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In the weeks leading up to Bath Taps into Science, we made sure we had all the necessary materials. This involved a big trip to Hobbycraft and making all of the necessary props (guessing game board, sign etc.). We also had to print off the scorecards and the interactive poster. This was all completed on time, and all that was left to do was actually host the stall.
Hobbycraft trip with the team
Putting everything together
The Interactive poster
The noticeboards at our stall
We all arrived early (8:00), and set up the stall. We arranged the tables so they were either side of the poster board, which made the stall look more impressive. We also decided to place Space-Station 1 on a table rather than on the floor as this removed any potential tripping hazards.
At around 9:00 the first waves of children started diffusing into the hall, and within half an hour the sheer number of school children meant that we had no difficulty encouraging them over. We tried to guide the children from Space-Station 1 (managed by George), to Space-Station 2 (managed by Leigh) , to the poster (managed by me) and finally to the evaluation flipchart (also George). There appeared to be equal interest in our stall from both boys and girls. Interestingly, girls appeared to be more interested in Space-Station 2, whereas boys were more interested in the more 'hands-on' Space-Station 1. This reflects some studies, which suggest females prefer observational and reflective learning, whereas males prefer hands-on, experimental learning [13]. Some of the questions we were being asked throughout the day were very impressive, for example: “How can you tell the difference between a star and a far-away galaxy?” (Using spectra).
Leigh going through the quiz, towards the end of the day
Me, explaining the distance to the Sun
Most of the students were taking part in both activities, and more than expected stayed to look at the interactive poster. By around 13:30 we were rapidly running out of stars for Space-Station 1; to solve this we would occasionally remove some from the board, and put them back on the design table. By about 14:30 the hall started to become progressively less busy, and we found that fewer students were coming to our stall. The decrease in numbers gave us the opportunity to talk to many of the students about Space and Cepheids one-to-one, and for longer than earlier.
As the day drew to an end, we packed up the stall and went to a café to go through the pictures and evaluate the day. We were surprised by how exhausted we were, but extremely pleased with the outcome of the day.
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