The Story Behind STEM Scotland

Unlocking Home Science Fun: 6 SMALL Steps for Busy Parents

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 17:30:10 GMT

Get started the EASY way with my FREE Guide!

Science matters; YOU matter.

As a parent, you're constantly juggling a million tasks. Finding time to engage in fun and educational activities with your kids might seem like an elusive dream. But what if I told you you CAN embark on a thrilling adventure of home science experiments with your little ones, and it only takes S ix SMALL Steps ? It's true! In this blog post I've created a straightforward roadmap for you (no "giant leaps"), just take it step by step. Curious about this journey of discovery, learning and quality family time? Let's dive into the 6 SMALL Steps together!

STEP 1: Give Yourself Permission

The first and most important step is to give yourself permission to embrace this adventure. In the whirlwind of daily life, it's easy to doubt our abilities, worry about making a mess, or leave out time for fun. But remember, you DESERVE to have fun and explore the world of science with your children. It doesn't matter if you're not a scientist - curiosity is all you need!

STEP 2: Choose the Experiment

Don't overthink this step! Browse through some simple science experiment ideas online; or why not check out my YouTube channel ? Pick the first one that catches your eye or seems quick and easy. The goal is to spark curiosity, so trust your instincts and choose an experiment that excites you and your mini-scientists.

STEP 3: Collect the Materials

Make it a family affair! Get your kids involved in finding the items you need for your chosen experiment. It's not only a great bonding experience but also an opportunity to teach them about organisation and preparation. You don't need to do it all yourself!

STEP 4: Try it Yourself First

Before involving your kids, take a few moments to try the experiment on your own. There's no pressure (no beady eyes watching!), and it's a huge confidence booster once you actually start. You know your kids best, so you'll also get ideas on how to make it more fun for them, or what questions they might have. AND did I mention it's fun - seriously, if you're not convinced by now, try it and see...!

STEP 5: Get it in the Calendar!

Don't let your busy schedule deter you from home science fun. And remember; you've come this far - 4 steps completed - it would be a shame not to keep going! So block out a specific date and time in your calendar for the experiment. And make sure everybody knows (this makes it easier to stick to)! Treat it like any other appointment, and you're more likely to follow through.

STEP 6: Enjoy Home Science Fun!

And now, the moment you have been waiting for - it's time to dive into the experiment! Round up your mini-scientists, follow the experiment instructions, and relish this time together as you discover the wonders of science. Observe, ask questions, and encourage your children to do the same. Celebrate the process, not just the results, and let curiosity be your guide.

But Wait, There's More...!

While these Six SMALL Steps are a fantastic starting point, there's a whole world of Home Science Fun waiting for you and your family. Ready to take your science adventures to the next level? Create memorable moments with your children AND foster their love for exploration and learning?

Grab my FREE Guide: "6 SMALL Steps to Home Science Fun"

Download your Guide today and keep it handy! You'll receive even more tips and experiment ideas, opening the door to engaging family activities and nurturing your child's natural curiosity and love of learning.

Plus, you will be one of the first to gain access to my upcoming Webinar where I'll dive deeper into each step and provide hands-on guidance. SAVE THE DATE! It's on Wednesday 11th October - look out for details! And if you're looking for even more support to make Home Science Fun a regular part of your family's routine, I am creating a mini-course to help you do just that! Follow my blog for updates and I shall keep you posted on its progress. I'm really keen to make something that will be truly helpful for you, so I will also be looking for course testers - if that is something you might be interested in, just let me know in the Comments below.

Conclusion

Blending science fun into your family life is not only achievable but also incredibly rewarding. With the 6 SMALL Steps outlined here, you're well on your way. So what are you waiting for? You CAN do this! Give yourself permission to start your Home Science Fun journey today. Download my FREE Guide , and let's explore the wonders of science together. Your path to family-friendly science fun starts here!

3 Tips To Get More Confident With Science and STEM

Wed, 10 Aug 2022 16:30:51 GMT

Discover your Science Comfort Zone

Hands up if you love science and can't get enough of it? And hands up if "science" and "STEM" (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths) are terms that can induce feelings of anxiety or even panic in you? I hear you! But the weird thing is; some people who find science fascinating can often feel anxious about "not knowing enough" or that they will be "found out" one day ( hello Impostor Syndrome ). And you probably know more than you think you do - even if the word "science" makes you nervous. Here's what you can do.

My 3 Top Tips for finding your own Science Comfort Zone; wherever you happen to be!

Tip 1: You don't need to know "everything" in science

It is literally impossible to know everything in science. Science is constantly moving, evolving, updating. When I was at University the "internet" as we know it now hadn't even been invented and the amount of information in a lecture was limited to how much someone could write on a board in 50 minutes. Now thanks to the Internet we are all drowning in information (at least it often feels that way) so if you have those feelings of anxiety it could be just because there literally is "too much stuff" and we need to refocus, instead of knowing , on what we do with all this information.

So just breathe .

You don't need to know all of it. Nobody does. Nobody expects you to (and if they do; you don't need to listen as they are asking the impossible)!

Once you realise this it all seems a bit less "scary" and a lot more do-able.

And sometimes just having a place to find out a bit more and ask questions without pressure or expectation can be just the thing you need. That's what I am trying to build with Dr Dot's Science Community , and you can join it here:

I NEED Dr Dot's Science Community!

Tip 2: Science Is All Around Us

Science is part of our everyday lives. How often do we hear that? And it's true! It's not just "in a lab". And you DEFINITELY know more than you think (even if you've forgotten most of it...).

Not convinced? OK; picture this...

What can you see out your window?

Tip 3: We All Have Science Skills

Instead of focusing on what you don't know, or get "stuck" at, why not draw up a list of things you are good at or enjoy? Then imagine where this talent could come in useful for science . Do you do any of these? What else could you add?

