Resources

Here are some resources that you might find helpful or useful, especially if you’re a science teacher or informal science communicator! 

BIG STEM Communicators Network 

I’m a member of this wonderful skill sharing network, and if you are involved in science communication and informal science and maths education, you might like to be too. 

Find out more about BIG from their website (opens in a new tab) 

Making your science outreach more engaging and interactive for children and families 

Have you come here straight from my session at Interact 2024? Then these are the slides you were looking for. 

Interact 2024 Slides download 

Play, Observe, Ask 

This is a guide for Early Years teachers and practitioners from the Primary Science Teaching Trust. It shares some ideas and strategies you could use to encourage exploration and develop scientific skills in children age 3-5. 

I’d like to highlight this resource for science communicators too. Especially if you’d like to develop an outreach activity that stimulates curiosity and investigation. Play, Observe, Ask might be a helpful thing to keep in mind, and this resource contains some really helpful and curious “Effective Question Prompts” too. 

Find the Play, Observe, Ask guide on Primary Science Teaching Trust’s website (opens in a new tab) 

Science Capital 

The science capital teaching approach encourages educators to personalise and localise learning activities and discussions. If you’ve not come across it before, it is definitely worth investigating!  

There are some useful videos that explain the approach, as well as a PDF teacher guide, on University College London’s website (opens in a new tab)  

For science communicators, you might want to take a look at this guide to Science Capital in Practice, which was developed in collaboration with many science centres (opens in a new tab)