I’m getting a lot of requests from teachers for more info about the next event, so I thought I should put up the answers here and save people writing to me. Not that I mind people writing to me, I hasten to add, but hopefully this will save time all round.

When is the event?

Teacher registration closes: 9th Feb – we will let everyone know that day if they have been selected
Scientist registration closes: 19th Feb – we will let everyone know that day if they have been selected
Event begins: March 15th
Event ends: March 26th

The event lasts for two weeks. The first week is ‘getting to know the scientists’ week, the second week is chucking them off week:-D. We have evictions almost every day in week two, with the winner in each zone being announced on the Friday.

Where is the event?

It’s online! You can take part from anywhere with an internet connection. Your students don’t need to go anywhere.

When do the students talk to the scientists?

Students interact with the scientists in two ways:

Sending scientists questions can happen at any time (students can even log in at home. Yes, we moderate the questions…).

Live chats are booked by the teacher for the time that suits them. We are very happy for chats to be at lunch time or after school (e.g. if you are taking part with the science club). Scientists, of course, have their own jobs to do so won’t be able to make every chat. The important thing is that the students get to talk to some scientists and (hopefully) realise they are normal people, and possibly even quite nice.

What age groups is it suitable for?

In the pilot we had a post-16 zone and two pre-16 zones. The classes in the pre-16 zones were mostly year 9s, with some year 10s and 11s (S2-S4 in Scotland). The post-16 classes included A Level, AS level, BTEC and Higher classes. All of these students got a lot out of taking part.

We produce three sets of supporting resources

1. Post-16
2. Pre-16 foundation
3. Pre-16 extension

The resources will probably be too advanced for younger groups, but the format of the event itself is very flexible. Because students ask the questions they want to, they can take part whatever their level. Our sister event, I’m a Councillor, Get me out of Here! often has primary schools taking part and they really love it.

However, I’m a Scientist has mainly been designed to support How Science Works (HSW) for GCSE and above. If there’s enough interest in it we might run a version for younger students in the future.

If you want to have a look at them, the teaching materials from the pilot are here. This may help you to see whether they would be suitable for your students. We will be making some minor changes, but mainly the resources will be the same.

Can my Scottish/Irish/Welsh school take part?

Yes! Scottish and Welsh schools have taken part in the pilot and Northern Irish schools have taken part in I’m a Councillor, our sister event. We are also happy for schools in the Republic of Ireland to apply. As long as you feel it will help with your curriculum then you are very welcome.

Can my SEN pupils take part?

Yes! Oak Lodge Special school took part in the pilot event and found it worthwhile, here is a case study about their experience.  The supporting resources will not be geared towards your pupils, which may cause you extra work, sorry. We hope to be able to produce specialized resources for SEN at some point, but we don’t have the resource to do it at the moment.

How do I register?

Fill in this form

You will then get sent a confirmation email and you need to click the link in it to confirm. If the email hasn’t arrived in a few minutes then check your spam folder as some of them have been going in there.

You haven’t answered my question!

Sorry. There is more info about the event and what’s involved for teachers here. If you still have a question, please email me (or put it in the comments below). But please make your question specific! I’ve got several emails saying ‘please send me more info’ and it’s hard to know what they want me to tell them. There is really a lot of info on the website already…