Play a musical instrument? Then you most likely have good manual dexterity, which comes in very handy when pipetting, or experimenting in general. And you're experiencing some physics concepts of music - frequency (pitch of the note) and amplitude (loudness).
Write reports for work? If so, do you think clearly and logically about each stage, identify the main points, and condense large amounts of detailed information into a format that others can understand? Where could these skills be of benefit in science?
Enjoy detective novels? (or maybe you write them)? Science is all about solving puzzles, investigating mysteries, and being creative.

Now go on and make that list !

BONUS Tip 4: Join Dr Dot's Science Community!

It's not about what job you have, what age you are or where you are (in the world or in life). Science is for everyone, and connects people and communities around the globe.

As a way of helping people get more confident with science and STEM, I have started my new, free Community to build a safe place where you can grow your own knowledge, find your "Science Comfort Zone" and connect - and of course have fun . There's no pressure, and no question or topic is too small (or too big)! Whether you are working in or studying science; feel you missed out or just wish you "knew" a bit more; or are trying to support someone else with their science but don't feel equipped - Dr Dot's Science Community is definitely for you.

Thanks for taking the time to check out these tips to increase your science confidence. I really hope they help; which ones do you resonate most with? Sometimes we just need to re-think how we see something and it can make all the difference! And Dr Dot's Science Community can give you the time and space to do just that. Just click the link or logo to find out more and sign up (it's totally free!) or pop a question in the Comments. Dr Dot is On The Spot!

COVID-19: Reflections

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 16:31:06 GMT

"This is a subtitle for your new post" (and don't we know it...)

Introduction

It has been a strange few weeks, to say the least. We are all adjusting to our new “normal”. I had intended writing something before now, but distilling the mountains of information (and misinformation) whirling around into something readable and coherent has seemed at times a task difficult to pin down. A good metaphor for this might be something like “trying to pin fog to a wall”.

So I am slowly emerging from the fog, and slowly adjusting to the “new normal”. Whatever that is…

Paid work for STEM Scotland has come to a temporary halt, understandably so, and I have been thinking how best to contribute to the effort of fighting COVID-19, both socially and scientifically. This is slowly crystallising, so keep watching…the fog is clearing and I will emerge with an update in the coming week or so (this timescale may be elastic...).

For now, here is a short piece on some of my thoughts while we are all processing living in the midst of this pandemic.

Rethinking “Productivity”

Much has been written about things we can do to “use” the time many of us now unexpectedly find ourselves with. Learn a new skill; perfect an old one; finally tackle those long-put-off tasks; the list is endless (and I have attempted a few of these…see below!!). Conversely; we may be so busy with the new situation, working from home while looking after those in our care in a less-than-ideal “office”, or facing hugely stressful situations with no let-up as part of the workforce providing essential services. So how do we find a way through; especially when no end is in sight?

Like a lot of people, I am experiencing good days and bad days. Days when I rapidly fly through things, and days when my brain is just “stuck”. Luckily I have learned that this is entirely normal, and in fact is a recognised response in situations of trauma. Dr Suzanne Zeedyck, a research scientist renowned in the field of attachment and brain development, has written extensively on what she has termed “Sabre Tooth Tigers and Teddy Bears” ( http://www.suzannezeedyk.com/sabre-tooth-tigers-teddy-bears-suzanne-zeedyk/ ). This conceptualises, using everyday language, the science of attachment theory, and parallels roles played by the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. The sympathetic system is designed to enable the body to deal with danger (increased heart rate, blood flow to skeletal muscles, breakdown of glycogen to glucose to fuel the muscles); this is Dr Zeedyck’s “sabre-tooth tiger”, or to put it another way, “fight or flight”. Often the term “freeze” is included. which using Dr Zeedyck’s analogy is to “play dead” until the “sabre-tooth tiger” (danger) is gone. In contrast, parasympathetic nerves by and large oppose these actions, instead for example increasing digestion and promoting relaxation (“rest and digest”). Often these systems are in opposition; which helps to explain why often we just can’t eat when feeling stressed or anxious.

Dr Zeedyck refers to “finding our inner teddy bear”… ie training ourselves to find ways to reduce heart rate, slow down breathing, and thereby induce feelings of comfort. Physiologically, the result is to “trick” the body into believing the “danger” has passed. Therefore, even if the worries (such as COVID-19) remain, we can train ourselves to induce physiological responses interpreted by the brain as those produced when danger has passed. Thus a positive (rather than “vicious”) cycle is set up.

So….breathe…..be kind to yourself. Slow down, re-think priorities, do not be too hard on yourself. Set different expectations for these very different times. Learn to relax; this may be one of the most useful and genuinely productive skills we can (re)learn just now.

Being constructive

Reflection we are told has both a cognitive (“thinking”, “logical”) component and an affective (“mood”) component, and both of these interact to influence how we deal with situations. Anxiety is a very common reaction to this pandemic, as discussed above, but luckily can be tackled with some good solid action, logic, and science (of course). So, with the caveat that the science includes taking time out to breathe; here are my action points:

· I am taking an online course on the FutureLearn platform, delivered by staff from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, on COVID-19. This is a fantastic course; I am currently in Week 2 of 3, and have a blog under construction…

· I am also taking a course, again via FutureLearn, on Cybersecurity.

· I recently started learning Scots Gaelic via the Duolingo app, and am now stepping this up with a view to being at least conversant by the time we emerge on the other side of SARS-CoV2. So although tha i garbh a-muigh a-nis, agus cha toil leum sin (it is rough outside now, and I don’t like that), there is much we can do.

· Background organisation for the office, the lab, and the business.

