Zone Reports

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.

The Cancer Zone was extremely focused on cancer. Students wanted to know how cancer is caused, how it is treated, and if it can be prevented. They also asked more general health, illness and physiology questions, and they were especially interested in Amar’s work developing new drugs to treat cancer. The scientists were great in the live chats and gave some really detailed answers about a potentially sensitive subject. You can download the report here.

The Caesium Zone was one of the first primary-only zones in I’m a Scientist. The primary students were very engaged with the event and asked almost 1,500 questions, a huge number averaging nearly 4 per student. 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.   Download the report here.

The Ecology zone had one of the highest percentage of active students of I’m a Scientist November 2013. Question intake slowed towards the end of the competition, but chats were always lively and busy. Students were interested in the different areas of ecology, ranging from climate change to marine biology. They were very curious to learn about the particular animals that some of the scientists’ research was devoted to. Download the report here.  

The Genes Zone was one of the most active zones of I’m a Scientist November 2013. Teachers booked a lot of chats that got students highly engage and the ASK section got filled up with a wide range of questions – from very personal to very focused ones asking about genetic diseases, like certain types of cancer- reflecting the variety of students participating in this zone. Download the report here.  

The Iodine Zone was busy right from the start of the event, with lots of live chats and questions asked throughout. The students in this zone got really involved in the event and wanted to vote for the favourite scientist, leading to a very high number of visits in the VOTE section of our website. Thanks to the breadth of the research topics covered by each scientist, questions related to very different topics; from health related issues to new technological advances. Download the report here.

The Stem Cells Zone was one of the zones that registered more visits. Both, the ASK and CHAT sections were populated with extremely focused questions on Stem Cells and their potential applications.  Most of the live chats took place during the first week, but there were a lot of on-topic and relevant questions asked throughout.  Students in this zone were also active voting for their favourite scientist. Download report here.  

The Tellurium zone was one of the least busy of the event with the fewest registered students, the percentage of active students was however the highest. There were a good number of questions asked throughout.  Most of the questions and live chats were focused around James’ work on volcanoes. Download the report here.  

In June 2013 we ran the Human Limits Zone, funded by The Physiological Society. It was successful: It was busy in most measures of activity, with nearly 400 students talking to the physiologists. The students really got into the theme, asking lots of questions on human limits, with extreme temperature being particularly popular. The zone theme related well to The Physiological Society’s broad outreach theme of ‘physiology in extreme environments’. The scientists were challenged within and beyond their areas of research, and all engaged well and were keen to answer questions and take part in the live chats (except for Luca, who didn’t take part). 9 out of the 10 teachers given places showed up with their students, making the drop-out rate very low. Read the full evaluation here. As winner Alan said to the students in a post on the site after the event: “I hope taking part in … Continue reading →

At the end of each event we compile a report about each zone, containing moderator observations and our web data. This report provides a summary and some meaningful information on the zone. The Tin Zone was quiet during the first week, but lots of questions began to flood in during the second week. There was some great engagement with all of the scientists getting involved in answering questions. Download the report here.

At the end of each event we compile a report about each zone, containing moderator observations and our web data. This report provides a summary and some meaningful information on the zone. The Indium Zone was busy, with a fairly constant influx of questions and waves of questions submitted after each chat. Scientist Samaneh didn’t take part at all, but the other four scientists all got involved and engaged well with the students. Download the report here.

At the end of each event we compile a report about each zone, containing moderator observations and our web data. This report provides a summary and some meaningful information on the zone. The Human Limits Zone started off busy during the first week, but became quieter in the second week. Four of the scientists answered questions and took part in live chats, but Luca didn’t take part and was voted off first. Download the report here.

At the end of each event we compile a report about each zone, containing moderator observations and our web data. This report provides a summary and some meaningful information on the zone. The Hormones Zone was busy, with lots of questions directly relating to hormones. Scientist Bimpe withdrew from the event during the first week, but the remaining four scientists all took part and engaged well with the students. Download the report here.