I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here, I’m a Medic, Get me out of here and I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here are online STEM enrichment activities for school students in the UK and Ireland, where students of all abilities aged 8-18 can ask scientists their questions in text-based live chats, and get to know what real scientists are like.
Find out more about the activities at: I’m a Scientist and I’m an Engineer.
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“It’s always amazing to think that you might have helped one person to think, ‘Hey, this might actually be for me.’”
— Aisling Lee, Technical Architect
Through I’m an Engineer, Aisling Lee was able to show school students a different pathway into STEM. Continue reading
Our next Science Debate Kit asks:
As the Royal Institution CHRISTMAS LECTURES take an in-depth look at how new discoveries made as a result of the pandemic are set to change the future of medicine students can explore the societal and ethical implications of science and technology through 8 thought-provoking character cards. Continue reading
We’re looking for online moderators to work with us on our March 2022 activities.
I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here, I’m a Medic, Get me out of here and I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here are online STEM enrichment activities for school students in the UK and Ireland, where students of all abilities aged 8-18 can ask scientists their questions in text-based live chats, and get to know what real scientists are like.
Find out more about the activities at: I’m a Scientist, I’m a Medic and I’m an Engineer.
Our upcoming events will run from March 2022 onward. Continue reading
We’re looking for online moderators to work with us on our November 2021 activities.
I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here and I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here are online STEM enrichment activities for school students in the UK and Ireland, where students of all abilities aged 8-18 can ask scientists their questions in text-based live chats, and get to know what real scientists are like.
Find out more about the activities at: I’m a Scientist and I’m an Engineer. Continue reading
Jo works at a large comprehensive school in South Wales in the Autism Spectrum Condition Unit. She explains, “We used I’m a Scientist as a social skills lesson. Yes, there’s interest in science, but really it was so they could talk to the scientists without any pre-judgement.”
The text-only format of I’m a Scientist meant that the key focus was on the questions students were asking, and not on the students themselves. “The scientists didn’t know the students were on the spectrum, and the conversation flowed.” Continue reading
“My colleagues were buzzing. They were watching conversations unfold, and seeing individual students’ interests that they hadn’t seen before. It’s a great way to get to know students in a different light. ” — Jon Hale, Head of Biology at Beaulieu Convent SchoolWhen PHSE plans were scuppered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Jon Hale chose to bring I’m a Scientist to an entire school… at the same time. Continue reading
In 2008, Beijing hosted the Olympics, George Sampson won Britain’s Got Talent, and I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here hosted its first event: each Zone hosting 5 scientists and 25 school classes.
Over 2 weeks the students would put the scientists through their paces, posting questions, joining text-based Chats, and voting for their favourite scientist to make it through progressive rounds of ‘evictions’ before a winner was declared on the final Friday.
For 12 years that format remained relatively unchanged. Little tweaks here and there, but the core format — 5 or 6 scientists; 25 classes; 2 weeks, 3 times per year — stayed the same. It worked.
Until, of course, 2020. Continue reading
The Life Science Centre sits at the heart of unique science village in Newcastle upon Tyne. In a typical year, their visitor’s centre welcomes an average of 300,000 people. But 2020 was not a typical year.
“Once we entered lockdown, we were looking for ways to engage with schools,” says Toni Hamill, Education Programme and Partnership Manager for the Centre for Life. “I’m a Scientist was really useful because we know that it’s safe, and it had been used in hundreds of schools across the UK already.”
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While teachers come to I’m a Scientist for tried-and-tested STEM engagement with in-built safeguarding, they also find lots of additional benefits to text-based communication for their students.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, video conferencing (with all its glitches and delays) quickly became the norm. However, when the Royal Institution Youth Summit was not able to take place in-person in October 2020, I’m a Scientist was chosen to host the summit online. Continue reading
We’re looking for online moderators to work with us on our March 2021 activities.
I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here and I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here are online STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) enrichment activities for school students in the UK and Ireland.
