Project News

The I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here! project is getting better.

The I’m a… enrichment programme engages school students with people working in STEM. It reaches the students that are often left underserved and supports all students’ science capital. It’s also an opportunity for your staff or members to develop their engagement skills through an effective, efficient and high-quality public engagement programme.

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From January 2024, you can choose a theme for your class’ activity at any time during the year.

Genetics in October ✔ Radiation in February ✔ General Chemistry in British Science Week ✔.

Whatever you want, whenever you want.

You can select a theme based on your current curriculum topic or from a broader range of scientific subject areas or special events. 

The core benefits of the student-led activity haven’t changed. Every class can:

• Learn about up to 30 relevant scientists through their profiles, including their CVs
• Connect with researchers in 30-minute, text-based online Chats

…

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The I’m a Scientist, Get me out of here! project is getting better.

From January 2024, teachers can decide on a theme for their I’m a Scientist activity throughout the year. No more waiting for a particular zone, they can choose their preferred subject at the time that suits them.

Their theme might be linked with their current learning, to show students how the curriculum directly relates to the real-world, or it might be a more general science topic.

Scientists whose work relates to the theme will be invited to a real-time, text-based class Chat and to answer students’ follow up questions.

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From January 2024, you can take part in the online STEM outreach activity I’m a Scientist whenever suits you best across the year. 

Teachers and students will be able to connect with you at the time that is most relevant to their learning – so when a class studies genetics in October, teachers can request a Chat with geneticists and technicians working with DNA.

Your conversations will help students understand how their learning applies to the real world, but also that people working in STEM are just like them. It helps them see that they, too, could have an interesting career in STEM.

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Research Councils UK have announced the Strategic Support to Expedite Embedding Public Engagement with Research (SEE-PER) programme.

The aim is to help HEI’s and Research Institutes embed Public Engagement within their organisations and to address identified challenges stopping it being embedded.

I’m a Scientist is offering to partner with an applicant or multiple applicants for SEE-PER to help address issues of:

• Supporting Public Engagement in Research
• Motivations for PER
• Making PER sustainable

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Over the years we’ve had great support from schools across the world taking part in I’m a Scientist. There is one teacher who has been involved from almost the beginning, taking classes from 3 different school across different time zones, onto the site. I can imagine the event helps english-speaking students at schools across the world keep in touch with the UK through science. Having science questions from students in Budapest or Singapore makes our events more engaging too. Some of the keenest students have been based abroad. But Our funding from the Wellcome Trust is for only 50% of our costs and is only for schools in the UK. That means we need to give priority to UK schools and this March we are full. There is a way for overseas schools to take part. If we charge to cover some of the cost for you to take part … Continue reading →

We’ve started using a new toy here at I’m a Scientist. It’s called Storify and is “a way to tell stories using social media”. Storify allows you to build up a story by gathering media such as tweets, blog posts and photos in one place. You can re-order the content how you like, and add descriptions and commentary to explain what’s going on. Creating a story of the event will be helpful in a few ways: Firstly, it will provide commentary during the event, all in one place. Anyone interested in the event, from teachers to scientists and sponsors, can easily get a feel for what I’m a Scientist is about. Secondly, we’ll have a record of the event to look back on. Whilst we follow what’s being said about I’m a Scientist on sites such as twitter at the time, it’s easy for updates to get lost and forgotten … Continue reading →

It’s almost two weeks since I’m a Scientist ended. Doesn’t time fly? Do you miss it? We do, but we’re maybe a bit sad like that. Now we want to know what YOU think about it, what you liked and what you didn’t. If you tell us what you thought, it helps us make it better for next time. Also, you’ll go into a prize draw to win £20 of WH Smiths vouchers. Student survey: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/307117/i-m-a-scientist-june-2010-tell-us-what-you-think- Thanks for telling us, we really appreciate it.

Welcome to I’m a Scientist, Get me out of Here! This is the only event in the world* where school students choose which scientists gets some money. For the next two weeks you young people have the power. Use it wisely my friends. *As far as we know

And I hope all my fellow science geeks in the Northern hemisphere had a pleasant Winter Solstice. (Summer solstice wishes, of course, to our Antipodean readers). I am certainly relieved now the sun is coming back… And I hope you all had a great Christmas, Yalda, Saturnalia, Karachun, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, or other midwinter festival of your choice. 2010 so far… As you all know, this is going to be a big year for us, now that we have the funding to roll out I’m a Scientist on a much bigger scale. We’ve started the year with a lot of excitement, as we are recruiting a new member of staff to help us cope. I’ve been shortlisting all week (please, teachers, tell your students to never, ever, send someone a file called ‘My CV’. When you get dozens of them the renaming gets very tedious). It’s been really difficult choosing … Continue reading →