Category Archives: Science Education

An update on widening participation

In September last year we wrote about Widening Participation. We’ve refined our criteria a little since then; below is our definition of a widening participation school.

We’ve decided on these criteria because they match, in broad terms, the kinds of criteria universities use to identify widening participation students.

A widening participation school is…

In England and Wales

  • A school in an area where POLAR3 is in the first quintile, or…
  • A school where the % of students eligible for free school meals is higher than 41%, or…
  • A school where the % of students achieving 5 grades A*–C at KS4 is below 45%, or…
  • A school where the % of students level 4 in reading, writing, and maths at KS2 is below 45%, or…
  • A school more than 25 miles from their nearest HEI.

In Scotland

  • A school in a remote rural area, or a remote small town

Where an independent school matches the criteria it will not be counted as a widening participation school.

Distance as measure

The Aspires project, from King’s College London found that science capital is a key factor in terms of students aspiring to a science-related career. Science capital refers to knowledge about science and how it works, interest, understanding, and contacts (knowing somebody who works in science).

We think that one of the most substantial factors limiting students’ science capital is the ability for those students to have contact with STEM professionals; to meet scientists who they can relate to. This is where an online activity, like I’m a Scientist, has a great advantage. There is no distance barrier, no travel time. A scientist in central Manchester can have a live chat with a school in Cornwall followed immediately with a school in the Highlands.

To this end, we’ve added to our criteria: A school will count as distant if it is more than 25 miles from a major research higher education institute (HEI).

Starting with England and Wales, we took all of the schools, mapped the distance to the top 70 institutions by research output, and worked out the shortest distance between a school and a university. The map shows the schools which are more than 25 miles from one of these institutions.

We did not include smaller institutions, or those with more focused research areas as contact with scientists working in a wide variety of subjects and fields is important.

Map of schools in England and Wales more than 25 miles from their nearest HEI

Map of schools in England and Wales more than 25 miles from their nearest HEI

In Scotland the Department for Education lists schools with an urban/rural classification. Largely this covers what we are looking to achieve with the distance analysis in England and Wales (though we do plan to add HEI distance data for Scotland and Northern Ireland).

In Scotland, a school in a remote rural area, or remote small town will count as widening participation.

Schools in remote small towns and remote rural areas in Scotland

Schools in remote small towns and remote rural areas in Scotland

This measure excludes schools in accessible and urban areas; in effect the schools accessible from universities.

What about the most recent event?

In June 2016, by prioritising places for widening participation schools (meaning teachers at those schools are more likely to be given additional classes), 27% of the students taking part in I’m a Scientist came from widening participation schools.

21% of the schools taking part in June 2016 were widening participation schools.

Last year, in June 2015 we reported that 16% of the classes taking part were from schools meeting our criteria.

What’s next?

  1. Targets — By 2020, our aim is that 30% of the schools taking part meet the widening participation criteria.
  2. More data — We’re missing criteria for schools in Northern Ireland, and we’re missing attainment data for schools in Scotland. We need to add this.
  3. Improving the definition of schools in relation to their nearest HEI — Do we need to look at creating a more nuanced definition of distant schools in England and Wales? The current definition looks at distance rather than travel time. Travel time is likely a better measure but more difficult to assess. We would also like to look in more detail at the level of outreach different schools are receiving.
  4. A new database — We’re in the process of building a database of all UK schools which will be integrated into the teacher application process. This will allow us to more easily identify and allocate places to priority schools. It will also open new reporting features to teachers, giving schools more data on how their students are using the projects.
Posted on July 15, 2016 Moderator - Josh in News, Project News, School, Science Education, Widening Participation | Comments Off on An update on widening participation

Increasing demand and charges for independent schools

Demand for our activities has been slowly increasing. We regularly have more classes requested than we are able to accommodate and we have to limit the number of classes we offer teachers. In November 2015, for the first time we had to start turning down teachers, unable to limit classes to a point where every teacher who applied could be given a place.

This increasing demand for classes has lead us to prioritise schools where we believe our activities can add the most value, where online STEM engagement can make the most difference.