Students of all abilities aged 8 to 18 can take part. They can ask scientists and engineers their questions in text-based live chats, and get to know what real scientists and engineers are like.
Find out more about the activities at: I’m a Scientist and I’m an Engineer. Continue reading
After every event we ask the winning scientists to write a short post to be sent to all the students who took part in the zone. It’s the perfect way for the scientists to reflect on their experience with I’m a Scientist, and talk about how they plan to use their £500 prize money.
If you’re a scientist, whether in academia or industry, and you’re keen to experience the ‘best crash course in sci-comm’, you can let us know you’re available to take part now.
Each year the RI run a youth summit on a subject related to the CHRISTMAS LECTURES. In 2020 it was decided to run the Summit prior to the filming of the lectures so that the views of the delegates could be communicated to the lecturers. However the Covid-19 pandemic intervened and the RI building remained closed to the public.
The decision was taken to bring the summit online and I’m a Scientist was chosen as the platform because of a strong record of safeguarding and working with the RI on the Lectures. Continue reading
We’re looking for online moderators to work with us on our November 2020 activities.
I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here and I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here are online STEM enrichment activities for school students in the UK and Ireland, where students of all abilities aged 8-18 can ask scientists their questions in text-based live chats, and get to know what real scientists are like. Continue reading
After every event we ask the winning scientists to write a short post to be sent to all the students who took part in the zone. It’s the perfect way for the scientists to reflect on all the engagement of the previous weeks, thank all the students for voting for them, and talk about how they plan to use their £500 prize money.
“Thank you all so much for taking part, we had so many great questions and I hope you all enjoyed it! I had a great time, it was really heartening to see the enthusiasm you all had for science and I hope that we have inspired some of you to enter science as a career. I still can’t really believe I won, especially with some amazing scientists in our zone, so thank you to everyone.”
With schools across the UK due to close this week, the impact on the daily lives of students and young people of the COVID-19 outbreak is clear. We wanted to do a little analysis to look at what young people are concerned about, what are they asking?
Finding ourselves in the midst of the March I’m a Scientist (IAS) and I’m an Engineer (IAE) events, means that for the past few weeks, young people across the UK and Ireland have had the opportunity to ask any questions they like to groups of scientists and engineers.
We’re looking for online moderators to work with us on our March 2020 activities.
I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here and I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here are online STEM enrichment activities for schools students in the UK and Ireland, where students of all abilities aged 8-18 can ask scientists their questions in text-based live chats, and get to know what real scientists are like.
You can (and should) find out more about the activities at: I’m a Scientist and I’m an Engineer Ireland.
I’m a Scientist UK will run from the 9th – 20th March 2020. Continue reading
We’re looking for a moderator to work with us from our offices in Bath on our March 2020 activities.
I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here and I’m an Engineer, Get me out of here are online STEM enrichment activities for schools students in the UK and Ireland, where students of all abilities aged 8-18 can ask scientists their questions in text-based live chats, and get to know what real scientists are like.
You can (and should) find out more about the activities at: I’m a Scientist and I’m an Engineer Ireland.
Continue reading
“Taking part in both activities allowed me to engage in active, reflective learning… Learning about science capital has really changed my mindset.” — Katie Fala, PhD student and IAS Academy alumnaKatie believes taking the course ‘really added value’ to her experience: “The IAS Academy was of interest to me as I haven’t had the opportunity for much formal training in outreach and felt that my skills could be improved by doing it alongside the IAS activity.” Continue reading
After every event we ask the winning scientists to write a short post to be sent to all the students who took part in the zone. It’s the perfect way for the scientists to reflect on all the engagement of the previous weeks, thank all the students for voting for them, and talk about how they plan to use their £500 prize money.
If you’re a scientist, whether in the public, private or academic sector, and you’re keen to experience the ‘best crash course in scicomm’, apply now for the next event, 9th – 20th March: imascientist.org.uk/scientists Continue reading
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.