Project Archive Archives - Page 2 of 7

Heritage Heresy

Posted on September 25, 2019May 25, 2021 by adrian@webdesigncity.co.uk

Heritage Heresy enabled young people from Bath to ignore all the rules and imagine a future city where anything is possible. In conjunction with the Bath Royal Literary & Scientific Institution and supported by Bath’s community of engineers and architects, the project taught Bath’s younger residents about the city’s environment, history and contemporary challenges, and allowed them to bring their ideas for a rebooted city to life at the Museum of Bath Architecture. Students from various local schools worked with Buro Happold engineers, architecture students from the University of Bath & other local engineers from various disciplines to tear down, re-imagine and re-build Bath – a city famous for it’s history, distinctive Bath stone bricks, winding river and steep hillsides! The students then decided what they wanted to see in their vision of Bath – History or 4G? We ran a guided bus tour of the city followed by various workshops on the weekend of the 21st October 2017, an exhibit of the students ideas was then displayed in the Museum of Bath Architecture for two weeks.

Graphic Science were awarded funding from the Royal Academy of Engineering Ingenious scheme for Heritage Heresy. Ingenious is an awards scheme, run by the Royal Academy of Engineering, that supports and funds creative and impactful projects that engage the public with engineers and engineering.

Evolution of Technology Workshop

Posted on September 25, 2019January 22, 2020 by adrian@webdesigncity.co.uk

How many electronic devices that were familiar a few years ago are now virtually obsolete?

Evolution of Technology is an interactive workshop for key stage 3 and 4 students to think about how rapidly technology has changed, improved and entered into every aspect of our lives.

We developed the workshops and train STEM Ambassadors to run them.

Evolution of Technology was funded through the IET Education Grants Scheme.

Interactive workshop looking at the rapid development of technology over recent years.

Teacher PDPs

Posted on September 25, 2019May 25, 2021 by adrian@webdesigncity.co.uk

Professional Development Placements for Teachers

Graphic Science runs a number of free, one-day, professional development placements (PDPs) for teachers from Bristol, Bath and Somerset.

The aim of the professional development placements is for teachers to broaden their knowledge of Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) applications and careers.

Each day is hosted by a company working in the area of STEM and provides teachers with a chance to meet professionals from industry and see the environment in which they work. Teachers are then in a position to share this knowledge with their students back at school.

The PDPs are funded by The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) and the Institute for Education Business Excellence (IEBE) via their national ‘Shape the Future- STEPS at work’ programme.

We ran three placements in Bristol in the summer of 2012 (see details below). The next placement days were held in June/July 2013.

Summer 2012 PDPs

Science and Technology at The Bristol and Bath Science Park

The day was split between the Innovation Centre and the National Composite Centre at the Bristol and Bath Science Park. Science and DT teachers found out about some of the research, development and manufacturing taking place at the site; through tours by scientists and engineers, learning about design challenges and scientific limitations and a chance to explore related classroom resources.

Life Sciences and Medical Physics at Bristol Royal Infirmary

Teachers attending the Professional Development Placement at the Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI), spent the day finding out about life sciences and medical physics taking place at the hospital. The day included a tour of the hospital haematology labs, the chance to network with NHS professionals and some time to look at related classroom resources.

Palaeontology ‘The Bristol Dinosaur Project’ at Aust Cliff and the University of Bristol

The day was run by palaeontologists from the University of Bristol, School of Earth Sciences. Teachers started the day by fossil hunting at Aust Cliff, before visiting the University palaeontology labs and trying out some geology and evolution classroom activities.

Free placement days for teachers to update their knowledge of the latest STEM developments.

Engineering Everywhere Evaluation

Posted on September 25, 2019May 25, 2021 by adrian@webdesigncity.co.uk

An EPSRC funded project in collaboration with the Centre for Science Education at Sheffield Hallam University; the University of Glasgow and 4Science.

Engineering Everywhere consists of a suite of resources, including classroom activities and videos on a DVD, to support the teaching of physical science with reference to engineering, in an effort to enhance young people’s interest in engineering and science related careers.

Preconceived perceptions and poor understanding of engineers and engineering have led to a poor uptake of engineering courses by school leavers. The DVD introduces relevant engineering ideas and concepts to form an integral part of the assessed science curriculum.