Most of our funders are prioritising underserved audiences. For us that means schools that traditionally don’t send many students on to Higher Education or are located disadvantageously for STEM engagement activities. Sadly this means that some schools who have been able to take up places in the past will not be able to take part without additional funding.

Beginning with the June 2016 events, fee paying schools can choose to pay £100, for every class of students, in order to guarantee participation in the event. This money will go towards providing additional zones.

We’re aware that some of the teachers who have participated the most in the past will be affected by this change. We truly hope that you will be able to take part. In order to guarantee your spaces please email michaela@mangorol.la.

 

Posted on April 11, 2016 Moderator - Josh in Capacity, General, News, Project News, School, Science Education, Teachers | Comments Off on Increasing demand and charges for independent schools

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 I’m a Scientist

How does school make you feel about science?

How does school make you feel about science?

I’m a Scientist really got the students excited about science! Before taking part in the event, only 23% of students said they loved science, but this number increased up to 51% after the event. On the other hand, the number of students that don’t feel really excited about science or think it is boring decreased from 9% to 3%.

Participating in I’m a Scientist encourages students to choose a science subject in the next stage of their education

In the pre-event survey, 66% of the students were absolutely certain or very inclined to choose a science subject next year. However, this percentage raised up to 71% after participating in I’m a Scientist.

Thanks guys for talking to me really helped me make my decision for the leaving cert – sarahlawless, student

Students are keener on science related jobs after participating in I’m a Scientist

The majority of students that completed the surveys already thought that jobs involving science are at least fairly interesting before taking part in the event, but there was still room for improvement and the percentage of students that considered science related jobs very interesting saw a big increase from 36% to 62%.

Taking part in I’m a Scientist increases the likelihood of students looking for a job that uses their science skills

How likely are you to look for a job that uses your science knowledge?

How likely are you to look for a job that uses your science knowledge?

Before taking part in I’m a Scientist, a big portion of the students (37%) couldn’t decide whether they would try to look for a job that uses their science skills and only 10% said they were sure that they would look for this type of job. However, the event seemed to be the boost that students needed to be more confident about looking for a science related job. After I’m a Scientist, most of the students (68%) said that they would certainly or very probably look for a job that uses their science knowledge.

Honoured to have taken part. The future of science is in very good hands with you guys! – scientist

In addition to this, students left several comments that stated clearly how they were enjoying and learning at the same time throughout the event. They liked that the event was so interactive and that they had an active part at every step: asking, commenting, chatting and voting.

In the future, we would like to use this same strategy to measure the impact of other events or activities. We are also very interested in analysing the gender and year course differences that could be found in the pre-event data.

Posted on December 19, 2013 modangela in Evaluation, Event News, IAS Event, News, Science Education, Science Engagement, Teachers | Comments Off on How does I’m a Scientist change students’ perceptions of science?

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 come to see us.

fionamcmurray

Fiona McMurray from MRC Harwell has visited us twice and ran a fantastic activity with Year 4 and 6 children in which they extracted DNA from strawberries. On her I’m a Scientist profile Fiona said she “Had a great time at Westfield Primary school!”

garybrickley

Gary Brickley, from The University of Brighton, visited and gave us an inspirational talk about his work on sport science and with paralympic cyclists.

simonpark

Finally Simon Park from The University of Surrey, came and ran a brilliant workshop on bacteria in which the children learnt about slime mould, looked a bioluminiscent bacteria in the dark, examined a sample of their teacher’s spit through a powerful microscope and grew the bacteria living on their fingertips in petri dishes – a wonderful morning of learning.

jamesholloway

We’re also looking forward to a visit by Jimmy Holloway who won the Palladium Zone last year. IMAS is a fantastic event and I strongly recommend taking part to all schools.”

 

If any teachers would like help contacting scientists for school visits, just get in touch with hannah@gallomanor.com or on 01225 326892. 

 

Posted on June 26, 2013 in IAS Event, News, School, Science Education, Science Engagement | Comments Off on Organising schools visits from IAS scientists – a teacher’s view

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 made my day. Actually – probably made my term 🙂

emma

Posted on April 8, 2013 in IAS Event, News, School, Science Education | Comments Off on Running I’m a Scientist with BTEC students – a teacher’s view

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 in Evaluation, IAS Event, News, Science Education | Comments Off on What themed zones do teachers want?

