Well, it’s all getting very hectic here and the March event is hurtling towards us. So I thought I’d leave off messing about with sexy scientists and write about proper work today. Here’s a round up of where we are for the March event.

Classes

15 schools have so far said they want to take part, meaning about 40 classes. Places are very limited, but if we are lucky with sponsorship there may be space for more classes, so do get in touch if you are a teacher and would like your students to learn loads, develop their higher thinking skills, and look forward to their science lessons. Or it’s not too early to register for the June event.

Funding

Overall, it’s looking promising finding long term funding, in that everyone who knows their stuff that we talk to, immediately gets the event, gets why it works and why it’s so useful. No-one’s said, ‘so here, have pots of money then’, not yet. But we’re getting hold of senior people who say they’ll help us and getting lots of leads of funds that are available. It’s slow work though, which leaves us with an immediate funding gap, of which more later.

So, Soph, stop being mysterious, who are all these people who think it’s a great idea then?

Well, we went to see Phil Willis, who is Chair of the House of Commons Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) Select Committee.  It was all very exciting as we got to go to Portcullis House (v swish toilets). Phil’s an ex-teacher so he got where we were coming from straight away and has been very supportive. He said, ‘That’s exactly how you’ve got to teach science’.

There’s loads of other people we’ve talked to, but I’ve just realised that if I tell you about all of it it will take forever. Most significantly, the Science Learning Centres think it’s a great idea, and are writing us a letter of support for our funding bids, the National Co-ordinating Centre for Public Engagement (who co-ordinate all the Beacons for Public Engagement) want to work with us and help us get some money. And the Royal Society have made lots of useful suggestions and will help us to recruit scientists.

But to return to that immediate funding gap…

So, there’s no money on the way quickly, but in order to keep the momentum of the event going we have committed to running the event again this year in March and in June. Which leaves us a bit stuffed in the meantime, especially for March. At the moment we can only afford to run a very small event with one zone (20 classes/approx 400 students). What we are thinking is, if we can get any extra sponsorship (to cover the additional costs), we can add extra zones and reach more students.

Tell us more about this fantastic sponsorship opportunity…

I’m so glad you asked! We are proposing that organisations can support us by sponsoring a scientist – this would mean nominating a scientist to take part and contributing towards the costs. We suggest £1,000 per scientist for not-for-profit organisations and £2,500 per scientist for companies.

Organisations get the chance to promote themselves, good communication training for their scientists, and they are supporting young people engaging positively with science (in a catchy, media-friendly, and yet seriously effective way). If you know anyone who has some outreach money left then point them our way!

What difference would the money make?

If we can raise £6,000 then we can run 2 zones (40 classes/approx 800 students), £9,000 and we can run 3 zones (60 classes/approx 1,200 students), and so on. That may sound like a lot, but teachers get a month’s worth of memorable, challenging science lessons which really engage students with real science, develop their scientific literacy skills and raise their aspirations, for less than the cost of one supply teacher for one day.

Or let me put it this way, students who took part in the pilot are still asking their teachers when the next ‘I’m a Scientist’ is. Do you want to have to tell half the teachers in the first para that they have to disappoint the little darlings? No? Well me either…

Excited about March

Anyway, either way, we’re looking forward to the March event. I always love it when the event is on – it’s so much fun, even if I do work all the hours Dawkins sends, and there’s such a buzz in the office. The dates are 2nd to 13th March. Put them in your diaries and drop in to see what great questions and chats we get this year, and of course, how everyone fares in the evictions!