So far we have despatched 1,820 Drugs in Sport Debate Kits. We’ve got requests for another 254. And we only printed 2,000.
We’re going to search around and find enough kits for those who have already requested a kit, but from now one we can’t take anymore orders.
If you would like a Drugs in Sport Debate Kit you can download one from here.
Doping in sport usually means the use of performance-enhancing drugs, but is can also mean techniques like ‘blood-doping’.
“Drugs in Sport” the fifth in the series of free I’m a Scientist Debate Kits explores the ethical issues around the use of drugs in sport such as possible harm to the athlete and unfairness.
This set of 8 characters will get students exploring the differences between different types of drugs and discussing their effect compared with non-drug techniques of improving performance.
To get your free copy of Drugs in Sport fill in the form and we’ll send you one in the post (UK and Republic of Ireland only).
What is a Debate Kit?
The thinking behind the kits is that, for very sound reasons, the post-2006 GCSE curriculum calls for far more debate and discussion in science. However, simple-to-use and effective resources to support this are lacking. As it’s a relatively new requirement, many teachers feel unequipped to facilitate discussions and told us that students often lack the skills they need.
These kits are designed to plug that gap. They give a teacher everything they need to run a debate on a set topic and help their students develop their discussion skills. The activity provides a structured way to start discussions and gets the students engaged in thinking about contentious science issues. Using eight characters, with different points of view, allows us to introduce issues from many different angles – ethical, social, economic, political. Young people consider and weigh up these questions in an integrated way.
Do they work?
We think so. The School Science Review seems to think so. 98% of teachers who responded said they would recommend the kits to a colleague.
The kits are simple to use. We have produced a clear 50 minute lesson plan to be used with secondary school students of any age. The character cards are structured to help students develop on position on the question posed over time without leaping to an immediate conclusion.
Sign up to receive your free copy and find out for yourself.
How can you send these out for free?
Drugs in Sport is sponsored by The Physiological Society. Through its educational website, www.understanding-life.org. The Society provides interactive resources and competitions to enhance physiology teaching at ages 11-19 as well as information on physiology-related careers. Bringing together over 3,000 scientists from more than 60 countries, The Society also offers schools the opportunity to engage with scientists online, in the classroom or at universities. For further information, please email education@physoc.org.
We are also very grateful for the knowledge and advice given generously by Dr Charlotte Haigh and Dr Dave Lewis of the Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds.
Reading through the draft copy for this latest debate kit made me smile. It was very good. Sure, I’m a bit of an Olympics geek and general armchair sportsman, but I felt it provided great angles to debate a very contentious, yet easy to grasp, scientific issue – Drugs in Sport. It seems as though I’m not the only one who likes the sound of it.
This is a quick update on how we are distributing the 2,000 kits that we have printed.
Previous recipients of debate kits
The first 4 debate kits enabled us to build a decent list of teachers who wanted them. Our evaluation showed that the kits were well used, but the last one to get posted out was in June 2010 so we thought it appropriate to ask those teachers to opt in to get the next one.
We emailed the 1,543 people on that list on 10th February 2012 giving them the option of clicking YES or NO in order to receive the next kit. It was just before half term, but we still had a decent response. 29.6% of recipients clicked on the email and 98.6% of the clicks were YES. The first 430 of our list had opted in.
We then emailed the remaining 1,105 members of the list who didn’t respond on 23rd February 2012 giving a little more detail, but maintaining the simple YES / NO response mechanism. So far 19.8% have clicked. Satisfingly 99% of those click were YES. Another 210 opt ins. On top of this a fair few teachers emailed their response in.
We plan a third final chance to opt-in. What makes that interesting is that we won’t have enough to send out to everyone. It will be first come, first served.
New sign ups
We’ve let the usual places know about the new kits. Planet Science featured them at the top of their weekly email, TES Forums and Science in School have all featured them. We emailed our usual lists of teachers and information sharers ask them to pass on the details to any teachers. We’ve had just short of 300 teachers sign up since the first emails went out. In fact another 8 signed up whilst I’ve been writing this post.
Republic of Ireland
This kit has been funded by The Physiological Society and their remit includes Ireland. We’ve sent 250 kits to the Heads of Science at the largest schools in Ireland.
Physical Education
The subject matter was designed to appeal to PE teachers. We’ve identified 250 specialist PE schools and colleges and sent kits to the Head of PE at those schools.
So how many do we have left?
2,000 less
leaving 380.
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