Going LIVE!

WOW! how hard can it be?
This having your own company thing is not as easy as it looks!!
Actually I am having lots of fun but getting the nitty, gritty down tight is very time consuming. Things like a web site - I know a bit about this area from my previous life in Flintshire as an advisor for schools - we used to teach pupils how to create a simple web site. BUT creating a commercial one -with all the bits and bobs that you need for a business is a different ball game.
So after more time than I would have liked our website is actually LIVE with most of the pages up and running. There is more to do - sorting out T&Cs, giving enough info but not overloading, creating downloadable pages........
And of course the real job is creating the actual shows and workshops - I have 6 years of experience in doing that but starting from scratch is a mammoth task. At Catalyst I had a whole room of resources to inspire me!
So far I have four shows pretty much finished - at least they will be ready to go within a couple of weeks.
I have created 1 biology, 1 chemistry, 1 physics and 1 that is a mixture of all three!!
I didn't plan it that way - it just evolved: healthy humans, changing materials, forces and light/colour ( which is the mixed one - a bit of physics obviously, some biology in how our eyes work and I intend to do a bit of chemistry in flame testing and colour change reactions.) Plus some psychology too in thinking about how colours affect our mood - that is going some!!!!
For anyone interested - have a look at our website

www.science2u.co.uk

A super bit of news - when I worked at  Catalyst science centre I had a great team - Carrie-Anne Parkes an amazing historian turned scientist whose real passion was Egyptology but turned her hand to so much more and was the creator of wonderful resources. She has taken a post at Quarry Bank Mill with the National Trust in their education team. She is back in her beloved history - and is doing well! Good luck CAP!

The other member of the team was Helen - my right hand and the one who always had my back. She as over 4 years of experience in science presenting and many more in museums and galleries.

Helen Ross

I am thrilled to announce to my readers that Helen has decided to join me in this venture as the other half of Science2U.
This is great news because it is always more fun on the road if you are not on your own but also she is Ms Organised which anyone who actually knows me will tell you I really need.
With Helen on board we may actually get out there on time, with resources and at the right school!!
So welcome Helen  - now Science2U is really on the road.

Sharing the good news with student teachers

Went out yesterday to Manchester Met Uni. delivering two sessions to third year student teachers at the Science learning centre in Didsbury.

The day was a special event about being creative in the primary science curriculum and I had been asked to talk about hands on lesson ideas particularly the sort of thing I have done on the RSC North West Trust Primary Science DVD.

Helen Ross came with me and so armed to the teeth with all sorts of household containers, jugs, saucers and kitchen ingredients we set off to enthuse about science.

It was a good opportunity to show how simple kitchen ingredients can be used to open a lesson or set an interesting homework or even start off a project.

We showed them a couple of clips from the DVD but then Helen WOWed them with her ping pong ball on a milk bottle - her volunteer really didn't know what would happen so her amazement was truly genuine!

I demonstrated making a lava lamp with water,oil and a fizzy tablet and then showed how you can set a great project by finding liquids with different densities and layering up a cocktail.

The freaky hand - inflating a rubber glove with carbon dioxide produced by vinegar and bicarbonate of soda - went down really well.

Then we all had a go at "art on plate" - drops of food colouring into a saucer of milk and then touching the milk with a cotton bud dipped in washing up liquid and seeing what happens.

The exit poll reviews the students were asked to do were extremely complimentary.
You can find clips of the DVD on You Tube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrqhVHanagU
this one is art on a plate and I think there are about 20 or so clips.

I was reminded of a tutor I had at training college - a wonderful lady called Freda Davenport. She was an older woman who felt like our grandma - she was so friendly and nothing was too much trouble - it was only after a couple of years I found out she had more degrees than you could shake a stick at.

She was a mine of amazing ideas for student teachers about to go out into school who had been given some grotty subject to try to teach ( with no resources of course!). She also taught the science specialists practical science and Design Technology. I still have her notes - they were so good - and I used her ideas all through my teaching career and on into being at Catalyst.

A friend has commented that I have turned into her - what a compliment - because she was wonderful and I only wish that all student teachers could have someone like Freda - not just for the ideas but for the way she instilled us with confidence in our own ability without being a soft touch.

 I wonder where she is now??

Off we go.......

So here we go.. Science2U is officially up and running with a web site - OK so most of it is a building site - but at least it is there.Plus after much messing about I finally managed to sort out decent e-mail with re-routing, multiple e-mail boxes and so on. Sue@science2U.co.uk is where you can get me
You just take all this for granted when you work for a company where someone else organises it all.
The business cards have arrived and I have my first proper booking next Wednesday!
I have already been out but really that was a bit of a fraud because I was talking about Catalyst!
Amazingly I have had someone contact me from that conference - he probably wants me to buy something but at least I feel I exist.
So now I am being very creative and putting together a few shows - something about being healthy - a popular primary topic; probably something about motion because that is the theme of this year's national science week; hopefully something about changing materials because that is a favourite of mine plus  a secondary flash bang type show because that is what they want!

All I need are catchy names and lots of contacts....hmmmmm...better get the brain going then and stop procrastinating by doing my blog!

