CATCH UP TIME!

Now that the school Easter holiday is here I have time to catch up on what we have been up to over the past few weeks.
We had an amazing day at Ellesmere Port Boat museum as part of  BOOST's STEM event.
Amazingly we didn't drop anything into the water as we made our way across the cobbles and over the lock bridges to the rooms we were using - thank goodness for the trolley but note to self - must buy bungees to stop things slipping!!

Throughout the day we worked with groups of about 30 primary aged pupils, looking at Supermarket Science - our take on "do try this at home" type of science - 5 sessions in all.
We used our latest gizmos to inspire ideas, showing lots of mini experiments to have a go at - and everything can be bought from the supermarket!

The highlight was making their own bath bomb mini muffin to take home although I quite liked my heart shaped versions!

Then it was a very busy day at DaresburySIC with MerseySTEM and secondary school pupils.

Again 5 sessions back to back as Helen and I explained what a Day in the Life of a Science presenter is really like!
Stars of this event were without doubt our amazing jelly marbles which swell to about 30 times their original size and seem to disappear in water.

Colour changing straws which are great but we had to keep in the fridge because the room was so warm!

Bath bombs featured here too and a mass slime making fest!

So now we have two weeks of school holiday to make sure we are ready for the summer term, having done a mini mail drop and following up on possible bookings we should have a good few weeks.
watch this space!

Went to the annual Association of Science Educators (ASE) conference last week. This is an opportunity for anyone involved in science education to get together. This year it was held in Liverpool University which was great for me because it is just a hop on a train away.
Lots going on including a marquee of exhibitors, seminars and workshops plus a really good programme of evening entertainment.
I had been asked to speak at a session by the Wellcome Trust so off I trotted yesterday, presentation in hand (having of course sent it in earlier but you never know and I always have a plan B!!)
It was a bit weird really because I was asked to talk about Catalyst and obviously I am not there anymore but as the expert on the subject it was logical for me to speak.
The session title was "Proving the unique value of informal learning"  a sharing of research findings so far into what the project is calling "informal learning". They mean anything that is not actually a taught classroom session - so it could be the sort of thing that science centres and museums do but equally it could be a TV programme, a science club, a STEM event..... 
The company organising  the actual research, GHK, explained what they were doing and then Iain Morley from MOSI and I gave case studies of how we approach informal learning.
Fascinating difference between us - Iain said that about 85% of their group visits do not engage with the education team - they come for free and do a self guided tour, picking up gallery guide explanations on the way.
Catalyst in contrast has about 98% of groups doing something with the education team and it is a rare thing for a school to not book anything.
In the audience were lots of other informal learning providers - National History Museum, Science Museum London, BP, numerous STEM contract holders from around the country and everyone said how hard it was to attract secondary schools - but of course Catalyst gets about 50% of school visits from secondary schools. So I was quizzed about how!
One obvious thing is that Catalyst offers chemistry linked activities and has built up a reputation of excellent teaching at secondary level - it is much easier for a non-specialist to teach a primary session. Plus the wonderful Discovery lab setting is very inspirational.
So a fascinating session which was very well received and hopefully the start of a link between the Wellcome Trust for both Catalyst and for me.