in the end only 6,945 students created accounts.

Teachers faced challenges:

• Increased workload to provide centre assessed grades
• adapting to remote teaching
• providing childcare for their own children
• student compliance with teaching instructions
• Equity issues resulting from access to IT for students at home

Some schools ran video lessons, some maintained a timetable, some set occasional work. STEM enrichment mostly became a voluntary activity rather than a lesson.

For those who did participate the experience was excellent.

The student to scientist ratio in chats at around 1:1 was better than normal (6:1 in November 2019). This led to more in-depth conversations, to greater satisfaction from students who got their questions answered and from scientists who felt less pressured and committed.

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For those who did participate the experience was excellent.”

Interviews with teachers and analysis of live chat transcripts allowed us to build on previous research. It provides confidence that the activity continues to support students’ science capital. They continue to build rapport with scientists, to understand the variety in STEM and to see science as something for them.

We also heard from teachers that it provided a rare chance for them to connect with their classes.

There were considerable benefits for the scientists too. For one self-isolating scientist it felt like a lifeline. For others it helped motivate them through a difficult, isolated time. For most it was the main or only outreach activity they were able to do during the summer term.

Researchers have been encouraged to make public engagement a key part of their work. We are glad we were able to help them maintain their commitment.

Legacy

The I’m a Scientist, Stay at home programme isn’t finished. There is a legacy to funding provided and the work done so far with it.

Uncertainty remains in the UK education sector. Students were generally in school for the autumn term but with 35% absent due to self-isolation at points in November. So far in 2021 schools have asked students to learn from home.

Scientists and engineers will not be able to visit schools for the foreseeable future. Visits to museums and workplaces are not likely.

In September 2020 we launched I’m a Scientist: On Demand. It is available for teachers to run STEM enrichment at a time that suits them. The investment we made in I’m a Scientist, Stay at home made this service to teachers possible.

We continue to build on the development we did since April. The student registration process has been improved. Our back-end system changes allow us to operate with large numbers of teachers and scientists efficiently. Dynamic lists of scientists so students can focus on the people they are engaging with are live. The chat calendar has been improved again, to allow teachers to make requests for certain types of STEM professionals.

We are currently running shorter 4 week zones to make the commitment more manageable for scientists. We are bringing back the cash prize to increase the involvement and agency for the students.

In the autumn of 2020 we ran a zone for Science Centres to maintain contact with their schools. Resourcing issues for science centres made this difficult, but the Centre for Life in Newcastle participated and managed to engage with 57 teachers and over 450 students.

Summary

In summary, I’m a Scientist, Stay at home, was planned in a period of great uncertainty. The levels of student participation were lower than expected, but those that did had an excellent experience. The funding provided continues to provide a legacy. Development work has improved the activity and made it more efficient to run. It has allowed a continuation of excellent online STEM enrichment throughout 2020 and the Spring Term of 2021.

Funders

I’m a Scientist, Stay at home received core funding from UK Research and Innovation and Wellcome Education. Further Zone funding from bp PLC, the British Psychological Society, Johnson Matthey PLC, the Medical Research Council, the Ogden Trust, the Royal Society of Chemistry, Tomorrow’s Engineers and the Wellcome Genome Campus. Additional funding from Tideway. I’m a Scientist, Stay at home received additional support from the British Science Association and STEM Learning.

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2018–20
STFC Legacy Award
Evaluation Report — Click image to view report [PDF]

Summary

• We ran 24 zones across 5 events between November 2018 and March 2020:

• • • 20 IAS zones
    • 4 IAE zones

• 142 STEM professionals took part:

• • • Scientists and engineers showed students a wide range of backgrounds, careers, and routes into STEM.

• 9,516 students logged in with 91% actively engaging. Students from 169 schools engaged.

• • • 67% of participating schools were widening participation or in underserved areas.

