IAS Event

“I’m a Scientist is great, but wouldn’t it be better if students could see and hear the scientists too?”

This is a question we get asked from time to time. Here we explain why we’re confident that text interaction remains the best format for effective, inclusive, online engagement because it makes students and scientists more comfortable, levels the playing field between adults and children, makes the events accessible to a wider audience. Students are more familiar with text-based chats. There is growing evidence¹ that young people communicate most via text and less and less through phone or video and we’re hearing that anecdotally too. Feedback from teachers has pointed out that students are not only more familiar with a text format but also more comfortable with it. All parties feel more confident about not being visible. As an ex-teacher myself, the thought of making a class visible online to an unknown person via a webcam makes me uncomfortable. I’d also be concerned about scientists inadvertently displaying confidential or inappropriate material … Continue reading →

Posted on August 4, 2017 by modemily in Evaluation, IAS Event, News, Science Engagement | Comments Off

Demand vs. Capacity — An update for June 2016

Graph of I'm a Scientist UK class requests by event in academic year — March 2013 to June 2016 Any avid readers of our project blog — there must be at least one of you — will have noticed we’ve written a lot recently about our increasing demand for classes, and our over-subscription rates.

In January, we published some numbers. Since then we have run the March 2016 event, and finalised class places in the June 2016 event. Here are some updated numbers:

Continue reading →

Posted on May 23, 2016 by modjosh in Capacity, Evaluation, IAS Event, News, Project News | Comments Off

On student activity and simplified registrations

TL;DR: We made the site easier for students to access and the proportion of our audience engaging increased. Like any company, we have a set of Key Performance Indicators which we use to keep an eye on how well we’re doing. One of those KPIs (professionals use abbreviations) is the percentage of active students during an event, what we will call, %AS. %AS shows the number of students who log in to the site, and go on to — at the very least — ask a question, write a line of text in a live chat, cast a vote, or leave a comment. Basically, it shows the proportion of our audience who are actively engaging with the activity. In July 2014 Rosie posted a message on our project management app of choice, pointing out that the %AS for the previous events had been falling to the level it was at during the … Continue reading →

Posted on May 23, 2016 by modjosh in Evaluation, Event News, IAS Event, News, Project News | Comments Off

March 2016 Winners’ Blogs

After every event we ask the zone winners to write a short blog post to be sent to all the students in who took part in the zone. It’s a great way for the scientists to reflect on the previous two weeks and thank all the students for voting for them. Let’s take a look at what the winners from March’s zones had to say… Chris, Biochemistry Zone I’ve never experienced anything like it. I’d leave chats with a big smile from your questions and aching fingers from trying to keep up with them. Your questions made me laugh, groan, and think. I had to research quite a few of them. I’d start every morning going through and answering your questions. There’s going to be a sad hole in my mornings now that we’re done. Cat, Climate Change Zone I genuinely couldn’t have imagined how much fun taking part in IAS … Continue reading →

Posted on April 4, 2016 by in Event News, IAS Event, News | Comments Off

“The whole experience has been incredibly rewarding”

After every event we ask the zone winners to write a short blog post to be sent to all the students in who took part in the zone. It’s a great way for the scientists to reflect on the previous two weeks and thank all the students for voting for them. Let’s take a look at what the winners from November’s zones had to say… Sara, Ageing Zone I’m A Scientist, Get Me Out Of Here was a continuous surprise. I was surprised I was selected, I was surprised I wasn’t evicted and I was amazed I won! I didn’t know what to expect and didn’t think kids will be so interested in my work; I work with animals and I was scared a lot of people would be against it and they would be aggressive about it. But no, I had amazing and clever questions I didn’t even expect. … Continue reading →

Posted on December 15, 2015 by in Event News, IAS Event, News | Comments Off

“I’m a Scientist is definitely the most fun I’ve had in my lab coat”