Using I’m a Scientist to enrich our curriculum – A teacher’s view

Debate kits and information sheets

After taking part in I’m a Scientist in June 2012, Ellie Russell, a science teacher from Trinity CE High School in Hulme, told us about other ways she uses I’m a Scientist resources. Here’s what she said…

I can’t remember who first told me about I’m a Scientist last year, but straight away I knew it was a concept that would appeal to our students. Since then we have signed up for several zones with different classes and the students have truly enjoyed engaging with real scientists and finding out a bit more about what they do.

To be honest, even though I’ve been really keen, it’s taken me a few more months to realise just how useful some of the other resources are for us too. We teachers are never very keen to read through all that useful support information!

The Debate Kits for Drugs in Sport and IVF are great. We know that debating skills are important for our students and our BTEC students can even pass some of their assessment criteria by engaging in debates. We’ll integrate these in our Yr 9 and 10 SoW.

The Information Sheets about Nuclear Power pro’s and cons are already differentiated and lend themselves nicely to KS4 ‘ideas about science’ in one of the Core Science units… and just this week we’ve been told that the fabulous online GM Food debate will be archived for future reference. This seems a perfect source for our students should they have a GCSE Case Study of a similar title.

In fact, we should really introduce all our classes to the website to keep in mind for future reference, regardless of which science route they take.

I’m going to make sure I take a closer look at all future material I’m sent!

Posted on November 28, 2012 in Downloadable Teacher Resources, GM Food, IAS Event, News, School, Science Education | Comments Off on Using I’m a Scientist to enrich our curriculum – A teacher’s view

Choosing themed zones for next year

You’ve given us quite a few suggestions for themed zones for next year. Along with the ones we used last year, there’s a good list here for you to vote on. Please vote for the zones you think you’d like to take part in.

HOWEVER, you’ll see that some suggestions I haven’t put up. This is because I wasn’t quite sure how they’d work, or they were a bit vague and I wasn’t sure what the right specific suggestion would be.

I’m explaining why (i.e. rambling on about this) below the poll. Please can you help me work this out?! Use the comments to add your thoughts and when we’ve worked out more suggestions I can keep adding things to this list.

[poll id=”5″]

A discussion on How Science Works (HSW) zone topics

One suggestion was a HSW zone. The problem with this is, who would we put in it? Sadly we don’t have enough time/money to develop extra teaching materials for each zone, so the topic has to sort of be covered (as much as it’s going to be) by the people in the zone.

So surely any scientist could go in a HSW zone? In fact they are all HSW zones! The main idea of the event really is that students learn HSW more than anything else (and that’s why the info sheets and lesson plans are all on HSW topics). I can’t quite see how a HSW zone would work, but I can see how we could have zones on some HSW topics.

For example, Verity suggests Investigative Science and Evaluating data. But again, who would we put in those zones? Surely any scientist could go in there? What would make it specifically an evaluating data zone?

Emily suggests a moral/ethical debating zone. I’m not sure whether she means one ‘ethics’ zone, or having zones on different issues. Which would you prefer? What issues would you want to see a zone on?

I would definitely LOVE to have zones on different issues – and potentially have some relevant scientists, but also social scientists or philosophers, who could bring a different angle. I think this would be a fantastic HSW exercise, showing the students that different sorts of evidence and points of view need to be considered.

One specific example, we’ve just brought out the cannabis legalisation debate kit. I would love to have a cannabis legalisation zone. Then I think it would make sense to have scientists who’ve studied the effects of smoking cannabis, for example whether it’s likely to cause psychosis. But also have a sociologist who could talk about the social effects of it being illegal, etc, etc.

Or would broader topics be better – for example, ‘Medical ethics’ which could then include medical researchers whose research has ethical implications, as well as, for example, a philosopher who specialised in ethics?