• The activity had a positive impact on students, teachers, and scientists and engineers:

• • Teachers reported that the activity was effective in improving students’ motivations towards STEM, helping students see how STEM relates to the world around them, challenging stereotypes, and developing students’ awareness that STEM qualifications can be useful even if students don’t want to work in science.
  • [A student] took part in the family live chat in the evening. The next day she was so excited and told me she couldn’t believe her luck in getting access to these scientists and getting all her questions answered. She had screen shot all her answers and brought them into class. Her motivation and love of learning was given a great boost. — Teacher, post event survey
  • 75% of scientists and engineers reported an increased enthusiasm towards their own work. 67% reported an increased appreciation of the value of their work.

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The Green Zone was run as a pilot zone to work out what improvements would be required to enable a massive upscaling of the I’m a Scientist activity.

It was an online space in which teachers could book live chats for their students prior to the Easter break. Delivery included moderation, and management and liaison with teachers and scientists.

Read the evaluation report [PDF]

Additionally, a summary of key data on activity in the Zone, with examples of engagement and some analysis of popular discussion topics is available in the Green Zone Report.

click to download the full report

In June 2014, teamed up with The Genome Analysis Centre (TGAC) to run two Big Data themed zones: The Genomics Zone and the Bioinformatics Zone, each featuring at least two TGAC scientists. And these were our main findings:

• The students were interested in the scientists: Students read the scientist profiles and asked about the research of each individual scientist. They were also very keen to learn more about the scientists; daily lives and hobbies, as well about their opinions on topical issues like animal testing.

• Students were interested in Genomics and Bioinformatics: Two difficult subjects which many of the students might not have been familiar with before the event. In fact, one teacher in the Genomics zone said she was pleasantly surprised with the level of the students’ questions and how the scientists explained what genomics is.

• The Bioinformatics and Genomics Zones exposed students to the new trends in biology: Students learnt how biology is much more than identifying plants and animals, especially since the radical change that computers and Big Data have generated in the field. As one teacher said:

The genomics zone attracted us as it was a chance to expose kids to seeing biology as a difficult subject (which normally they don’t) and also speak to people in the research side of the subject. We felt it would link to a lot of topics in our current themes like microbes and reproduction.”

• Scientists improved their science communication skills: For some scientists, I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here! was their first public engagement activity, and it served as a good pilot experience. They learnt about students’ interests and how to communicate with them in a more efficient way.

If you want to read the full report, you can download a PDF version of it here.

The CHRISTMAS LECTURES are a series of science talks, which have been held at the Royal Institution (Ri) since 1825. In December 2013, the Royal Institution teamed up with us to extend the discussion around the CHRISTMAS LECTURES, and give everyone the opportunity to ask questions to real scientists online.

This was the first time we ran an I’m a Scientist zone alongside the CHRISTMAS LECTURES, so evaluating it was particularly important: we wanted to look at the strengths and weaknesses of the event and suggest improvements for future editions.

These were our main findings:

• Almost 600 people participated in the CHRISTMAS LECTURES Zone, of whom 78% were students, 8% were teachers, and 14% were members of the general public.
• All of the teachers that answered our feedback survey agreed that we should run the CHRISTMAS LECTURES Zone next year.
• The two scientists who we interviewed after the event said that they now feel much more confident in science communication and they would recommend taking part in I’m a Scientist to their colleagues.
• There is room for improvement, particularly regarding the participation of the general public, which we would like to see increase in future events.

If you are curious to know more about the event, you can access the full evaluation report here (PDF).

In November 2013 we run I’m a Scientist in Ireland for the second time. We run 4 zones: two themed on Nanotechnology and Space and two general zones named Helium and Lithium with a mix of 5 scientists.

This report looks at how the event went. One of the main points of the report is our analysis of the impact that the event had on students’ perception of science. We found out that students’ interest in science and science related careers is clearly increased after taking part in I’m a Scientist. We also report on teacher and scientist feedback, which was generally very positive. As one teacher said: “This event offers the opportunity to do something different; an activity that brings out new strengths and abilities”. Sandra Byrne. Teacher

Download the report here.