After every event we ask the zone winners to write a short blog post to be sent to all the students in who took part in the zone. It’s a great way for the scientists to reflect on the previous two weeks and thank all the students for voting for them. Let’s take a look at what they had to say… Jess, Colour Zone I’m a Scientist is definitely the most fun I’ve had in my lab coat. The questions were incredible, totally unpredictable and the scope was well beyond that going on academic circles; by the final I’d tried to prepare a few ‘go-to’ answers, “What is colour?”, “What happened during the big bang?”, “Will we ever cure cancer?..but I couldn’t predict a single one! After the 30 minute live chats my fingers were tingling so much I had to delay measuring polymers in the clean room. I cannot … Continue reading →

Posted on July 27, 2015 by modjosh in Event News, IAS Event, News | Comments Off

Understanding Animal Research – Google Hangout

Before our most recent June 2014 I’m a Scientist event we partnered with Understanding Animal Research to run a Google Hangout for scientists who work with animals. Students often ask the scientists for their views on animal testing, and we want to help give scientists the confidence to be open and talk about working with animals in their research. John Meredith, Education Manager at UAR, ran this session with six scientists who were taking part in I’m a Scientist the following week: The A word: how to talk about animals in medical research This informal webinar presented by Understanding Animal Research will look at how and why we should talk about animals in medical research. It will cover current public attitudes to animal research, the facts and figures, the value of openness and how to answer the tricky questions or deal with confrontation. There will be plenty of time for questions … Continue reading →

Posted on August 6, 2014 by modjosh in Evaluation, IAS Event, News | Comments Off

March 2014 Moderator Job Vacancies

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here is an award-winning online event allowing students (from 9 – 18) to interact with real live scientists. We’re looking for 3 moderators to work on the next event which will run from the 10th March to the 21st March 2014. We will also be running a zone in I’m an Engineer at the same time, which will also need moderating. Your key responsibilities will be: checking and approving questions adding appropriate keywords and tags logging and keeping track of questions, comments and dialogue checking the site for errors and inappropriate content and usernames moderating live chats helping to run the site It’s actually a lot of fun as the students (and scientists) are quick and funny and full of energy. And hey, promoting science engagement is a good thing, am I right?! What we’d like from you.. You should be bright, thoughtful, … Continue reading →

Posted on February 6, 2014 by modemily in Event News, IAS Event, Science Engagement | Comments Off

How does I’m a Scientist change students’ perceptions of science?

We’ve just run I’m a Scientist in Ireland and are curious to know how our event actually affects students’ attitudes towards science. In order to do this, we included a short and compulsory pre-event survey in the form students used to register. We then asked students to fill in the exact same survey on their profile page after the event. When we matched the data from the two surveys, 92 students (7% of 1,247 students that participated in I’m a Scientist) had filled in both surveys. Importantly, data from the total number of students that filled in the pre-event survey very closely correlates with the pre-event data of this 92 student sample. We were very happy to find out that students’ interest in science and science related careers is clearly increased after taking part in I’m a Scientist. This is what we have learnt: The amount of students that say they love science doubled after taking part in … Continue reading →

Posted on December 19, 2013 by modangela in Evaluation, Event News, IAS Event, News, Science Education, Science Engagement, Teachers | Comments Off

What criteria do students judge scientists on?

We’re always evaluating the online STEM enrichment activity, I’m a Scientist, to explore its impact and how it can be improved. Check out latest evaluation posts. When students take part in I’m a Scientist they get to vote for their favourite scientist to win £500 to spend on communicating more science. It gives them ownership of the project and they decide who gets, in effect, a small grant for public engagement. But what are students’ votes based on? This is how 855 students (or groups of students) have ranked certain criteria from most to least important when considering how to vote for scientists, between January 2012 and November 2013. The results come from a Drag & Drop ranking activity in the first lesson plan “You’re the Judges” that teachers run to introduce their students to I’m a Scientist. The top ranked criteria are all linked to health or the scientific method. This is reflected in the number of … Continue reading →

Posted on November 8, 2013 by admin in Evaluation, IAS Event, News, Teachers | Comments Off

