Delivering workshops in schools
Delivering on our social impact pledge to support vulnerable groups and areas of multiple deprivation, whilst facilitating knowledge exchange through STEM engagement.
Throughout the 2020/21 academic year, STEM professionals from The King’s Buildings campus and Edinburgh BioQuarter delivered hands-on science activities to local primary school children through online STEM Clubs.
The STEM Clubs were designed to support children and teaching staff in areas of multiple deprivation on their return to school, following the difficult months of Covid-19 lockdown.
They were run in partnership with seven primary schools in the neighbouring communities of Gilmerton, Moredun, Craigmillar and Prestonfield.
The clubs were delivered through weekly hour-long virtual sessions, with children joining either from home or from the classroom.
Activity boxes were delivered in advance of each session, containing all the resources required to take part. Three series took place between October 2020 and June 2021, reaching 250 children in total.
Each session comprised of a fun ice-breaker activity, followed by a hand-on science experiment. These were delivered by the STEM professionals, providing the children with a unique opportunity to engage with real scientists. Activities included, building paper rockets, making toothpaste, growing cress and chromatography.
Last session, my class took part in the STEM lessons run by the University of Edinburgh. Initially this was an after-school club for a small group of 8 children, becoming weekly science lessons for all 30 children in the class, delivered online through Microsoft Teams.
When whole class lessons were suggested, I jumped at the chance to be involved. One reason was the success of the after-school club, but it also offered an opportunity to enhance my science knowledge and see different ways to approach the teaching of science. The children really enjoyed the lessons and were fully engaged every week. In fact, it was the first thing they asked about on a Thursday morning.
The class found all the activities interesting, but the one about looking for gold in river sediment was particularly popular!
The expertise of the presenters, and the fact that each box contained all the equipment, made a huge difference to the children and teaching staff. One of the reasons I often avoid doing much science is the resourcing of it.
The positivity of the presenters also made a big difference to the children’s engagement, they responded enthusiastically to the University students and enjoyed asking them questions at the end of each lesson. Something I could not have been able to do!”
The STEM professionals taking part included PhD students, researchers and professional services staff from across the College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, School of Biological Sciences and School of Physics and Astronomy.
I really enjoyed running the science clubs and it was particularly fun to film the videos for our physics activities. The best thing about the science clubs was seeing how excited and engaged the children were each week. They were always asking questions and participating in class discussions. We also had a section at the end of the session where the children could ask us any question about science and we would try and answer it – it was entertaining to say the least.
How this project contributes to our Community Plan
Commitment 1: Sustain and grow activities related to our social impact pledges including: tackling homelessness and rough sleeping; promoting digital inclusion; supporting vulnerable groups and areas of multiple deprivation.
Commitment 13: Facilitate knowledge exchange between the University and local communities, including community groups.
The project also complements other engagement activity between the University and schools in the local area:
Commitment 6: Work with local partners, IntoUniversity and the University of Glasgow to establish a new learning centre in Craigmillar in 2021. The centre will respond to educational disadvantage and poverty, and will foster aspiration and improve access to higher education and training.