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'I'm a Scientist , Get Me Out of Here!' is back for another season, and is now looking for more scientists to take part. 'I'm a Scientist' is a wonderfully innovative outreach project, where school students get to meet online and interact with real scientists. It’s an X Factor-style competition between the scientists, with the students as the judges. Students submit questions which the scientists try to answer, as well as live online Facebook-style chats where they ask questions, learn more about the scientists, and let scientists know their opinions. The scientists are split into different zones, depending on their field, and the winner from each zone is awarded a generous fund to put towards an outreach project of their own.
Applications are now open here: http://imascientist.org.uk/scientist-apply
 Adam Stevens, an astrobiologist at Open University, won the 'Space Race' zone in the last competition. He describes the experience:I'm A Scientist, get me out of here, is a real chance to get your knowledge on. Being bombarded by questions for two weeks might not sound like much fun, but here's a secret - it is. The format of the event involves schoolchildren submitting questions for you to answer and chatting with classes that book a live chat with your zone. The zones are themed, but a lot of questions and chats don't necessarily revolve around that theme. Some of them can be pretty random! I certainly found out I knew a lot of fairly inane trivia.
The element of competition (you compete for votes against the four other scientists in your zone) certainly adds and edge to things and my zone got pretty heated near the end. However, the satisfaction of interacting with such a wide group of kids is reward in itself. The prize money doesn't hurt either, and with an broad astrobiology background, you'll have a head start on the competition!
'I'm A Scientist, get me out of here', is a real chance to get your knowledge on. Being bombarded by questions for two weeks might not sound like much fun, but here's a secret - it is. The format of the event involves schoolchildren submitting questions for you to answer and chatting with classes that book a live chat with your zone. The zones are themed, but a lot of questions and chats don't necessarily revolve around that theme. Some of them can be pretty random! I certainly found out I knew a lot of fairly inane trivia.
The element of competition (you compete for votes against the four other scientists in your zone) certainly adds and edge to things and my zone got pretty heated near the end. However, the satisfaction of interacting with such a wide group of kids is reward in itself. The prize money doesn't hurt either, and with an broad astrobiology background, you'll have a head start on the competition!
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| Last Updated on Friday, 11 May 2012 11:00 |