Would you like zones like ‘Philosophy of science’ zone? Although I’m not sure that we could have any actual scientists in that…

Would you feel OK in general about including non-scientists in zones where it seemed relevant? For example,last year we had a Drug Development zone. If we did that again, would it make sense to have a medical ethicist who could discuss the ethical issues in drugs trials?

Please contribute your thoughts, requests, etc and together we can work out some things that will work well for teachers and in the classroom, but also are feasible for us to organise:-)

I can’t promise that whatever we decide, I’ll be able to recruit the ideal people anyway! Of course I’ll do my best, but bear in mind that to an extent, broader suggestions are more feasible to put into practice (like I can’t promise to find five experts on the science of climbing Everest). But too broad and topics become a bit meaningless.

Posted on November 26, 2010 in How Science Works, IAS Event, Science Education | Comments Off on Choosing themed zones for next year

I'm a Scientist: A student speaks

Here is an article written for a school newsletter by a teenager, about the experience of taking part in I’m a Scientist.

I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here!

Sound familiar? One small change – we’ve swapped a group of celebrities trying to eat the entire jungle for a group of buzzing scientists – each in a jungle of questions and comments.

Another textbook science lesson? Maybe not! I’m a scientist is a website aimed at all teenagers – interested in science or not (but believe me, by the time you finish the project, science will have taken over your brain and made you love it for the rest of your life). Each pupil is given a login, leading to their individual area which can be personalised with pictures of famous scientists, exploding chemicals and swine flu particles. The login works for a specific zone. In each zone, there are five scientists.

The aim of the game is simple – you ask questions (on practically anything – from “do aliens exist?” to “have you ever exploded any of your experiments?”) and the scientists reply. Then, at the end of the week, you vote for the one you think has answered your questions the best.

And it doesn’t stop there. To make the website more appealing I’m a scientist have come up with the clever idea of a live chat; you book a session where the scientists speak to you face-to-face! (Virtually anyway).

The scientists talk about general science – what topic you’re studying at the moment, and maybe even give advice on what you should study to be able to go into certain scientific fields.

In the end, everything is drawn to a climax – the votes are counted and the winner is presented with the grand title of “I’m a Scientist winner” and £500 to spend on teaching young people about what they are currently researching.

Your vote shouldn’t just be a split-second decision, a quick click and then nothing… a single vote has the power to change the world. The scientist who gets your vote may invent a cure for cancer, discover what all that ‘junk DNA’ codes for, or make a GM crop which could feed starving populations. So whilst I’m a scientist is fun, challenging and educational, it is a door into the future of science, which, with any luck, we will all be able to walk through one day.

The reason I’m a Scientist is supporting the Science is Vital campaign is because we too want today’s teenagers to be able to walk through that door one day, if they want to.

Posted on October 12, 2010 in IAS Event, School, Science Education | Comments Off on I'm a Scientist: A student speaks

Beyond Blogging event teaser

Do you think science is perfect, or is there something about it you want to change? And can the internet help you do it?

What these, and many more questions have in common is that they partly have to do with communication, and communication is something that the internet is good at. Here at Gallomanor, we’ve been involved in democratic engagement using online tools since 2002.

We are total fans of things like They Work For You, which makes it easy for everyone to find out what their MP is up to, and contact them. We’re fans of Armchair Auditor, which lets you see how your council spends your money. We’re fans of TextSafe Gorton, which makes it easier for a local community to engage with the police in their area.

We think these are simple things which make a difference. Are there things like this that science could do with all the online technologies now available, that we haven’t thought of yet? To put it bluntly, are we missing any tricks?

If so, we want to help! So we’ve decided, with the help of the marvellous Wellcome Trust, to try to do something about it. We’re bringing together a range of people involved in science, science engagement and science policy, along with some hackers and developers from the online civil society scene, to see what they can all spark off in each other.

Event will take place on the afternoon of Wednesday 20th October, at the Wellcome Trust. Put it in your diary! Tickets will be released early next week.

