Presenter: Kirsty Hayward, kirsty@sciencehappenseverywhere.co.uk
Theme: Engagement mediums and practice
Reporter: Kathryn Boast
One sentence summary: Children need to have positive experiences and be involved if they are to learn about a topic, so include investigation and know your audience.
Description
In this session, Kirsty shared her tips for making science more interactive and engaging for children and families.
The first step is to get your audience investigating alongside you. Can you give your audience the experience of being a scientist? This can be a powerful experience, particularly since children are inherently curious.
To do this, ask questions of your audience. If you’re not sure what to ask, look at the “Play, Observe, Ask” method from the Primary Science Teaching Trust. When asking questions, remember to allow thinking time. A useful technique is “Think, Pair, Share”, where children consider their answer, talk to their partner, and then discuss as a group. Even if you’re at a festival, try to leave space to think.
Children are most engaged and involved when doing. It’s even better if it’s something they can do without you needing to intervene or provide instructions. Knowing what to do already, without having to be told, gives them ownership of the activity. Think about whether there’s anything they can take away with them (this goes down particularly well with children in Y3-Y6), or what they can do afterwards.
The second step is to meet your audience where they are. First, think about where they are and what they engage with already. It can be useful to visit your audience, especially if they are a community group. Second, start at their level. What vocabulary do they have? What’s in the curriculum for children their age? Remember to look at an earlier level too, as not all students will know all their curriculum. You can always ask teachers, parents, or community group leaders for their opinions – “I’m thinking of doing this, what do you think?”. You might also find inspiration in the Science Capital Teaching Approach. This highlights the importance of personalising and localising science. Show them that science happens where they are.
You can connect with your audience by sharing your story – this is the third step. You might find this particularly important if the research you want to talk about is far removed from everyday life. You can talk about things you do, like problem-solving, or where you work, who your colleagues are, or why your work makes you excited. This can seem simple, but it’s important. For example, young people might not know what happens in a university building. You might even want to start with this – by talking about yourself as a person, you can capture the interest of your audience.
The best order for actually taking these three steps is to first learn about your audience (Step 2), then choose your activity thinking about their involvement (Step 1), and finally, put your relevant research story on top (Step 3).
This will allow you to build positive connections between scientists and children, which mean they can be involved and engaged with the activity – they won’t get involved if there’s no positive connection. With both of these in place, they can learn about your topic.
Key messages
- Learn about your audience by visiting them, looking at their curriculum, and asking the adults around them in advance.
- Ask questions of your audience but give them thinking time.
- Use interactive activities – the less instruction and intervention needed, the better!
- Share your story – who you are and what you do – to capture an audience’s interest.
- A positive connection is needed if children are going to get involved with an activity, and through this engagement they can then learn about a topic.
Resources
https://sciencehappenseverywhere.co.uk/resources
This link is to Kirsty’s website, which has a selection of resources including:
- The slides for this session.
- The “Play, Observe, Ask” guide from the Primary Science Teaching Trust, which has useful question prompts.
- Details about the Science Capital Teaching Approach.
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