News

… But you can download copies from here. Sorry for the terrible pun. Again we’ve been amazed by the response. We had so many orders within the first week that since then we’ve restricted it to one copy per teacher. But really, you only need one copy to run the activity with a class, so no-one should be too inconvenienced. You may want to laminate the cards for durability in teenage hands. Thanks to everyone who’s ordered one. And all who’ve given us fantastic feedback on them. It does give me a warm glow to know that so many teachers and colleagues in the field see what we are trying to do with them, and think they really work! A quick note on how this kit differs from the last one Teachers gave us some great feedback on the first kit (thanks everyone!), but when we asked if there was … Continue reading →

You all gave us lots of great suggestions of topics for the next kit. Thanks! Here’s the list of topics – I think nearly all of them would make fascinating debates and raise lots of interesting issues. Now YOU decide which one we use for the next kit. Please vote in our poll below. [poll closed] I’ve put the topics in alphabetical order, rather than popularity of the suggestion, so it’s a bit fairer. There were several more great topics suggested but the list was just too unwieldy with all of them.

It’s gone to the printers. It’s on it’s way. The second, ever, I’m a Scientist Debate Kit is GO! The topic is ‘Are we too clean?’ which was suggested by a teacher called Laura, on this blog, on September 9th. You then voted and picked ‘Are we too clean?’ as the most wanted topic. Your wish is our command, so now we’ve developed the kit for you and sent it to the printers. The first batch will be ready to ship on 19th October. You can pre-order a kit here, but don’t do that if you are already on our list! We’ve sent you an email and you can confirm or change your order with a click. Now we’ve made the kit I want to find out who Laura is, and send her the first ceremonial copy. If you are Laura, or know who she is, then please get in … Continue reading →

1,500 of you have had the first, IVF, debate kit and you’ve been giving us great feedback on them. We are now gearing up to produce the second kit and we’d like your help choosing the topic, because who better than teachers to tell us what teachers want? The suggested topics so far are:- Stem cells Creationism Homeopathy MMR Cannabis (legalisation and/or medical use) Have you got any other bright ideas? Topics must be biomedical as we are being funded by the lovely Wellcome Trust. Are there topics you’d really like debating resources on but can’t find anything suitable? Then let us know in the comments section! We’ll collect suggestions over the next week or so, and then let everybody vote on the shortlist. Timetable:- 3rd – 11th Sept Gathering suggestions 14th Sept Put up topic shortlist for voting 21st Sept Topic chosen 21st Sept-19th Oct Researching, developing, testing and … Continue reading →

I’m surprised, as so many teachers have suggested stem cells to me over the last few months, whenever I’ve talked to them about the debate kits. I was sure that was going to come out top. But ‘Are we too clean?’ snuck in at the last minute, and wiped the floor with all comers, if you’ll pardon a very weak pun. I was once at a gig where a member of the audience shouted out the name of an obscure, early hit, as a request. The singer laughed into his microphone and said, ‘It’s all very well for you, you’ve only got to remember the title, I’ve got to remember the chords and all the words to the ******* thing!’ I feel a bit like that – it’s all very well for you lot, you just have to vote, now I have to research and write the damn thing! The … Continue reading →

We launched our I’m a Scientist debate kits on 18th June and have now distributed all 1,500 we printed. We’ve been really pleased by the response from teachers. The next kit will be coming out in the Autumn. We’ve written a report on this first phase of the project and we thought a summary of that may of interest to others, so here you go:- Project: I’m a Scientist Debate Kits A Wellcome Trust funded project to distribute structured debate kits to science teachers Key milestones 18/06/09    Promoted kit by email to our contacts and on twitter 22/06/09    Mailers arrived in 5,000 UK secondary schools 23/06/09    Posted on psci-comm 26/06/09    Featured in Planet Science 01/07/09    1st kits arrived in schools 06/07/09    Posted on TES messageboards 27/08/09    Final kits posted out Other marketing Complimentary kits sent to the 323 specialist science colleges and 177 largest secondary schools plus various IAS contacts … Continue reading →