Using teacher feedback to plan future themed zones

A question I sometimes get asked when I tell people about I’m a Scientist, is how do we choose which zones to run? In short: we ask teachers what they’d like. In July we emailed all the teachers signed up for I’m a Scientist to ask them what zones they’d like to see in our next three events: November 2013, March 2014 and June 2014. Just over 40 teachers filled in each survey by ticking as many of the 40 zone choices as they’d like (some are zones we’ve run before, others are new). Which zones came out top? The graph shows the top 20 zones, by the number of teacher requests across the 3 surveys for November, March and June. Forensic Science and Genes zones came out top, closely followed by Stem Cells, Health, Organs and Sport Science. Most of the top requested zones are biomedical; this might be because there … Continue reading →

Posted on October 30, 2013 by in Evaluation, IAS Event, News | Comments Off

Class filmed taking part in I’m a Scientist

Laura Heintz, teacher at Weston School in Wisconsin, US, recently posted this great video of her students taking part in I’m a Scientist. Her class were in the Technetium Zone in March this year. Take a look… In the video, the students gather around laptops to discuss the scientists and their research, planning questions in advance. There’s a real buzz after the live chat, with the students excited that they’ve just talked to “real scientists”. One student comments: “It was really fun – they said that we were really good students too.” The class seemed to most enjoy the interaction with the scientists and chance to find out more about their work, with another student saying: “We were talking to Jon a lot, we were kind of bombarding him with questions… We watched some of his videos, the one where he threw a rock down on some lava was really … Continue reading →

Posted on July 17, 2013 by in IAS Event, News, School | Comments Off

The Final Countdown

It’s traditional at IAS HQ to play some music in the final hour of every event. Here’s our playlist: http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/I+m+A+Scientist+Final+Combat/98990489 Hit play at 2pm and join in the fun on Twitter with the #ias2014 hashtag.

Posted on June 28, 2013 by in IAS Event | Comments Off

Organising schools visits from IAS scientists – a teacher’s view

Something we’d like to encourage is more scientists visiting schools after taking part in I’m a Scientist. After every event we add the participating scientists and schools to this map – about.imascientist.org.uk/about/teacher-and-scientist-map – sharing the scientists’ contact details with teachers. One teacher who’s made the most of the scientists nearby is Tom Holloway, from Westfield Primary School in Surrey. 4 scientists have visited the school, and he tells us more about what they got up to… “Westfield Primary School has taken part in I’m A Scientist Get Me Out Of Here for two years running now. It has been an amazing learning experience for our pupils who have been motivated and engaged by the event. One of the best outcomes for our school has been the number of visits to us that it has generated. Impressed by our pupils enthusiasm for and love of science, lots of scientists who have taken part in IMAS have … Continue reading →

Posted on June 26, 2013 by in IAS Event, News, School, Science Education, Science Engagement | Comments Off

June 2013 Moderator Job Vacancies

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here is an award-winning online event allowing teenagers to interact with real live scientists. We’re looking for 6 moderators to work on the next event which will run from the 17th to the 28th of June 2013. We will also be running 2 zones in I’m an Engineer at the same time, which will also need moderating. Your key responsibilities will be will be: hosting/moderating live chats approving questions looking after your zones logging and keeping track of great questions, comments and dialogue checking the site for errors and inappropriate content helping to run the site It’s actually a lot of fun as the students (and scientists) are quick and funny and full of energy. And hey, promoting science engagement is a good thing. What we’d like from you.. You should be bright, thoughtful, pick stuff up easily, ideally with an interest in … Continue reading →

Posted on May 13, 2013 by in Event News, IAS Event, Science Engagement | Comments Off

