How Science Works

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? … Continue reading →

Posted on November 26, 2010 by in How Science Works, IAS Event, Science Education | Comments Off

Guest blogger: IAS March 2009 winner Gillian Hamilton

Normally young people don’t get much say in science funding, but in I’m a Scientist they choose which scientist they think should get a prize of £500 to communicate their work. March 2009 winner Gillian Hamilton has very kindly agreed to be our guest blogger this week and tell everyone about what she did with the money. I decided to take part in the I’m a Scientist project because I liked the idea of chatting to high school students and telling them more about what a career in science entails, something I didn’t know much about when I was at school. From the feedback it sounds like the majority of students enjoyed the experience which is a great result. Winning was completely unexpected, and I’m still thrilled about it! I have used the prize money to attend the annual Alzheimer’s Research Trust conference which was held this year at the … Continue reading →

Posted on May 1, 2009 by in How Science Works | Tagged Alzheimer's, conference, Gillian Hamilton, Jim Broadbent, Opera Group, prize money, The Lion's Face | Comments Off

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:-

Posted on December 18, 2008 by in How Science Works, Science Education | Tagged ASE, conference, Dan Hannard, lame jokes, mu, scicast, Trevizzle, videos, webchats, Woodkirk High, Xperimania | Comments Off

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!”.

Posted on December 10, 2008 by in How Science Works, Science Education | Tagged 21st Century Science, ASE, Dance Your PhD, debate, discussion, funding, School Science Review, teaching materials | Comments Off

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. … Continue reading →

Posted on May 23, 2008 by in How Science Works, IAS Event, Science Education | Tagged climate change, How Science Works teaching materials, lesson plans, pilot, rectal incontinence, scientist, teacher packs | Comments Off

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

Posted on March 12, 2008 by in Evaluation, How Science Works, School, Science Education | Tagged Becky Davies, development, draft plan, feedback, information sheets, lesson plans, teacher packs, Techniquest | Comments Off

What teachers want

This is a quick summary of what we’ve found out so far from teachers. It’s been really useful talking to them. Most have been excited about the event, but some exhibited what you might call a bit of skepticism about the new GCSE curriculum,

Posted on February 28, 2008 by in How Science Works, Science Education | Tagged feedback, focus groups, GCSE, teacher pack development, teacher research, teaching materials, timings, topics | Comments Off

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