We performed a rigorous and fully-embedded formative evaluation of ‘Engineering Everywhere’ to inform development of the resource. We ran a series of iterative focus group sessions over the course of two years with our ‘standing panels’ of year 10-12 students. We probed the students for their values, opinions and regular activities, as well as testing resources in various stages of development. Our feedback was integrated into the development of the project from the outset.

We later performed a summative evaluation of the project, using a combination of timed, structured observations; informal interviews; follow up teacher interviews and questionnaires.

Smarter UK

Posted on September 25, 2019May 25, 2021 by adrian@webdesigncity.co.uk

If there were pills that could make you smarter, would you take them?

Smarter UK is a facilitated classroom debate for 13-16 year-olds that explores the ethical implications of using drugs for cognitive enhancement.

Resources for teachers are available from
www.graphicscience.co.uk/SmarterUK

Smarter UK was funded by the Wellcome Trust and sessions took involved over 7,000 students in Bristol, Cardiff, Cambridge, Glasgow and Oxford between autumn 2011 and spring 2013.

Session format

Sessions, which were delivered by professional science presenters and supported by a neuroscientist, start with a sketch where two executives discuss an advertising campaign for a new smart drug. This introduces the key issues.

Students then discuss the ethics of cognitive enhancement in “Vote with Your Feet”. The classroom is marked out with a continuum of opinion from “yes” through “not sure” to “no”. In response to a question, students have to distribute themselves along this line, each standing at the point that best represents their opinion. This provides young people with the opportunity to consider the varied and complex issues associated with human enhancement.

Evaluation

The project was evaluated by David Shakespeare from Square2Learning.

90% of students who took part in the evaluation said the session was interesting, over 80% agreed that the session was enjoyable and more than 65% said they wanted to learn more about the topic.

Comments included: “Amazing please come back”, “Very enjoyable – like to learn more like this”, “I learnt about things I hadn’t really thought about before” and “Makes me want to learn more about neuroscience”

Full evaluation report

We have also written our own end of project report which contains reflections from ourselves, our delivery partners and some of the neuroscientists involved with the project.

Graphic Science final project report

Smarter was piloted in Bristol and Glasgow in 2009. To find out more about the pilot please visit the Smarter page.

Delivery Partners

The delivery partners for Smarter UK are listed below. Teachers interested in holding Smarter UK sessions should contact their closest delivery partner.

Bristol: Explorer Dome

Ben Brown or Shaaron Levermont
Explorer Dome
Mailbox 42
179 Whiteladies Road
Bristol BS8 2AG

Tel: 0117 914 1526
Email: ben@explorerdome.co.uk or shaaron@explorerdome.co.uk

Cambridge: The Naked Scientists

Dr Hannah Critchlow
Naked Neuroscience
Naked Scientists
Department of Pathology
Cambridge University
Tennis Court Road
Cambridge
CB2 1QP

Tel: 07846 168684
Email: hmc39@cam.ac.uk

Cardiff: science made simple

Becky Holmes
School of Physics and Astronomy
Cardiff University
14-17 The Parade
Cardiff
CF24 3AA

Email: becky@sciencemadesimple.co.uk
Tel: 02920 876 884

Edinburgh: Glasgow Science Centre

Susan Meikleham
Glasgow Science Centre
50 Pacific Quay
Glasgow
G51 1EA

Email: susan.meikleham@glasgowsciencecentre.org
Tel: 0141 420 5010 ext 234

Oxford: Science Oxford

Bridget Holligan
Science Oxford Live
1-5 London Place
Oxford
OX4 1BD

Email: Bridget.Holligan@scienceoxford.com
Tel: 01865 810020

Advisory Panel

Development of the Smarter UK sessions and resources has been overseen by an advisory panel comprised of:

Professor Barbara Sahakian, University of Cambridge (Chair)
Dr Anne Cooke, University of Bristol
Dr Hannah Critchlow, University of Cambridge
Nick Hillier, Academy of Medical Sciences
Bridget Holligan, Science Oxford
Katherine Mathieson, British Science Association
Jon Walford, Chew Valley School

Genome Generation

Posted on September 25, 2019May 25, 2021 by adrian@webdesigncity.co.uk

Working in close partnership with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, we developed ‘Genome Generation’, a facilitated card-based discussion game, designed to encourage dialogue about the social and ethical issues associated with genetic and genomic science.