· Take time. Time to think, to reflect, to let creativity grow; to just be. We forget this and take it for granted. Now we see its importance. So, let’s all take time out. We owe it to ourselves. And if this is difficult then think of it as doing. Doing nothing :-). Now go look for that “inner teddy bear”!

The importance of science

STEM Scotland Ltd has had an amazing first two years and I never for a minute thought a pandemic would emerge just after starting the Company. But we are all living through a case study on how the world reacts to a global health crisis, and there is a need to be scientifically literate, individually and collectively. Taking the risk to start my Company is validated again; but in the most unexpected of circumstances. Now more than ever, it is an honour and a responsibility to play a part in upskilling the nation in STEM.

My STEM Journey

Sun, 08 Mar 2020 20:22:45 GMT

Guest Post specially for International Women's Day 2020; by Dr Janet Colston, Co-Founder, The Functional Plant Company

The love for STEM can start at any age

I grew up in the age before the internet, in a rural community on the Isle of Skye. So where did my love for science and my determination to be a scientist come from? The event that may have sparked that interest was a chemistry set that my sister received for Christmas in the late 70s. I was in awe of the fact that you could create your own experiments, with a little methanol burner and goggles, it really was the stuff of science fiction. I also had the good fortune to have inspirational science teachers with enthusiasm for their subject.

Studying opens up the possibilities

I left Skye in 1984 to study industrial chemistry in Glasgow, beginning my journey in STEM. My favourite subject was organic chemistry and I can still remember the smell of creating pear drop esters in the organic lab, similar to that of ketones, an indicator of diabetes. I switched courses after a year to study chemistry, biochemistry, molecular genetics, plant physiology and ecology, developing a broader scientific background.

My first post after my degree was in Biochemistry at Glasgow Royal Infirmary. It was a large service laboratory covering the West of Scotland. I particularly enjoyed working with established researchers on projects creating novel monoclonal antibodies for clinical use in endocrinology. This post led to a PhD studentship under the guidance of Professor Kenneth McColl in his gastroenterology team. Funded by the James Black Foundation, it was the start of my academic career working collaboratively with institutions across Scotland looking at the effects of gastrin receptor antagonists in the pathogenesis of human gastric cancer. Sir James Black had made his second major discovery with the anti-ulcer drug, cimetidine, which led to his collaboration with Professor McColl who was at the time studying the effects Helicobacter Pylori as a cause of duodenal ulcers.

Learning from some inspirational scientists is invaluable

Meeting Sir James Black was probably a career highlight. One of the foremost scientists of the 20th century, winning the Nobel prize for Medicine in 1979 for his discovery of Propranalol, a major drug still used today to treat high blood pressure. How could you not be inspired? I remember him telling me his parents had a wry humour when they named him James Whyte Black. This was a period of ferocious study where I developed independent research skills.

Establishing a career in STEM

In 1996 I joined the Clinical Research Initiative and Professor Ian McGraths research group at Glasgow University. It was a really exciting time, working in a multi-disciplinary team with the lab buzzing with ambitious researchers. There was a great mix of multinational people with skills in physiology, pharmacology, molecular biology, 3D pattern recognition and of course me, a tissue culture ‘binder and grinder’ receptor pharmacologist. The most exciting aspect was being let loose on some early Noran Confocal Laser Scanning microscopes to study the 3D signalling of G-protein coupled receptors using fluorescent probes. When the fusion protein, Green Fluorescent Protein was isolated from jellyfish, it paved the way to integrate the DNA with proteins of interest displaying a higher than background signal. It was then much easier to study cellular signalling in real time making it possible to track measurements of adrenergic neurotransmission in vascular smooth muscle.

Family breaks are important

As with many women in science, career and family don’t always mix well. So when I decided to have a family it was hard to balance an exciting career and commitments as a mother. I decided it was time for a break, thinking it would be only a few years before returning to my work. Part time jobs came and went, it was a struggle to find meaningful work that would balance my family life. Inevitably there was a gap in my STEM journey of some 10 years. At one point I really did not think I would return to STEM but finally I found an alternative route.

Bringing your skills together opens opportunities

The way back began with a climate project. I was managing a community project growing local food using controlled environment agriculture, specifically hydroponics. Around that time I started to design indoor grow racks to produce leafy greens. Having worked out that energy demands and costs outweighed the revenue from the yields produced, I started looking at the reasons behind the failures. This led me to believe that growing low cost crops, such as lettuce and leafy greens indoors did not make economical sense at a small local level.

A new way to grow functional plants

In 2018 I co-founded ‘The Functional Plant Company’ with Chris Higgins of Hort Americas and UrbanAgNews, with the primary goal to model the optimum indoor growing conditions of high value functional plants, starting with Wasabi ( https://urbanagnews.com/blog/news/wasabi-japonica-grown-under-ge-led-grow-lights/ ) . I knew it was a challenge to grow Wasabi Japonica, the Japanese spice most associated with sushi. A semi aquatic plant with a high demand and low supply has made it one of the most lucrative plants per weight in the world marketed around £250/kilo. It made sense to work with a water loving plant that commanded a high price to offset the high capex cost involved in hydroponic farming. I set out on a journey of discovery in STEM using a combination of all my skills including chemistry, plant physiology, pharmacology, tissue culture and engineering that would help me successfully cultivate the ‘hardest to grow plant in the world’.

The full story now includes large scale micropropagation, hydroponic growing under LED lights and circumventing the pests that make it vulnerable to disease. Scaling up the proposition of Wasabi plantlets is now our top priority, ensuring growers have access to virus free plants that lead to increased yields. Growing the plant can be a challenge but two years on, the company is starting to push boundaries and use high tech lighting solutions to enhance a new way to not only produce sustainable food sources but to use plants as preventative medicines.

