I'm a Scientist Debate Kits – Page 6 – Kits to debate the ethical issues within science

Food Security Debate Kit

Our latest free debate kit is ready. It’s on Food Security, asking: Should our school only buy food produced in the UK?” What’s it all about? Global food security is a huge issue. An increasing population, decreasing land area, and the effects of climate change mean improving food security sustainably is a real challenge. And it’s not just about providing everyone in the world with enough calories, but making sure that people are receiving the correct nutrients for a healthy and balanced diet. The aim of this debate kit is to show students just how complex the issue of global food security is, and to encourage them to begin to consider and investigate some of the main issues surrounding the ethics of food production. What’s in the kit? Our kits follow a tried and tested format, based on character cards and lesson notes. Included in the kit are 8 debate … Continue reading →

Posted on May 1, 2013 by admin in News | Leave a comment

Using I’m a Scientist to enrich our curriculum – A teacher’s view

After taking part in I’m a Scientist in June 2012, Ellie Russell, a science teacher from Trinity CE High School in Hulme, told us about other ways she uses I’m a Scientist resources. Here’s what she said… I can’t remember who first told me about I’m a Scientist last year, but straight away I knew it was a concept that would appeal to our students. Since then we have signed up for several zones with different classes and the students have truly enjoyed engaging with real scientists and finding out a bit more about what they do. To be honest, even though I’ve been really keen, it’s taken me a few more months to realise just how useful some of the other resources are for us too. We teachers are never very keen to read through all that useful support information! The Debate Kits for Drugs in Sport and IVF … Continue reading →

Posted on November 29, 2012 by in News | Leave a comment

Drugs in Sport debate kit evaluation

Back in 2008, as part of the I’m a Scientist pilot, we developed our first ever debate kit and sent it out to all teachers taking part. By 2010 we’d produced 3 more kits but then had a bit of a lull, and teachers started asking for new topics to debate in their classroom. So, what better topic for a new kit than Drugs in Sport, in the year of the London 2012 Olympics. Well that’s what we thought, as did The Physiological Society who funded it. When it came time to evaluate the debate kit this was therefore one of the main questions to answer. Was Drugs in Sport a good topic for a debate kit? Another key question was How many of the Drugs in Sport debate kits sent out were used? We’ve emailed teachers we sent kits to, and sent letters asking for their feedback. From their responses … Continue reading →

Posted on September 28, 2012 by in Evaluation | Leave a comment

That’s all folks

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.

Posted on April 23, 2012 by ModShane in News | Leave a comment

Should ALL drugs be banned in sport?

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 … Continue reading →

Posted on March 1, 2012 by ModShane in News | 5s Comments

Strong demand for Drugs in Sport kit

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 … Continue reading →

Posted on March 1, 2012 by ModShane in Evaluation | Leave a comment