Genome Generation consists of nine sets of cards, each containing a Story card, which is based on a different scenario related to genetic testing, and a set of associated Info and Issue cards. The scenarios are usually centred around a character with a genomics-related dilemma.

Participants work in small groups to discuss and explore their views on genome sequencing and the numerous personal and societal issues arising. The session is intended to engage people with advances in genomics research, and to prepare them for some of the difficult decisions they may face within their own lifetime. The session can be run with a variety of audiences – from adult and school groups with no scientific background, through to academic researchers.

We developed the resources through two phases of testing with potential audiences. The project will be rolled out, across the Genome Campus, by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute during 2012. The resources will then be made available for use with schools or public groups.

IET Scout Electronic Badge Resources

Posted on September 25, 2019May 25, 2021 by adrian@webdesigncity.co.uk

The Scout Electronics Activity Badge is a challenging interest badge for Scouts sponsored by the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET).

Graphic Science was commissioned by the IET to produce a set of downloadable resources to support the badge.

The resource consists of:

a Scout Pack containing background information needed to complete the badge along with step by step instructions for a number of fun electronics projects for Scouts to complete
a Leaders’ Pack containing instructions for running some games and activities to support Scouts in learning some electronics fundamentals plus full guidance for each of the electronics projects
an electronics glossary
support resources for the activities and projects in the pack

The packs can now be downloaded free of charge from the Scout Association website: https://members.scouts.org.uk/supportresources/4135/the-iet-scout-electronics-badge-activity-pack/?cat=7,64,178&moduleID=10

TEMI Evaluation

Posted on September 25, 2019May 25, 2021 by adrian@webdesigncity.co.uk

TEMI – Teaching Enquiry with Mysteries Incorporated – is a four-year FP7 funded project involving 13 partners around Europe. The project is a CPD programme for teachers with accompanying resources designed to support enquiry based science learning through investigating mysteries.

Graphic Science is acting as the external evaluator for the project. Our role is both formative – monitoring the project as a whole, identifying risks and recommending mitigations – and summative – our final report looking at the successes and failures of the project as a whole will be submitted to the EC when the project is completed in July 2016.

You can follow the project’s progress through their website: teachingmysteries.eu/en or from @teachmysteries on Twitter

WT PE Leadership Programme

Posted on September 25, 2019May 25, 2021 by adrian@webdesigncity.co.uk

In 2014, Graphic Science was commissioned by the Wellcome Trust to run a 10 month long leadership programme in public engagement for heads of academic departments working across the Trust’s research remit.

Each participant has a small seed fund of £2,000 to spend on activities that embed and support a culture of public engagement in their department/institute.

We recruited 14 heads to take part.

The programme began with a one-day launch workshop at Brunel’s ssGreat Britain where participants heard a range of different perspectives from other academic heads who described their experiences of doing and supporting public engagement. Participants also spent some time thinking about their departments’ own public engagement and how they could develop this and make it more strategic.

We were also pleased to welcome special guest speaker Eliza Manningham-Buller, former Director General of MI5, who shared her views on and approaches to leadership.

The programme then continued with remote support and visits to each participant to discover more about their and their colleagues opportunities and aspirations for public engagement.

Approaches have included developing a public engagement strategy, creating an internal public engagement small grants scheme and running annual community-focussed public engagement events.

The programme will end with a finale event during Cheltenham Science Festival.

Review of BBSRC Public Dialogues

Posted on September 25, 2019May 25, 2021 by adrian@webdesigncity.co.uk

BBSRC has a long-standing commitment to using deliberative public dialogue to inform policies around their research. As part of this, they have been working with the dialogue experts Sciencewise to support dialogue processes for their research institutes.

So far, three BBSRC Institutes have run their own public dialogues in order to inform internal policy*

Graphic Science was commissioned by BBSRC to review the three dialogues collectively to see what could be learned that can inform future dialogues.

Using a mixture of desk research based and interviews and focus groups with internal and external stakeholders, we analysed the findings from all three dialogues to look for commonalities and insightful points of difference.

*John Innes, Rothamsted Research, Babraham Institute