Grateful to have a second chance in STEM science

So my life in STEM has come full circle and I use variable spectral LED lights to discriminate flavonoid levels in plant leaves, my chemistry knowledge helps me balance fertiliser nutrients, and I transferred my mammalian tissue culture skills to micropropagate plants under sterile conditions. Increasing the secondary metabolites using controlled environment agriculture is important as Wasabi has medicinal properties with benefits to human health, particularly significant anticancer and antimicrobial functions. Wasabi is known to kill Helicobactor Pylori and many of the in vitro cancer cell lines I studied in my early career and who knows, one day soon we maybe even discover Wasabi contains important secondary metabolites that reduce oxidative stress to prevent diseases like Alzheimers or Parkinsons. I am delighted to have found a route back into STEM and to have been able to draw all of my experience together in this way.

I consider myself fortunate to have had some truly immense role models and world class leaders that have encouraged and empowered me throughout my STEM journey. My advice as a woman in STEM to anyone starting out on this journey, is to keep going. If you have an inquisitive mind you will never lose the thrill of a successful experiment.

Janet F Colston PhD.

Pharmacological versus psychological treatment for insomnia

Fri, 03 Jan 2020 14:16:38 GMT

Guest post by Clare Munro

Introducing Clare Munro...

STEM Scotland are delighted and honoured to present a blog post by Clare Munro, on insomnia and its treatment. This was originally posted on Clare’s own blog page (see https://clarespsychology.home.blog/2019/11/25/pharmacological-versus-psychological-treatment-for-insomnia/ ) and Clare very kindly agreed that we could re-post it here. Thank you Clare!

A talented Psychology graduate, Clare is now developing her expertise via a Masters in Clinical Health Psychology, and aims to pursue a career in Clinical Psychology. Clare’s research as an undergraduate and now Masters candidate is focused on the psychology of sleep, an extremely topical field. Please read and enjoy!

*****

Pharmacological v psychological treatment for insomnia

In my last blog post, I looked at the relationship between insomnia and depression and just how important it is to target insomnia as this may be the leading cause of depression. I have decided to devote a blog post to treating insomnia as I feel this is very useful information for people to be aware of!

As we all know, when we are suffering from health problems – whether it be a mental health disorder or a physical health problem, we are likely to try medication first to treat the problem. For a lot of physical and mental health conditions, medication is very effective. However, for some conditions, psychological treatment can be a much more effective alternative to taking medication (Fleming and MacMahon, 2015; Linde et al, 2015). This applies directly to insomnia (among many others).

Treatment approaches to insomnia

As I have already mentioned in my previous blog (on the link between insomnia and depression), insomnia is a mental health condition classified in the DSM-5 to be when an individual experiences poor sleep more than 3 nights a week, for a period of three months or more. In addition, this condition also has night-time symptoms such as; difficulty getting to sleep, nightly awakenings and day-time symptoms consisting of fatigue, impaired concentration and attention etc (DSM-5).

Problems with the pharmacological approach to treating insomnia

Short-term sleep problems, to a certain extent, can be helped through taking sleeping pills. If you are dealing with something stressful or something unexpected happens to you and you do not normally struggle with your sleep, taking sleeping pills on a short-term basis is acceptable. However, research indicates taking sleeping pills to treat insomnia is not effective. As we already know, insomnia is characterised by sleep problems which occur for more than 3 nights a week for 3 months or more. However, sleeping pills should not be prescribed for sleep problems for more than 2 weeks. Therefore, taking this medication is not an effective treatment method for a persistent sleep problem such as insomnia.

CBT-I for insomnia

There are alternative psychological approaches for the treatment of insomnia. The main one is cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). This approach targets the cognitive factors which are associated with an individual’s insomnia as well as including behavioural techniques to help someone with insomnia to establish a healthy sleep pattern.

Why is this method good for treating insomnia?

Research shows that there are many cognitive aspects of insomnia, such as; heightened arousal, cognitive hypervigilance, the racing mind and an individual’s conscious awareness that they need to get to sleep. All these factors contribute to insomnia. CBT-I is a great way of treating insomnia as it directly addresses these cognitive factors and includes behavioural techniques to treat the condition (Fleming and Macmahon, 2015; Taylor et al, 2014).

These techniques include:

Sleep hygiene
Cognitive therapy
Sleep restriction
Stimulus control
Relaxation techniques

Sleep hygiene

This aspect of CBT-I emphasises the importance of environmental and physiological factors, as well as habits which promote good sleep. This aspect of CBT-I is relatively straightforward for one to implement themselves to help treat their insomnia. Some important examples include: making sure your environment is comfortable (comfort of bed, lighting, temperature of bedroom), avoiding drinking alcohol too close to bedtime and trying to wind down at night (do not engage in activities which require a great deal of physical activity e.g strenuous housework or going to the gym etc).

Cognitive therapy

This component of CBT-I aims to ‘identify, challenge and change dysfunctional beliefs and thoughts about sleep which may drive sleep-related arousal’ (Fleming and MacMahon, 2015). There are various methods which are used within the cognitive therapy aspect of CBT-I, such as; cognitive restructuring, thought blocking, mindfulness and paradoxical intention.

Cognitive restructuring

This allows someone to think about ‘faulty cognitions’ such as ‘if I do not sleep tonight, I will not function properly tomorrow and so I will have a bad day’. Cognitive restructuring aims to try and train someone to restructure these unhelpful cognitions that someone has in relation to their sleep.

Thought blocking

This is an easy technique that an individual can do to try and stop their thoughts preventing them from getting to sleep. It simply involves repeating the word ‘the’ roughly every 3 seconds, in your head, to try and block out thoughts which may keep an individual awake (Cunnington et al, 2013).

Mindfulness

Focuses on being non-judgemental in the present rather than focussing on the future or past which reduces mind activation, making an individual feel less awake.

