https://doi.org/10.36866/pn.87.9

Fiona Hatch, of the University of Hull, on her experience with the project

I’m a Scientist (IAS) is a fantastic competition-based event for scientists to communicate with school students across the UK. IAS is divided into zones and in March I took part in the Sports Zone, which was sponsored by The Society.

During the event there are two main ways to communicate with the students:

1: via fast-paced live chat sessions during class time
2: responding to students’ questions posted on the IAS website (a more leisurely paced activity).

The live chat sessions were very hectic – kids were asking questions multiple times a minute, which was a lot of fun, but my fingers ached after each session!

Over two weeks, the five scientists in each zone were voted off by the students one by one. I was the last remaining scientist in the Sports Zone, which meant I won £500 to run a science communication project of my own.

Overall it was one of the best experiences I have ever had. The children were so interested in all aspects of science, with hundreds of questions that I have never thought of. This helped me understand the students’ thirst for knowledge and made me want to continue with further science communication projects within schools. I now appreciate the gap between scientists and the public even better, and I’m so much more motivated to try to close this gap. With my £500 winnings, I hope to teach an interactive biology lesson in a local school, using real sheep’s hearts to illustrate coronary heart disease and heart attacks.

I strongly believe it is vital to get children interested in science at an early age, when they are most receptive. The best way to do this is for scientists to directly engage with schools and show children how interesting science can be. IAS was an amazing project that allowed this interaction.