Planning Activity 3

Activity 3 was different to Activity 2, for this we had complete creative freedom: we could choose our audience, location and the type of activity- the only constraint was that it had communicate Vicky’s research. We decided that we should first consider our aims, and only once they had been decided should we then go on to select our audience and plan our activity. We did this in accordance to advice in the IOP’s guide to public engagement [7]: “Everything follows from this aim, including the audience, the nature of the activity and how you will evaluate it”. After some discussion we decided on four main aims for our activity

Vicky’s research area is a branch of Physics first discovered by Henrietta Leavitt, who unfortunately did not receive full credit for her work due to the sexism that was common in early 20^th century Science. Considering this, we decided on Aim 1, whilst Aims 2 & 3 were chosen because we wanted the opportunity to communicate in more depth about the research area- as this was limited during Activity 2.

With these aims in mind we considered possible audiences. We were inclined towards a mostly female audience, as this would resonate best with Aim 1. We also wanted to try an adult audience, to be different from Activity 2. Considering this- a group that seemed ideal was the Women’s Institute in Bath[8]. We considered many possible activities, including a stargazing trip, but eventually we then decided that a 15-20 minute talk, potentially with some presentation software, as this would be the best means to achieve our aims. Whilst this was potentially not the most creative idea, it would be up to us to make the talk exciting and engaging. We decided to include two moments of audience participation, which has been shown to improve information retention[9], and would also make the talk more engaging. The first audience participation would be right at the start, with a “Draw a Physicist” activity- where the audience members would have to draw what they think a physicist looks like, loosely based on a similar test done by David W. Chambers[10].This would allow us to measure any preconceptions the audience may have had about the gender of Physicists. The second interaction would be a pub style quiz at the end, which would be fun and also possibly provide a way to collect feedback. With our plan complete, we decided upon four SMART objectives, and Leigh contacted Bath WI- they said they had speakers on a monthly basis, and they would check for vacancies.