Paradoxical intention

This is where insomnia sufferers are encouraged to put effort into trying to remain awake rather than trying to fall asleep which is thought to strengthen an individual’s sleep drive and reduce their performance effort, making an individual more sleepy and fall asleep more quickly (Morin et al, 2006).

Sleep restriction

This aspect of CBT- I involves restricting one’s sleep initially in order to develop a good sleeping pattern and prevent people attempting to ‘catch-up’ on sleep at weekends. This is done through using sleep diaries to establish how many hours an individual gets of sleep on average, each night (sleep effectiveness score). Then an individual is set a specific number of hours they can sleep every night in order to develop a consistent sleep pattern.

Over time, more hours are gradually added on the individual’s set number of hours they can sleep each night, in order to ensure that this method is effective. Research shows that this is actually a very effective method for helping to treat insomnia. However, it is very hard to get people to stick to the set number of hours each night (low adherence).

Stimulus control

This part of CBT-I focuses on re-associating the bed and bedroom with sleep only (aside from intimacy).

If you are lying in bed for more than 15 minutes and do not feel sleepy enough to get to sleep, go into another room and do something which will not stimulate the brain too much (e.g reading, listening to music etc) until you feel sleepy then head back to bed and you should fall asleep quickly.

Relaxation techniques

These techniques help to reduce tension and thoughts at bedtime which may interfere with sleep. Progressive muscle relaxation is one key example, this is when an individual is instructed to contract their muscles as far as possible and then relax them.

Here is a progressive muscle relaxation audio which I used as part of undergraduate dissertation project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=912eRrbes2g&feature=youtu.be

Drawbacks of psychological treatment for insomnia

Although research strongly suggests that these techniques are highly effective for the treatment of insomnia (Taylor et al, 2014; Cunnington et al, 2013), there is limited access to CBT-I for insomnia. This is due to the fact there are not enough clinicians who are trained to deliver this intervention. This problem has been addressed recently through the development of online apps based on CBT-I to allow people to have easier access to this effective treatment for insomnia.

Sleepio app

This app has recently been developed as an alternative to traditional CBT-I. If interested, here is the article which first tested the effectiveness of the Sleepio app:

Additionally, here is a link which will direct you to the sleepio website where you can find more information and can download the app!

https://www.sleepio.com/

So – what can we conclude from all of this?

Research shows that psychological treatment for insomnia is more effective than a pharmacological approach. Although there is limited access to CBT-I face-to-face from a trained clinician, recent development of apps such as ‘Sleepio’ provide an easily accessible, effective alternative to CBT-I delivered by a clinician.

Using Sketchfab as a public engagement platform for 3D models of biological structures

Fri, 08 Nov 2019 17:26:44 GMT

And now, the gallery...

Research scientists at universities are under increasing pressure from funding councils and charities to provide evidence of both the impact of their research and their level of public engagement. Fortunately, internet based services and social media provide a perfect platform for such activities if used correctly. YouTube has become the premier vehicle for distribution of videos and animations of research findings. This vast repository has also become an essential learning platform for everyone with internet access.

A less well known resource is Sketchfab, a repository of 3D models that can be viewed on any device, and in Virtual Reality (VR) with embedded animations. The 3D objects (assets) can be viewed, downloaded or purchased for animation building, as game assets or 3D printing. The access rights are determined by the model owner – not Sketchfab. Several major museums and universities are now using Sketchfab to display their ‘exhibits’.

Glasgow Life Sciences

Glasgow Life Sciences (GLS) is a new public engagement and BioAnimation service within the School of Life Sciences at the University of Glasgow. The purpose of the service is to collect and curate the best of the College of Medical and Veterinary & Life Sciences’ (CMVLS) 3D datasets and process them for inclusion in the GLS Sketchfab collection, which can be viewed here:

https://sketchfab.com/GLS

At the time of writing (early Oct 2019) GLS has collected contributions from 13 different researchers within CMVLS and we hope to collect many more. The ability to view models in VR using either a mobile device or fully immersive headset creates a unique learning opportunity for students grappling with the complex 3D nature of many biological structures. The structure-function relationship in most (if not all) biological structures can be difficult to teach effectively and therefore learn.

Technology and Art

Datasets are collected from users in their native/raw format (typically as a series of TIFF images). GLS post processing techniques involve thresholding, segmentation, mesh reduction and refinement, animation, texturing and lighting. The best of the collection will feature in a fully immersive VR art gallery that is nearing completion and will be released in late 2019. The Sketchfab collection and VR Gallery will be demonstrated at Pharmacology 2019 (the annual winter meeting of the British Pharmacological Society) which will be held in Edinburgh this year (15-17th December).

To view any of the GLS models in 3D simply browse to the address ( https://sketchfab.com/GLS ). To view in VR you will need a Google cardboard viewer and smartphone as a minimum device. Click on the ‘view in VR’ icon found in the bottom right corner of the model (3rd icon from the right). If your PC or laptop is connected to a fully immersive headset the model should work automatically. We have found Firefox to be a more stable browser for VR viewing. One of the most recent additions is a beautiful reconstruction of the Islet of Langerhans comprising several pancreatic beta cells containing insulin granules. The cell nuclei are also shown. The model was provided pre-constructed by Fiona McCulloch (Medical Visualisation Masters student) and Prof. Gwyn Gould.

Previously, 3D models such as the one shown above and the sheep embryo from the collection would have been used once in an animation and never reused. The GLS collection provides a permanent public place for these models and our plan is to use these in both undergraduate and postgraduate teaching. We also hope that other universities may use the datasets in their own teaching.

Some of the models have already been used in the construction of 3D animations for teaching. These can be viewed at the author’s website and YouTube channel (links below):

https://www.cardiovascular.org

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz9GxddKUj2qrUmNgIpCrFg

References

Further details can be found in;

Daly, C. J. (2019) From confocal microscope to virtual reality and computer games; technical and educational considerations. Infocus Magazine, 54, pp. 51-59.

