British Science Association AS/A-level Science Journalism competition 2017
Lead Research Organisation:
British Science Association
Department Name: Science Events
Abstract
The British science association aim to position science at the heart of our society, providing an opportunity for people to explore, investigate, enjoy, discuss and challenge science and its societal implications.
Our journalism competition will offer students from a range of schools across Greater Manchester the opportunity to learn about cutting edge research directly from academics working in a variety of academic fields. Alongside engaging with active researchers, students will also be introduced to the challenging task of science writing and will learn how to balance the requirement for engaging and understandable content with the equally important task of correctly reporting scientific content. We hope that engaging with science in this manner will give students the opportunity to look beyond science as an abstract classroom discipline and to appreciate and recognize typical errors which arise when preparing academic content for the mainstream media.
In the pilot competition we ran early in 2016 we engaged with 30 students from 9 different schools across Greater Manchester. The schools involved in this pilot competition ranged from grammar schools to academies - meaning we interacted with students from a range of backgrounds. The majority of these schools have already expressed a desire to participate in this contest again in 2017.
We feel that this is an innovative and engaging way of providing students with the opportunity to learn and apply science in new, unusual and exciting ways. Indeed, the feedback we received from our pilot competition indicated that this was the case. Example feedback from 2016:
"it was interesting to learn about graphite directly from an expert, not from second-hand sources - Tilly Hancock 2016 competition winner"
"I thought the competition worked really well. The girls really enjoyed working with the academics and it gave them a real insight in to scientific research, I would definitely encourage other students to enter next year - Teacher at Oswestry School"
"I personally felt the students got a lot out of the competition so thank you for all your help with the organisation - teacher at Withington Girls' School"
"The most valuable lesson I have learned from entering the competition is that I was able to see science, that I have learned from class, utilized to solve current real life problems - student at Bury Grammar School".
Overall we hope to deliver an engaging and thought provoking activity and to offer a wide range of student from a number of different backgrounds the opportunity to actively engage with cutting edge research. It is hoped that this form of active engagement will encourage more students to consider STEM careers and provide them with a better understanding of science in the media.
Our journalism competition will offer students from a range of schools across Greater Manchester the opportunity to learn about cutting edge research directly from academics working in a variety of academic fields. Alongside engaging with active researchers, students will also be introduced to the challenging task of science writing and will learn how to balance the requirement for engaging and understandable content with the equally important task of correctly reporting scientific content. We hope that engaging with science in this manner will give students the opportunity to look beyond science as an abstract classroom discipline and to appreciate and recognize typical errors which arise when preparing academic content for the mainstream media.
In the pilot competition we ran early in 2016 we engaged with 30 students from 9 different schools across Greater Manchester. The schools involved in this pilot competition ranged from grammar schools to academies - meaning we interacted with students from a range of backgrounds. The majority of these schools have already expressed a desire to participate in this contest again in 2017.
We feel that this is an innovative and engaging way of providing students with the opportunity to learn and apply science in new, unusual and exciting ways. Indeed, the feedback we received from our pilot competition indicated that this was the case. Example feedback from 2016:
"it was interesting to learn about graphite directly from an expert, not from second-hand sources - Tilly Hancock 2016 competition winner"
"I thought the competition worked really well. The girls really enjoyed working with the academics and it gave them a real insight in to scientific research, I would definitely encourage other students to enter next year - Teacher at Oswestry School"
"I personally felt the students got a lot out of the competition so thank you for all your help with the organisation - teacher at Withington Girls' School"
"The most valuable lesson I have learned from entering the competition is that I was able to see science, that I have learned from class, utilized to solve current real life problems - student at Bury Grammar School".
Overall we hope to deliver an engaging and thought provoking activity and to offer a wide range of student from a number of different backgrounds the opportunity to actively engage with cutting edge research. It is hoped that this form of active engagement will encourage more students to consider STEM careers and provide them with a better understanding of science in the media.
Planned Impact
In our 2016 pilot competition, winning articles were published online on two popular science blogs (http://thebrainbank.scienceblog.com/ and http://blog.thingswedontknow.com/). These publications are not only a tremendous boost for the winning students but also a great way to disseminate information about our competition and raise awareness of the academic research these students wrote about.
We also intend to create a resource booklet tailored to this activity which will be distributed to all participating schools, this booklet will include details of the event, hints and tips on science writing and example articles from our previous competition. All our resources will also be uploaded to our branch website, these will be free to download from this location and fellow communicators will be encouraged to actively use these resources and adapt our ideas (https://manchesterscience.wordpress.com/resources/).
We also intend to create a resource booklet tailored to this activity which will be distributed to all participating schools, this booklet will include details of the event, hints and tips on science writing and example articles from our previous competition. All our resources will also be uploaded to our branch website, these will be free to download from this location and fellow communicators will be encouraged to actively use these resources and adapt our ideas (https://manchesterscience.wordpress.com/resources/).
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Sarah Fox (Principal Investigator) |
| Description | Publication of student's atricles on popular science blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Following on from submission of student articles (see previous engagement entry) the winning article was published on a popular science blog, this blog reaches an international audience and this article had over 300 views. We are currently planning another competition for Summer 2018. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://thebrainbank.scienceblog.com/2017/05/29/the-nuclear-waste-war/ |
| Description | Science Journalism Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Through this contest we intend to raise awareness of the pitfalls and complications associated with science journalism by offering the students first hand experience of how academic research makes the journey from lab bench to lay-literature. Students were invited to join us in Manchester University's Sackville street building, where they were introduced to six academics working at the university. Students came to us from six schools across Greater Manchester and the surrounding area including: INTO Manchester, Loreto Sixth Form College, Oswestry School, Trafford College, Winstanley College and Xaverian Sixth Form College. During the day they heard talks from our six academics relating to their field of study and why they find their work so fascinating. At the end of the day pupils had the opportunity to interview an academic of their choosing in preparation for writing a lay science article on their work. These articles were submitted for judging in the following month and winning entries were published on a popular science blog and on the British Science Association's home page. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://manchesterscience.wordpress.com/2017/03/11/the-bsa-helps-students-try-their-hand-at-science-... |