Posted on October 1, 2010 in Project News, Science Education, Science Engagement | Comments Off on Beyond Blogging event teaser

Nice I'm a Scientist press coverage

There’s an article about IAS in the ASE‘s Education in Science magazine for April, surely the crème de la crème of science education media? The article was written by me and Ian Francis, our Education Consultant. Our author copies have just arrived so we are all quite excited (look Mum, my name in print!). Unfortunately they don’t publish the articles online, so I can’t link to it, but look out for it if you are a subscriber.

If you are an Education in Science reader who’s here because you read the article, then Hi! This site is the project blog, where you can find out what we’re up to, and about the development of the project.

The event site is here, and you can look back at the March 2009 event, or the pilot last June, and see the kind of questions young people asked and the answers scientists gave.

Our evaluations of the pilot and the March event are here, where you can find out what students, teachers and scientists said about taking part and what they got out of it.

Teaching materials specially designed for the event are here and you are free to download them and use them as much as you want. Most of them work fine as stand-alone activities.

And if you want to take part in the event with your class, then fill in the ‘get more info’ section over there <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< and we’ll put you on our list and send you more info.

The next I’m a Scientist event will run 15th – 26th June 2009.

Posted on April 27, 2009 in IAS Event, Science Education | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Nice I'm a Scientist press coverage

Are schools a really bad idea?

I’ve been intrigued today by this piece of research. To summarize (for those of you who don’t feel like clicking), researchers looking at behaviour in Przewalski horses found that in groups with low adult/young ratios “young horses were more aggressive and more segregated from adults and they established tighter bonds with other young.”

The scientists go on to speculate. “Tighter bonds between young in groups with low proportions of adults could be a factor which decreases the attention paid to adults and probably reduces their influence as regulators of the behaviour of young, in particular their aggressive behaviour.”

Of course this mimics the environment we artificially create for our young people, in schools. I have often thought that it’s odd the way we lock children away from the rest of society and designate a small number of adults to interact with them, while the rest of the adult world effectively washes their hands. Does this research suggest that this model increases aggression and makes young people less likely to respect and pay attention to adults – and, by extension adult society? Are we deliberately making it much harder to socialise our children? How does this chime with your experiences as a teacher?

And if the basic concept of schools is largely to blame for juvenile delinquency*, can the Daily Mail stop pillorying teachers, sex and relationships education and whatever else they think is responsible?

*Yes, I know, I’m wildly over-extending the evidence.

Posted on March 18, 2009 in School, Science Education | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Are schools a really bad idea?

Thank you National Science Learning Centre!

Sorry, the posts are coming thick and fast at the moment – it’s all go here! (And Bradford on Avon’s been flooded, meaning the sandwich shop is shut, so we are coping without proper sustenance:-))

Anyway, I’m pleased as punch about our latest news, so I’m inflicting it on you, dear readers, my apologies to your inboxes. The National Science Learning Centre (in the form of Miranda Stephenson, who’s been really helpful)  has given us their official backing, in the form of a lovely letter praising our project and urging people to support it financially (click here to download and read the letter!). For those of you who don’t know, the NSLC are like the headquarters for science teaching being as good as possible:-

“The aim of the national network of Science Learning Centres is to promote excellent science teaching by reconnecting teachers with the frontiers of their subject and the latest techniques for teaching it. The National Science Learning Centre is the co-ordinating centre for this activity and is rapidly becoming the focus for all science education activity in the UK.”

What better could we hope for in terms of people who really know what they are talking about about science teaching and learning? They have said about I’m a Scientist:-

“We believe the pilot programme is an innovative and effective teaching tool which inspires and enthuses young people about science, develops their scientific literacy and ability to debate and discuss science issues.”

“Our expert staff who have examined it consider it to be an additional aid to science teaching, expanding teachers’ repertoire of pedagogical tools and pupils’ learning experiences. The event combines excitement and fun, with rigorous educational content and effective techniques for promoting learning and developing students’ higher thinking skills.”

“This event is an innovative means to help teachers to inspire the scientists of tomorrow and promote young people’s engagement with science and thus could be an effective use of public engagement and outreach money.”

I love them!

Posted on February 11, 2009 in General, Science Education | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Thank you National Science Learning Centre!

