sciZmic science club hints and tips No two science clubs are the same, mainly because they are run for different reasons, by different people, in different environments, for different children. The first thing you should do is run through this list of questions - it doesn't cover every eventuality, but it is a good start! Why are you setting up a club? To extend the curriculum, to support less able learners, for fun… Where will you run your club? School, community centre, library, visitor attraction... How often will you run your club? Once a week, once a month, just for a term, to lead up to a special event such as science week… What time of day will you run your club? Lunchtimes, after school, weekends… Who will staff your club? You, you + 1 in case you are ill or too busy, you + the members Will you focus on one topic (e.g. chemistry, astronomy, engineering, wildlife, computing ...) or be cross-curricular? Will you have a different activity each week, or will the members work on longer term projects? (you may want to start off with fun activities and graduate onto longer projects) Do you want the members to receive 'awards'? Do you want it to be a 'science without writing' club? Will you restrict the club to one year group? What will you call the club? 'Science club' might not send the right message. Consider getting the first members to choose the name! What age group is it for? Starting or re-starting a club Starting a science club can seem daunting. It is on many people's 'to do' or 'wouldn't it be nice if' lists. Why does it never move from there? Support from more senior staff? Time? Money? It is probably a combination of all these things. Firstly, I would strongly recommend that you get some help - it can be time consuming! Secondly, contact your local SetPoint - they may know of local people who can help - e.g. science and engineering ambassadors, Kit Loan Schemes, events to take your club to. Thirdly, start small. Consider holding an initial kick off event to get people interested in the idea - maybe invite a speaker, or have a carousel of activities for people to try. Recruiting members If you know which pupils you want to target, this will make things easier! Start small! A small group of dedicated members will help you get on your feet and build up ideas before working with a larger group. You could start by running a couple of events, and getting interest going that way. You could start with the Year 7s and expand from there, as in secondary schools, they are more likely to sign up for clubs. Posters around the school can attract interest. Advertising in assembly (why not do a science demo, or have a "ready steady science" assembly (get 4 people, in 2 teams to do a science demo and vote for the best one - with prizes of course!)? Keeping members Science clubs, like all clubs, can face a drop off in numbers. There are several ways to address this. Work towards an "event", either a science fair, something for science week, a trip out somewhere, a national competition (but be warned, some pupils may feel excluded from competitions, if they feel they won't be going along on the day). Keep it focussed, run the club for a term or even a week. Get the members to choose the next activity or project (it will save you work too!). Bribery and rewards work. The end of term party, merits or house points will work (for some people), small prizes for competitions. But what will we do? The question most people ask is 'what can I do'? sciZmic's answer to this is "something you wouldn't normally do in lessons". This could be because of time constraints, curriculum constraints or because the topic is not tradtional "science lesson" material (for example, robots might be thought of as ICT, and you sit in a biology department). Some people like to have the 'year's' activities planned in advance, at least the themes if not the exact content. Asking the pupils will help you with topics. Don't be afraid of asking other clubs - they will be happy to share ideas! Use resources such as the sciZmic pack, RSPB ideas, Salters' chemistry club book, the horrible science books. Have some quick filler activities for those who finish first: quizzes, word searches, quick problems all go down well. Places to go for ideas sciZmic publish a science clubs resources covering activities, projects and challenges on this website. The BA run various schemes, Young Investigators (you receive awards for investigative work - gold, silver and bronze), Science Communicators (more about science communication that science) and CREST awards (project based), again they charge, but the ideas packs are good. www.the-ba.net Salters' Chemistry Clubs publish an excellent book full of chemistry ideas - free. http://www.salters.co.uk/club/ Young Engineers - also free to join. They manage several project-based competitions. www.youngeng.org RSPB - they have a schools club membership which look at wildlife ideas. www.rspb.org.uk Watch clubs - similar to the RSBP If you have links with a primary school, they should have a copy of Planet Science's excellent Little Book of Experiments. These are also available on line at www.planet-science.com, as are their youth group science ideas. www.tryscience.org is another collection of ideas. But how will we pay for it? The most commonly asked question we receive is "do you know of any funding possibilities for science clubs?" The short answer is "no". Having said that, there are ways and means of getting help. Talk to your EBP, they may be able to link you up with local businesses. Talk to your SETpoint. They should know what resources are available in your local area, for example kit-boxes, available for hire to clubs and schools. Investigate out-of-hours learning funding your school may already receive. Try your PTA - they may be able to help you with start up costs. Try working with other clubs, you can cut costs! If you do get a budget - keep it separate from the Science Department Budget! Practical matters Choosing a name and a space A science club doesn't need a special name, but it can help recruitment. Consider asking the pupils to suggest a name and have a vote. If you can, always use one room. Keep a corner of it for the science club. You can keep records of their activities here and encourage them to provide materials for displays. If you want to use "sciZmic", you may. Ask us for the logo. Equipment If you can afford separate equipment - buy it! However, if you are not so lucky, make sure your technicians are involved. You may need to ask them for equipment. You may also find that there is a loan scheme for schools and clubs in your area. If you need equipment to start you off, consider asking a PTA or local EBP for assistance. Timing Will you run your club in a lunch hour or after school (and what other clubs will it clash with?!)?. This will affect what you can do in your club, for instance, will you need to clear up quickly to allow another lesson to take place after the club? Extra help Science clubs can be easy to run, but an extra pair of hands is always useful! Science Engineering Ambassadors may be able to help out, or what about someone from the Pupil Research Initiative. Some schools pay external staff to run the club. Be prepared Know exactly what you are going to do at each session. You can find ideas on the sciZmic website (www.scizmic.net) and in handbooks such as the Salters' Chemistry Book, or in the BA's BAYS materials. Models for clubs What type of club? Will it be a "science club" or more specialised, for example, nature club, rocket club, astronomy club or chemistry club? An older year can help run a club for a younger year For example for a yr 7 club, ask the yr 8s to help out. Then, the following year, your old club members can help out. Or, try getting yr 10-11s to run the club. Not only helping them develop their interpersonal skills, but consolidating some of their science at the same time. Or, if you have close links with a feeder school, try running a club with yr 6 and 7. A club for a term Some clubs run during the spring term, leading up to and following national science week. Or, you could run a club for year 9s after the national tests. Clubbing together One very successful model is to work with other clubs in your area. You can share ideas, resources and hold joint events. If you can get your LEA to support you, you may even get access to funding. Spending together saves money! Projects or activities? Some clubs work towards specific goals, for example BA Bronze, Silver and Gold awards, Young Engineer's competitions or Salters' Chemistry Festivals. Other clubs choose an activity to run during 1 - 2 club sessions. The kind of club you run, will depend on the pupils, the time you have and the resources available. To write and record or not? This will depend on the type of club and pupils you want to attract. Some science clubs run very successfully without encouraging record keeping. However, if you want to remind the club members that scientists do need to keep notes, then why not appoint a record keeper each week, and keep a group log book? Involve the club members We can't repeat this enough. The more the members feel it is their club, the more dedicated they will be (and the less work you will have to do). Some things they could do include: Think up activities Set up activities Tidy up afterwards Prepare displays (for the classroom, school library, local library) Keep the log book Take a register! Above all, enjoy it. If you don't, they won't!