Engaging teenagers in science by the 'back door'

通过“后门”让青少年参与科学

• 批准号: EP/F066368/1
• 负责人: Andrew Clark
• 金额: $ 7.08万
• 依托单位: University of Warwick
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2008 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FF066368%2F1
• 关键词: Engaging; teenagers; science; back; door

We have chosen to address the issue of communicating the excitement and value of UK scientific research to the general public (primarily 13-18 years olds currently 'turned off' by science) by training 40 young PhD scientists with public engagement skills and providing a supportive structured programme in which they will undertake TWO follow-up public engagement events either in groups or individually. To test the feasibility of the planned approach we were awarded an EPSRC grant ('Explaining the Chemistry/Biology Interface: Networking and Evaluation Phase,' EP/D504503/1) to prepare for this current proposal. This grant provided funds to construct and deliver a customised training course in 'science communication'. The award holders consulted widely and ultimately developed the course in collaboration with the Science Communication Group (SCG) at Imperial College. Two successful prototype courses have been delivered to 2nd year PhD students registered at the Imperial and Warwick Doctoral Training Centres. The ingenuity and enthusiasm exhibited by the PhD students on our prototype training programmes was remarkable and is reflected in the quality of the output. We are therefore confident that we have a successful template that can be developed for a wider audience of young scientists near the beginning of their careers. SCG has readily agreed to partner the applicants in expanding the course to include two specific public engagement tasks as a follow-up for each participant and support them as they execute it. The coupling of the existing training course with this second phase of public engagement is the focus of this current proposal. On the 28th of November 2007 we staged a pilot 'CSI event', staged at the Ricoh Coventry City Football Club, in collaboration with AstraZeneca, the Coventry Business and Education Partnership, Warwick University Chemistry Department and Finham Secondary School. We chose to focus our event on children who were currently not 'turned on' by science but were more interested in other areas such as the media. All twenty children could name three footballers but not name three scientists! The event was run by staff who had had previously undertaken the Imperial 'Science Communication Course'. The primary aim was to determine if the Imperial Science Communication Course would prove adequate training to stage this type of public engagement event. The school children were arranged in two groups of ten and given a role (e.g. Policeman, Reporter, Scientist) and were exposed to a mixture of analytical science via presentations, film and hands on experience. They were then introduced to a 'murder scene' and had to collect appropriate evidence (DNA, trace-residue etc.), interview suspects, analyse the evidence, work as a team, solve the murder and construct a newspaper article. Thus children whose main interest lay outside of science were able to take an active role during the event (i.e. taking the role of journalist). These children were exposed to the science 'clandestinely' as they needed to play an active role in understanding the science in order to make their relevant newspaper article. The success of this event has proved to us that we can deliver successful public engagement events based upon the training obtained from Imperial media course.To this end we propose a two phase programmePhase 1: Deliver two training courses (following the successful model already piloted under EPSRC grant EP/D504503/1);Phase 2: Set TWO specific public engagement tasks for each participant and support them as they execute it. These will include 7 days of events with the Coventry Business and Education Partnerships, 10 events with the Imperial Researchers in Residence Scheme, 3 events with the Royal Society of Chemistry, 40 science blogs and press releases and 8 students focussing on the preparation of short videos and pod-casts to support these events.

我们选择解决了将英国科学研究与公众传达的兴奋和价值的问题（主要是13-18岁的年龄，目前是科学的“关闭”），通过培训40位具有公共参与技能的年轻博士学位科学家，并提供一项支持性结构化计划，并在其中进行两次组成或单独的公共参与活动。为了测试计划方法的可行性，我们获得了EPSRC赠款（“解释化学/生物学接口：网络和评估阶段，“ EP/D504503/1），以准备当前的建议。该赠款提供了资金来构建和提供“科学沟通”定制培训课程。颁奖者广泛咨询，并最终与帝国学院的科学传播集团（SCG）合作开发了该课程。两项成功的原型课程已分配给在帝国和沃里克博士培训中心注册的第二年博士学位学生。博士生在我们的原型培训计划中表现出的独创性和热情非常出色，并且反映在产出质量上。因此，我们有信心拥有一个成功的模板，可以在他们职业生涯开始后为更多的年轻科学家开发。 SCG很容易同意合作申请人扩展课程，以包括两个特定的公共参与任务，作为每个参与者的后续行动，并在执行该课程时支持他们。现有培训课程与第二阶段公众参与的耦合是当前建议的重点。 2007年11月28日，我们与阿斯利康（Astrazeneca）合作，在理由考文垂城市足球俱乐部举行了一场飞行员“ CSI活动”，Coventry商业与教育合作伙伴关系，沃里克大学化学系和Finham中学。我们选择将活动集中在目前不被科学“打开”但对媒体等其他领域更感兴趣的孩子上。所有二十个孩子都可以命名三名足球运动员，但不能命名三个科学家！该活动由以前曾接受过帝国科学传播课程的工作人员举办。主要目的是确定帝国科学传播课程是否会得到足够的培训来进行这种类型的公众参与活动。小学生被安排为两组，并扮演角色（例如警察，记者，科学家），并通过演讲，电影和实力经验来接触分析科学的混合。然后，他们被介绍给“谋杀现场”，不得不收集适当的证据（DNA，痕量救助等），采访嫌疑犯，分析证据，作为团队工作，解决谋杀案并构建报纸文章。因此，主要兴趣在科学之外的孩子能够在活动期间发挥积极作用（即扮演记者的角色）。这些孩子“秘密地”接触了科学，因为他们需要在理解科学方面发挥积极作用，以便发表其相关的报纸文章。这项活动的成功向我们证明了我们可以根据从帝国媒体课程获得的培训进行成功的公共参与活动。为此，我们提出了两个阶段的程序模式1：提供两个培训课程（遵循已经成功根据EPSRC授予EPSRC EP/D504503/1的成功模型；阶段2：阶段2：为每个参与者设置两个特定的公共参与任务，并为他们执行他们的执行并执行他们的执行。这些将包括与考文垂商业和教育合作伙伴关系的7天活动，与帝国研究人员的10个活动，与皇家化学学会的3个活动，40个科学博客和新闻稿以及8个学生专注于准备简短视频和Pod-Casts以支持这些活动。