Get blow-by-blow ASE conference updates via twitter

Yep, I recently became even more high-tech and with it, and set up an I’m a Scientist twitter account. I’ll be posting my conference updates there, if you want to know what you are missing out on. So far I’ve been to a couple of interesting sessions:-), failed to get a free conference bag:-(, and got pretty cold :-/.

Posted on January 9, 2009 in Science Education | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Get blow-by-blow ASE conference updates via twitter

The Science Education Event of the Year!

I’m now off to the ASE conference on Friday. If any of you are going then give me a shout. Or any suggestions for a newbie on ‘must do’ things gratefully received. I’ll take a photo, if I remember, and do a post about what I found out when I get back.

Posted on January 6, 2009 in Science Education | Comments Off on The Science Education Event of the Year!

Webchats, sci-casts and your chance to meet the lovely (ahem) Sophia…

Firstly, one of our nice teachers from the pilot has asked me to help publicise another ‘webchats with scientists’ project:-

Continue reading →

Posted on December 18, 2008 in How Science Works, Science Education | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Webchats, sci-casts and your chance to meet the lovely (ahem) Sophia…

Me Miss! I know the answer!

We got a great response to our request for suggestions on who to approach for funding – thanks everyone! Suggestions included Learned Societies and Institutes, companies, charities and public bodies like NESTA, SETpoints and the SLC.

Some of these people I did contact when we were originally looking for funding for the pilot, but didn’t get very far. Pretty much everyone said they didn’t have any money, but suggested we tried the Wellcome Trust People Awards (who came up trumps). However, now we have a tried and tested event it should be a different proposition. Hopefully.

I keep reading about how there’s going to be a skills gap, young people are being turned off science and technology and everyone wants to invest in projects to combat this, and all I can think is, “We can do it! Give us some money!”.

Continue reading →

Posted on December 10, 2008 in How Science Works, Science Education | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Me Miss! I know the answer!

The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Moderator

Moderating I’m a Scientist was like driving through a terrific summer storm. Now the chatrooms have cleared, and emails have slowed to a patter, it’s time to venture out and take stock. Goodbye, question and answer sessions; hello, feedback forms! My favourite feedback response so far: “The scientists SEEM like normal people but I can’t be quite sure…” – thanks to imwithstupid for that comment.

Continue reading →

Posted on July 2, 2008 in General, IAS Event, Science Education, Scientists | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

We've chosen the scientists!

This has been even harder than choosing the schools. We ended up cutting out bits of paper with everyone’s details on and moving them all around the desk, making up fantasy groups and trying to see if each group had got everything covered. I really wanted to include almost everyone, but we had to say no to some really great people.

However, I think the 15 scientists we’ve picked (five for each group of students) will be fantastic – good communicators, enthusiastic, with interesting work to discuss and raising some thought-provoking issues. I would publish the details on here, but I’ve not had confirmation back from everyone yet.

But I can tell you that topics covered range from studying climate change to engineering solutions for rectal incontinence. Which is really quite a range, however you look at it.

Teacher packs

We’re sending the teacher packs out today to participating teachers. All our teaching resources can also be downloaded by any teacher who wants to (below). Each pack contains:-

I would email everyone electronic copies too, but it’s loads of files and would clog up inboxes, so I’ve uploaded them here. Once the actual site is live they will all be available there, but in the meantime, you can download them from here. We believe that information and education should be free, so all the materials are copyright free (under a Creative Commons Attribution license) and any teachers are free to download the materials and make use of them.

Posted on May 23, 2008 in Downloadable Teacher Resources, How Science Works, IAS Event, Science Education, Scientists | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Do you think scientific speed-dating would work?

Well we’ve been beavering away here in I’m a Scientist Towers. We’ve taken on a freelancer to develop the teacher packs. Becky Davies usually works at Techniquest Continue reading →

Posted on March 12, 2008 in Evaluation, How Science Works, School, Science Education | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

I’m a Scientist

‘I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here’ is an online event where school students get to meet and interact with scientists. It’s an X Factor-style 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.

Keep Me Updated

Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required
I'd like information for
How we use your information* Subscribing to this list means we will email you with news about our projects. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails. For more information, take a look at our Privacy Policy.

News Categories