Daly, C. J. (2019) Examining vascular structure and function using confocal microscopy and 3D imaging techniques. In: Rea, P. M. (ed.) Biomedical Visualisation. Series: Advances in experimental medicine and biology (1120). Springer: Cham, pp. 97-106. ISBN 9783030060695 (doi:10.1007/978-3-030-06070-1_8)

Daly, C. J. (2019) Imaging the vascular wall: from microscope to virtual reality. In: Touyz, R. M. and Delles, C. (eds.) Textbook of Vascular Medicine. Springer: Cham, pp. 59-66. ISBN 9783030164805 (doi:10.1007/978-3-030-16481-2_6)

Daly, C. J. (2018) The future of education? Using 3D animation and virtual reality in teaching physiology. Physiology News, 111(Summer), p. 43

Author Biography
Craig Daly MSc PhD SFHEA is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Life Sciences, University of Glasgow (UofG), and has been involved in cardiovascular research, at UofG, for over 35years. Recently Craig's role has become more teaching focused, leading to a Senior Fellowship of the Higher Education Academy. For 25 years Craig studied adrenergic pharmacology using confocal microscopes, fluorescent ligands and 3D image analysis to investigate receptor distribution in the vascular wall. More recently, Craig has been using and repurposing his archive of 3D confocal datasets to create animations and virtual reality environments for teaching physiology and pharmacology.

Learning to use video-making software

Tue, 23 Jul 2019 16:09:11 GMT

Need more T for the STEM? Here's how!

Getting the GIST of video creation

Yesterday I was lucky enough to take part in a video creation workshop run jointly by 3 Discovery and The GIST. The GIST (Glasgow Insight into Science & Technology) is an award-winning science magazine, designed and run by students from all three of Glasgow’s universities. Two of my former students are on the Board of GIST and I am absolutely delighted to see them doing so well; Sonya is in the final year of her BHF-funded PhD at Glasgow University, and Katrina in the second year of her PhD at Strathclyde. Scientific writing and Public Engagement have played an increasing part in their careers and interests, so it will be fascinating to see where they go next….but that’s for another blog!

The aims of this workshop were to demonstrate the capabilities of the “iMovie” software, and for participants to practice these by creating and editing a short movie of our own; all with a particular focus on the potential of iMovie for use in schools, youth groups and other community settings. Stephen Gruber from 3 was a very engaging and informative presenter, very approachable, and created a hugely effective learning environment (I’m always subconsciously “giving feedback”; I hadn’t realised how naturally I do this until I left my Higher Education job and now I can’t stop! Help!). Stephen described how they have taken the iMovie workshop to 16 libraries so far, many in the East End of Glasgow, and showed us some absolutely lovely clips produced by young people at Springburn Library. Their energy and creativity is amazing; just what we need to be encouraging!

The workshop structure was very clear yet flexible. First Stephen introduced the whole idea of using iMovie with schools, many of whom now have ipads, and had some great tips on little things to watch out for when filming (eg don’t cover the microphone; an obvious but easily made mistake). Then small groups got 3mins to come up with an idea/outline, and 15mins to complete their filming. After this, Stephen gave us a demonstration of the editing features. We then had 15mins to edit our footage, ending of course with viewing all our “final” efforts on the big scream (oops screen)!

Here’s our group's clip; clearly not a finished/polished version, but, we found it easy to use, quite intuitive, and has a huge potential for enhancing all sorts of science/STEM communication in a variety of settings.

Features our group tested included how to use a green screen for adding in a background; cutaway/stop motion; sound effects (mind your head Tim!); re-ordering sections of footage. Features we didn’t have time to try (but others did) include adding a soundtrack, titles, voiceover, transitions and filters.

As with anything it will take a bit of practice, and I would definitely encourage those interested (or even apprehensive) to look out for a 3 Discover workshop. Or simply download iMovie (it’s free) onto your iphone or ipad and just play around. Its a lot of fun once you get started, and who knows what creativity you will unleash?

Putting the T in STEM

Stephen’s advice, especially when working with young people, is to just concentrate on capturing the footage; as he says, it is easier to take out if too much, than to not have enough. Editing can come later, in fact much later; you can take your time over this. But in the moment, with a group, the best use of time is to just get the filming done. Stephen also had some interesting observations on how pupils at different ages/stages take to this (video creation), eg (in age/primary order), P1-4 perhaps don’t have the technical skills; P5 – S1-S2 or so have the tech skills, plus the enthusiasm; around S3 or so have the skills but not the inclination, eg through shyness/image concerns; once leaving school, it’s “hey yeah, let’s do this”. So as ever, it’s important to bear in mind the mix of skill level and concerns in the group you are working with.

And finally....

As mentioned, The GIST is a science magazine produced by students. It is available both as a hard copy (yay!!) as well as online, and is extremely high quality. The March edition covered topics as varied as embryo gene editing, rethinking cannabis, Rosalind Franklin's role in the discovery of DNA, and much more. The theme for the next issue is "Science is for Everyone"; a view that is central to the philosophy of STEM Scotland. I will be tuning in with great interest!

Science Fair!

Thu, 27 Jun 2019 13:35:30 GMT

(I have always wanted to run one of these!)

Dr Dot’s Science Club has started a tradition….we end each run of the Club with a Science Fair!

