Science communication activities within the taught curriculum: “ Science and Society” final year research projects

David Lewis. University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

With the increase in student numbers, coupled with reductions in staff and resources, many Life Sciences Departments are finding it increasingly more difficult to provide wet, laboratory-based final year projects for all their students1Furthermore, in the current economic climate, it is essential that graduates possess employability skills and have relevant work experience2. However, less than 20% of Life Sciences graduates go into careers in scientific research and therefore there is a need to develop projects more suited to the majority of their career paths. Our aim was therefore to develop alternative projects3 where students create and deliver science activities for local school children, evaluating and reporting on this exercise as their final year research project.

Students (8-9 p.a.) design a 1 or 2 hour teaching session, suitable for either primary (Year 3-6) or secondary (Year 9-12) students. They are free to choose the format of their sessions but it has to be interactive, support and enhance the National Curriculum, match their Supervisors’ research interests and be capable of modification to suit all the different age groups to whom it was to be delivered. Topics selected included: “Spinal cord injuries”, “Science behind healthy lifestyle choices”, “Creating super humans, the ethics of performance enhancement” and “Don’ t Bug me!”. Once these sessions had been developed, students gather feedback from supervisors and focus groups before delivery to school pupils, either at the University as part of National Science Week or in a carousel of these sessions that toured schools (4 primary, 4 secondary) within the region, each student delivering their session up to 11 times. Students evaluate the effectiveness of their activities using pre and post session knowledge-based questionnaires, personal response systems within the session and post session pupil and staff feedback questionnaires. These form the results section of their dissertations which were written up in the same format and with the same marking criteria as standard laboratory-based research projects.

Feedback on these activities from project students, participating schools and examiners has been excellent. For students, without exception, all recognise how they have grown in confidence and maturity over the course of the project, the improvement in their science communication skills, their time/project management and the benefits of development and applicability of these skills to their future careers. Schools are extremely appreciative of these activities, in particular, highlighting the superb quality of individual sessions and the commitment and enthusiasm of the students. Internal and external examiners have confirmed that these projects are academically equivalent to traditional laboratory projects

Science and Society final year projects are an excellent means of engaging young people with science. They are a valuable tool in developing partnerships with local schools, promoting departments or faculties and encouraging school pupils to consider careers in science. For students delivering these sessions, they encourage them to be enterprising, innovative, enable the development of key employability skills and the opportunity to gain valuable experience.

1. Cowie, R.J. (2005) http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/ftp/SIG/projectsurvey.pdf

2. High Fliers (2012) http://www.highfliers.co.uk/download/GMReport12.pdf

3. http://webprod3.leeds.ac.uk/catalogue/dynmodules.asp?Y=201213&M=BMSC-3301