About

‘I’m a Scientist’ is a science education and engagement tool developed by Gallomanor, funded by The Wellcome Trust. It gets scientists and schools students talking to each other other online.

This is the project blog, where we keep everyone in touch with what we are doing. Thanks for visiting! In 2010 we are rolling out I’m a Scientist nationally, with the support of the Wellcome Trust. And still producing our debate kits. It’s good to keep busy.

What is I’m a Scientist?

It is an online event for secondary science students, which is FREE for schools. The event gets young people talking to real scientists, learning about How Science Works (HSW) and science careers.

During the event, groups of five scientists compete for prize money to communicate their work. They put up information on the website and talk to school students online – answering questions and having live chats. The young people then vote for who they think should get the money.

In 2010 we will be running events in March and in June. Each one lasts for two weeks online and is supported by comprehensive lesson plans and teaching resources. Taken together teachers can get over a month’s worth of lessons out of the event.

I’m a Scientist is based on ‘I’m a Councillor, Get me out of Here!’, a successful youth engagement event for local democracy, which Gallomanor have been running for seven years.

More information for teachers

More information for scientists

More information for organisations

Visit the event site and look around

What is the debate kits project?

We produced the first debate kit (on IVF) as part of the teaching materials for the I’m a Scientist pilot event. Teachers loved it. It turns out that there is a big teaching need for resources like this that show students how to debate, get them thinking and raise real issues, but are simple to use. So we thought we’d better make some more.

We sent out the first kit (on IVF) to 1,500 teachers in June 2009. The second kit was on the topic ‘Are we too clean?’, and was sent out in Autumn 2009. We strongly believe in listening to teachers so we consulted the teachers who use the kits about what topics they wanted.

To find out more details about the debate kits

To order a kit

To download a kit