So far this year we have ran two full versions of Dr Dot’s Science Club, both at The Glasgow Academy Newlands (TGAN) campus. TGAN is a small school with pupils from P1-P4, and is a branch of the main school at Kelvinbridge. It has been an absolute privilege working with the school, and I owe a huge thanks to the Head of TGAN, Hazel Logie, for offering this amazing opportunity to STEM Scotland. I am delighted to announce that Dr Dot’s Science Club will run again at TGAN after the holidays; not wanting to wish the summer away (let’s hope we get one!) but I am really looking forward to running the Club for a third time here. As a new Company, this repeat business is tremendous validation for us, from trialling the Club to becoming established as a regular. So a huge thanks to TGAN (staff, pupils and parents) and Mr Mathewson (Head of Prep, TGA Kelvinbridge) for putting Hazel and I in touch following her request for a Science/STEM Club.

So….Science Fair!

Dr Dot’s Science Club held their second Science Fair at TGAN on Wednesday 19th June. Dr Dot (On the Spot!) began by welcoming club members and their guests, and outlining the proceedings, encouraging everyone to take part. Club members assisted most kindly (and got a chance to practice their presentation skills) by holding up display boards.

Data collection

Over the term, Science Club members have been gathering data on weather, temperature, rainfall and light levels, and recording their findings each week on the Dr Dot’s Science Club Weather Chart, onto which art/craft work was also incorporated. Jessica (who wants to be a Weather scientist) did a superb job unveiling the Weather Chart, then led a group to the playground to collect today’s data. Jessica noticed that surprisingly the shade temperature was higher than the non shade temperature, so decided to repeat the measurements to test this more fully and gather more accurate data. A very important scientific principal (and observations) so well done!

Meanwhile over in the corner, activity at the Can You Step Through Paper? table was hotting up. This is a simple (yet very clever) exercise, illustrating some principles of engineering, design, shape and maths, where if you cut one sheet of A4 paper in a certain way then yes you can indeed step through it! The design principles were then carried through to decoration, embellishment and jewellery making, with some guests being adorned with beautiful sequinned versions as necklaces!

Can you feel the tension? Surface tension!

And in the other corner…Penny Drops! (or Water Drops; alternative title). It was fantastic to see pupils, parents/guests and staff all trying to see how many drops of water they could drip onto a penny using a pipette! The concentration was immense, some excellent pipette control displayed, and counting began. Tension was palpable! Did I mention tension? Surface tension :-) Hydrogen bonding between water molecules means they are more “sticky” than they would be without this intermolecular force holding them together, allowing you to build up a dome on the penny surface as the water molecules pile up higher and higher, wider and wider, clinging on to each other like little acrobats. Amazing!

Live demos!

And while this was going on, we had a spontaneous live demonstration of an experimental idea being formulated, trialled, improved upon, then working. I usually avoid the word "worked" re science experiments, as every attempt can tell you something and might just mean revising your ideas, rather than it not "working". Daniel however had already done exactly that so he was able to show how to achieve what he was trying to find out, by rigorous testing. Daniel showed that if you scrunch up a dry paper towel, place it in a small tub, then plunge this quickly into a larger tub full of water, the paper towel remains dry when pulled out. Well done Daniel, for your imagination, creativity and perseverance; a fantastic illustration of the Scientific Method in action! ! How did this work? Displacement of water, and creation of an airtight seal, allowed the paper towel to stay dry in its own little bubble of air. Physical forces are fascinating!

Scientist Certificate Presentations

And now for my favourite part of the Science Fair….presentation of the Scientist Certificates to our young scientists! One of the main aims of Dr Dot’s Science Club is to help club members develop skills, both scientific and personal, and to emphasise the points that science is everywhere, and is for everyone, fostering an inclusive approach all the time. Everyone has something to bring to the party! So each club member was called out individually, their own Specialist Skill announced, and their Scientist Certificate duly presented to the applause of their family/guest, club members and school staff. It’s a lovely occasion, and just some of the Scientist Skills recognised today included Asking Questions; Counting; Teamwork; Experiment Ideas; Explaining; Decision Making; Being Creative…..there are many more, and all equally important.

So well done everyone, and thank you to all! Now go and enjoy the holidays, and it will be a great pleasure to resume Dr Dot’s Science Club in the Autumn term.

School’s Out!!

Growth Mindset and Unlocking the Potential in STEM

Thu, 27 Jun 2019 12:28:11 GMT

Reflections on STEM education and training in Scotland

Introduction

Last year I attended the Scotland Policy Conference keynote seminar on “ Next steps for STEM education and training in Scotland: widening participation, improving delivery and meeting the needs of business ” (26 June 2018, Radisson Blu, Edinburgh). This was a hugely stimulating event, and one of the first conferences I attended as a new business owner, coming "fresh" (!) from 15 years in Higher Education. The remainder of this blog is an article I submitted to the conference organisers afterwards, as participants are encouraged to continue the debate/discussion afterwards:

I particularly enjoyed speaking to Dr Alison Hennessy about the Growth Mindset, a concept I had not been aware of before this conference. Throughout the morning I realised that Growth Mindset has links to several other key themes in education and STEM, including feedback, creativity and the freedom to make mistakes. There are also some very interesting parallels with research areas such as Appreciative Inquiry, and Threshold Concepts. These connections and links are discussed below, together with references for further information.

What is the “Growth Mindset”?

A recurring theme throughout the conference was the existence of maths anxiety, and even fear, among staff as well as pupils. The Growth Mindset is a concept that originated at Stanford, with Dr Carol Dweck, around thirty years ago, and sets out that intelligence is not fixed, but can grow. This would mean the commonly-held belief that people are either born “with a maths brain” or without, is in fact a misconception. Studies have shown that with the right type of encouragement, for example praising hard work and effort, children develop a “growth mindset”. Conversely, a “fixed” mindset (you either have or don’t have a “maths brain”) is more likely to result from feedback based on whether a child is “smart” or not. Therefore, finding ways to develop a growth mindset could be tremendously empowering, for both students and staff.

