Zone Reports

The Genomics Zone had the highest percentage of active students, which made a lively zone in spite of having only 3 schools taking part. 93% of the students registered asked or commented on a question, chatted with the scientists or voted for their favourite one. All the scientists in the zone were engaged with the event, answered student questions and chatted with them. There was a huge focus on DNA and genes during the live chats, and a number of very interesting science based questions were asked, particularly during the first week. Download the complete report here.

The Infectious Diseases Zone had a high number of fast-paced and intense live chats, as a result of over 400 students from 9 schools taking part. The students were really interested to learn more about how microbes can affect our health. Given that one of the scientists’ research interest was in Human Papilloma Virus, students got the perfect opportunity to ask questions about STD’s that they might shy away from asking in a different context. The scientists in the zone were particularly good at handling cheeky questions and comments from the students. Download the complete report here.

The students in the Neodymium Zone asked a lot of questions; the 298 students in the zones asked over 900 questions between them! Given the general nature of the zone, students asked about different topics around the scientists’ research and what it’s like to be a scientist. Naomi, Ian and Sakshi were the three most notable scientists in the live chats, Sakshi joined to a fair amount of them after even after being evicted.   Download complete report here.

The Praseodymium Zone was a primary school zone. Given the general nature of the zone, students asked about a variety of topics and focused in on the scientists’ research and what it’s like to be a scientist. Charli’s work on memory and Becky’s research on volcanoes attracted a lot of attention.   Download complete report here.    

Students in the Promethium Zone asked about a variety of science topics and what it’s like to be a scientist and do experiments. Fiona and Kevin were particularly involved in the event, especially in the live chats. Fiona’s work on how our brains store memories attracted a lot of attention.   Download complete report here.    

The Proteins Zone had far fewer students registering than expected, so the number of live chats and questions in the zone was below average. We try to allocate schools evenly, like putting both schools new and old to the project in each zone, to try an even out expected turnout. Sometimes this just doesn’t work, and we are working on ways to improve this. However, the students that did take part in the Proteins Zone asked some exceptionally high quality questions, there was a focus on proteins and the scientists’ careers and work.  All the scientists in the zone were engaged with the event, particularly Jo, who wrote 40% of the scientists’ lines of live chat even though she was evicted second. Download the complete report here.

The Samarium Zone was very lively and busy, with 15 chats taking place during the event. The students in the zone asked about each scientist’s research topic, although David’s work with mice was particularly popular. David also stands out as really engaging with the students, contributing over half of all the live chat activity from the scientists.   Download the complete report here.

The 400+ students registered in the Vision Zone were really active, contributing to a lively zone, particularly in the 16 live chat sessions. The Vision Zone winner, Andrew, stands out as really engaging with the students, contributing nearly half of all the live chat activity from the scientists. There was a huge focus on the zone’s vision theme.   Download the complete report here.

The students in the Water Zone were really engaged, with 88% of them participating in a live chat, asking a question, commenting or voting for their favourite scientist. There was a good balance between the conversations in CHAT focused around water and hydrogen fuel cars, and questions in ASK about the scientists’ work and research.   Download complete report here.

The Xenon Zone was one of the first primary-only zones in I’m a Scientist. The number of students registered in the zone (471) was much higher than average, but the percentage of students who actively took part by asking a question, live chatting, voting or commenting was lower than average. The CHAT section of the zone was busier than the ASK section. Live chats were often full of positive comments and more factual than conceptual questions, which may be due to it being a primary-only zone. Students asked a range of questions about each scientist’s research topic, although Claire’s work as a vet and Zach’s investigations to kill blood cancer cells attracted the most attention. Download the report here.

Schools given places in the Plants Zone didn’t register a lot of students. However, the students that did register were very good at asking on-topic questions about plants and plant physiology in general. Students asked for advice on how to take care of plants, and they were also interested on their different applications, especially health related ones. Of course, there was also space for some quirky questions, in which students asked about how conditions in other planets might affect plants, or whether we could grow plants in space. Download the report here.  

The Organs Zone was the busiest zone of I’m a Scientist March 2014. Over 500 students registered in the zone, asked over 1,500 questions between them, and cast the most votes of any zone during this event. In both ASK and CHAT sections there were lots of questions about different organs and parts of the body (skin, brain, heart, lung, blood…), and health related issues. Students were interested in learning about how our body works. Download the report here.

The Light Zone was funded by the Institute of Physics. The hot topic of conversation in the Light Zone was indeed light. The students wanted to find out more about light in relation to the universe, technology and energy, also asking more fundamental physics questions about light itself. The zone was more balanced towards Live Chat than ASK questions, and the students were engaged and interested in the physicists’ work.   Download the report here.

The Lanthanum Zone had the most live chats of any zone during this I’m a Scientist event. As might have been expected, in the live chats the students were particularly interested in Lewis’s work with chimps and monkeys and Clare’s work on how daily habits can affect sperm function. Students used the ASK section to learn more about all of the scientists’ research areas. The engagement of students with this zone was further reflected in the high number of votes collected. Download the report here.

The ComputationalBio Zone had the second highest number of registered students of all I’m a Scientist zones in March 2014. This led to a very busy zone! The 475 students asked over 1,000 questions between them, had very busy live chats and were very engaged in voting. The students asked more general science questions and questions about the scientists’ particular research, than specific questions about Computational Biology. Anna was especially good at engaging with students during the live chats, and guiding them towards her topic of research. Download the report here.

The Colour Zone was funded by the Royal Society of Chemistry. This zone had a higher % of engaged students than any other zone; 88% of students who registered asked a question, live chatted, voted, or commented. These highly engaged students voted the most of any zone. While the scientist with the most activity is often the zone winner, the quantity of engagement didn’t seem as important in this zone. The students crowned Roy their winner despite Rowena’s sterling live chat and question answering efforts. Download the report here.

Given the general nature of the Cerium Zone, questions were varied, ranging from lifestyle to evolution, space or superbugs. Aled earned his position as Cerium Zone winner after clearly being the most active scientist of the zone, with 43% of the lines of chat and 33% of answers to students’ questions. In fact, his work trying to find out how we can kill bacteria using a special type of honey was popular in both the ASK and CHAT sections.   You can download the report here.