Running I’m a Scientist with BTEC students – a teacher’s view

Teacher Emma Wagg, from Trentham High School (@ejw232 on twitter) has taken part in I’m a Scientist since 2011. I asked her if it feels different each time she takes part, and if some groups of students take to it more than others. Here’s what she said about taking part with her BTEC class.. Last year I did it with triple science students but this year with students completing the BTEC Principles of Science course. Their questions were amazing. Their interest was fab. They were genuinely interested in the answers. And were really impressed that the scientists gave up their time for them. It was the first time I’ve really felt like they truly appreciated that. They also recognised that the scientists could discover/create something truly amazing. The look on their faces when this dawned on them was something special. At the end of the live chat, Jack said ‘Miss, that was awesome’. It … Continue reading →

Posted on April 8, 2013 by in IAS Event, News, School, Science Education | Comments Off

March 2013 Moderator Job Vacancies

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here is an award-winning online event allowing teenagers to interact with real live scientists. We’re looking for 4 moderators to work on the next event which will run from the 11th to the 22nd of March 2013. We will also be running a zone in I’m an Engineer at the same time, which will also need moderating. Your key responsibilities will be will be: hosting/moderating live chats approving questions checking the site for errors and inappropriate content helping to run the site It’s actually a lot of fun as the students (and scientists) are quick and funny and full of energy. And hey, promoting science engagement is a good thing. What we’d like from you.. You should be bright, pick stuff up easily, ideally with an interest in science engagement. You’ll have great attention to detail and will enjoy being online, perhaps have … Continue reading →

Posted on February 11, 2013 by in Event News, IAS Event, Science Engagement | Comments Off

We’re oversubscribed with teachers wanting to take part in March

We run I’m a Scientist 3 times each year – March, June & November. The March events are always busy and popular with teachers. It coincides with National Science & Engineering Week and the timing fits in well with schemes of work. Thanks to more funding we’ve added 2 more themed zones – a Digital Zone and a Food Science Zone (more on these later this week in another post). Despite these zones creating 50 extra class places we weren’t prepared for just how oversubscribed we would be this time round. 11 zones with 25 classes in each zone gives 275 class spaces up for grabs. 142 teachers asked for 374 classes between them. Making the event oversubscribed by 36%. So, how have we allocated classes? Give as many teachers as possible places, ie give fewer classes to more teachers Cap the number of classes per teacher at 5 Try … Continue reading →

Posted on January 23, 2013 by in Event News, IAS Event, News, Science Engagement | Comments Off

I’m a NeuroScientist, Get me out of here – LIVE

Are male and female brains different? Is the brain more like a sponge or a computer? Do we really only use 10% of our brain? We’re taking I’m a Scientist on the road again. In March and April as part of Wonder: Art and Science on the Brain, a partnership between the Barbican and Wellcome Trust supported BNA2013: Festival of Neuroscience we are running 3 live I’m a Scientist live events. Instead of answering questions from the safety of your lab we’re asking Neuroscientists to get on stage to take questions directly from an audience. On Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd March, comedian and geek songstress, Helen Arney will be compering the events as part of the Barbican Weekender. Five scientists will compete for the votes of the audience to win a place in the final which takes place on the evening of Tuesday 9th April in Cinema One at … Continue reading →

Posted on January 9, 2013 by admin in I'm a Scientist - Live, IAS Event, News, Project News, Scientists | Comments Off

What themed zones do teachers want?

For I’m a Scientist to work we need to run zones that teachers and students want. So when we’re deciding on zones to run in the next event we ask teachers to tell us what they want. Teachers voted on a longlist of zones we drew up – they could select as many as they’d be interested in taking part in. We also asked them for suggestions for other zones. Over 100 teachers told us what zones they’d like to see. The results are below.

Posted on December 12, 2012 by in Evaluation, IAS Event, News, Science Education | Comments Off

What can you do?

I want to take part with my class ❯

I want to take part as a scientist ❯

I want to find out about funding I’m a Scientist ❯

What is I’m a Scientist?

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here is an online activity where school students get to meet and interact with scientists.

It’s a competition between scientists, where the students are the judges.

Students challenge the scientists over intense, fast-paced, online live Chats. Then they Ask the scientists all the questions they want to, and Vote for their favourite scientist to win a prize of £500 to communicate their work with the public.