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.

end of an era

So there it was... Dec 16th...my last day at Catalyst. Six years ago a perfect stranger bumped into my husband at his work place.
Being the gentleman that he is, he opened the door for this heavily laden lady and also being the polite guy he is, he spoke a few words....and that was it.
The woman was Sue Andrews, a teacher and a trustee at Catalyst and she contacted me to do some freelance work with her over the summer. Early September I got a phone call inviting me to meet the then Director of Catalyst, Julie Burgess Wilson and within days I was the education manager at Catalyst discovery centre in Widnes. I had never done anything like it before and really was not sure if it was something I could do so I offered to give it 6 months trial which became 6 years!

I discovered that I am a terrible show off and unrepentant player to the gallery but I have had the most amazing time both doing workshops and classes but most exciting of all shows.
I have taught over 60,000 children over the years and shared science with probably the same number of families. Now I am about to take all that experience and energy out on the road to schools.

One of the most annoying things for me has been the cost of transport for schools going on a trip. It didn't matter how we kept the cost down of our entry and activities - a limited budget meant that a school had to limit the number of children they brought. If our team went out to a school we could do the whole school for the same price as a class visit.
So I have decided to get out there and take the science to the schools. I have done quite a bit of this over the years and absolutely love the excitement as little children arrive in the hall to see the "scientists".  
"Are you going to blow us all up?"

I also love the expectation in a hall full of 350 teenage boys as we start to show demonstrations that fizz and bubble and change colour.

I even love making litres and litres of slime with families at college open days

So at the risk of jumping off yet another cliff ( I really should stop doing this!) I have left the safety of the science centre for the open road.
Over the next few weeks as the web site, bank account, transport issues not to mention insurance and everything else involved in setting up a small business is sorted, I will be creating a whole set of shows ready to take out and SCIENCE2U will be born.
Crazy? Probably! Exciting? Definitely!

Last night I was at a reunion of teachers I used to work with.  I wondered what their reaction would be...everyone of them got it! They so understood my motivation and caught the enthusiasm. Hopefully I will soon be able to offer some of them a show!

It was strange leaving Catalyst but I know I am doing the right thing.
So watch this space because this is where you will see me thrashing out my ideas, sharing the highs and hopefully not too many lows, leave some comments and let me know what you think!

Today is the start of the rest of my adventure.......

Strange day- possibly the last science club I will do at Catalyst.
Some of you know that I am leaving the science centre at Christmas to start up my own business.

When I  left teaching to come to Catalyst the one thing I thought I would really miss was that special relationship a teacher has with the class - whether it is a primary teacher who has 30 or so kids for a whole year or the secondary teacher who might teach 100s but also gets to see them every week for months on end. You build up a special bond - sometimes you are relieved to see them go...let's be honest but mostly you get a special joy watching them mature and grasp whatever you have been trying to pass on.

My Mike 

As education manager at Catalyst I teach about 11,000 kids every year and usually see them only once so no chance of getting to know them at all. 

Science club has given me the chance to really get to know a whole group of great kids - some I have known for 6 years! I have watched them grow up - written references for some, written college and university letters for some, chatted over the nerves about going to secondary school with the young ones, chatted over the nerves about going to uni with the older ones!
It has been a joy to watch as youngsters choose to study science, to help out with tricky homework and for just a few to watch as they succeed in science at A level and go to university.

When I arrived there were 6 in the club and it was a bit intense - which for those of you who know me just is not my style. We now have over 60 on the books who come pretty regularly - there were 35 there today either in SSC for the younger ones or in OATs the older group. New ones arrive almost every month.

Mike Pitts one of our helpers in a show

The idea is to make science exciting and accessible by doing so lots of hands on experiments. They love being lab rats for new shows the education team is developing and they certainly know how to give feedback!! We invite local scientists to come in a share their work or their favourite experiments - it is a great place for potential STEM ambassadors to cut their teeth.
And so to Scientific Santa - a tradition we stared 5 years ago where we make presents with a science feel. It actually gets quite hard to think up new ideas but as the members move on we can bring back old favourites.
Of course it wouldn't be us if we didn't make soap and this year we made bath bombs too.

soap fruits

thermoplastic keyrings and Christmas decorations

We made keyrings coloured with glitter from our fantastic thermoplastic and I managed to get hold of some candle kits that only need the heat of your hand to melt and mold the wax. But I think the runaway success this year was the BOING BOING balls - little crystals poured into moulds that are submerged in water for a minute and then set into amazing bouncy balls. Huge fun

So thanks to all the volunteers and helpers over the last 6 years that have made science club possible - special thanks to my husband Mike, who only came to carry the heavy stuff but ended up as one of the main leaders - you know I couldn't have done all this without you x

blowing up icing sugar testing it for the Big Bang show

testing candyfloss for the suagr and spice show

slime 

blowing up Charlie

sugar glass - science of the movies

Advent Calendars at the ready

The web is full of ideas for Christmas and I  love some of the scientific advent calendars around but thought I would just share some ideas for pressies. Sadly many are from the States - why do they always have the best gifts!!

for the girl who either needs to cheat in her exams or just loves her elements nearby 

a periodic table bangle!

clean up your chemistry with  a periodic table bar of soap

keep science close to your heart

or maybe create a lurve potion!!

I will share more if I come across them