Parallels with other concepts and theories

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is a way of working, originally to do with change management, that is based on focussing on what can be done, rather than on what the problems are (Mohr & Watkins, 2002). Appreciative Inquiry therefore challenges another theme touched on during the day, the deficit model, which focuses on what is “missing”. Creating a positive and supportive learning environment was also mentioned, so that it is safe to make mistakes, and where pupils are not intimidated but rather encouraged to try again, and to learn from what they did wrong. This attitude brings to mind the notion of Unconditional Positive Regard (UPR), a term perhaps most associated with the psychologist Carl Rogers; and that UPR can also simply be called “respect”. If a student is held at all times in UPR by the teacher (ie treated with respect), confidence is likely to improve, risk-taking will increase, and learning has a much greater chance of moving on as a result.

Meyer & Land (2003) proposed the idea of “Threshold Concepts”, where certain key concepts can be seen as “threshold”, and until these have been properly understood and dealt with, the student cannot move on with their learning and so remains “stuck”. This moving on (termed “passing through a portal” by Meyer & Land) can be problematic and uncomfortable, where the student has to “deconstruct” previous knowledge before they can see things in a new way. This deconstruction is a transitional state, but is not automatic and requires effort, creativity and support.

Conclusion

I would therefore propose that the idea of a Growth Mindset (ie that intelligence is not pre-set) is an example of such a Threshold Concept. This means that overcoming maths anxiety requires actively deconstructing the notion of “I can’t do this”, and finding ways to discover what a person can do. As Meyer and Land have outlined, effort and creativity are key. It is also interesting to speculate whether the methods and techniques used in Appreciative Inquiry can help to address maths and science anxiety. In short, we need to “unlock” the potential of both staff and students, in fact all stakeholders, to enhance the growth of STEM in Scotland.

References

MEYER, J & LAND, R (2003) Threshold concepts and troublesome knowledge (1) – linkages to ways of thinking and practising within the disciplines. In “Improving Student Learning – Ten Years On”. Rust, C. (ed), OCSLD, Oxford.

MOHR, B & WATKINS, J (2002) The essentials of Appreciative Inquiry: A roadmap for creating positive futures. Waltham, MA: Pegasus Communications, Inc. Available at: https://gcatd.org/resources/Documents/Special%20Interest%20Groups%20(SIGs)/Consultants/AI%20article.pdf [Accessed 2nd July 2018]

[Note: This article has been previously published in the conference proceedings, along with a transcript of the whole event, as participants are encouraged to continue the debate/discussion afterwards. Proceedings are only available to attendees; however such articles are the property of authors and so freely available for their use. Thanks to Sean Cudmore, Deputy Organiser of the Scotland Policy Conferences, for confirmation of this permission]

Physiology of an Outreach Project

Sun, 17 Feb 2019 16:16:04 GMT

Guest Blog by Ella Haslett, Physiology Honours student

As part of my final year dissertation I chose to do a STEM outreach project. I was given 10 weeks to create and complete a physiology-based activity, which engaged the public in science. With public engagement ranging from museum exhibitions, cafes, pubs, nursing homes and shopping centres, the possibilities are endless for creating STEM based activities.

In the ASPIRES report by Kings College London, I was shocked to see that the demographic least likely to aspire to a career in science were white females, aged 10-14, with no family members working in STEM industries. As a woman studying science this made me wonder how I ever came to study Physiology, but also inspired me to target my project towards young females in Glasgow with the main aim of dispelling the misconceptions that science is ‘too difficult’ or ‘only for boys’.

What I did for my project...

I taught over 140 children from various groups including Girl Guides, Scouts and Schools. Participants of the ‘All Systems Go Physiology Workshop’ listened to each other’s heart beats using stethoscopes, performed a reaction time experiment, patellar tendon jerk reflex, blind spot test and Ishihara colour-blindness tests. After doing some research, I discovered how having a ‘gore factor’ can lead to greater recollection of scientific tasks. I displayed a fantastic video of a heart beating ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=298puWjGaw8 ) and brought a real sheep’s heart along to the workshops.

Results

I used an evaluation form to determine the success of the workshop and compare the groups I was working with. The group who performed best were the Girl Guides, which shows that perhaps educating and inspiring young girls to pursue science works much better in an informal learning environment rather than a School, but of course this very much depends on the individual learner.

On the evaluation form I asked everyone to draw a picture of a heart. I received some beautiful love heart drawings before the session started, and after the session, generally a big red blob! Here are a few of my favourites...

Dorothy from STEM Scotland very kindly agreed to do an interview as part of my project. Dorothy had so many inspiring stories to share about women in STEM. One example, of a company who were struggling to find female applicants for a job advert were advised by Equate Scotland to change the job title from ‘software developer’ to ‘creative programmer’. Such a tiny change led to a huge increase in the number of female applicants for the company! It just goes to show that it’s not difficult to increase female involvement. If teachers are ever struggling to engage female pupils, one of the easiest ways to provide inspiration is to show examples of women in science.

What I’ve learned...

I began every workshop asking “who knows what Physiology is?”, which usually gave me a room full of blank faces. During the session I was impressed with the amount of physiology the children already knew without realising. When learning about vision several children were able to point out the retina. Many already knew about reflex tests. Children loved learning about colour-blindness since they either knew someone who was colour-blind or may have had this condition themselves. Reinforcing the fact that science is everywhere and making it relatable is absolutely key for effective engagement. I found this relatively easy considering I was teaching human physiology!

I was surprised to see how having a family member working in a STEM related field had such a huge impact on a child's perception of science. One of the highlights of my project was with a Brownie who commented “did you know, most people think that blood is made by the heart, but actually it’s made by our bones”. I was absolutely blown away that an 8-year-old was able to tell me about the underlying principle of haematopoiesis, something that I only learned about when I got to university. All I can say is... watch this space for the Coatbridge Brownies!

Teaching science and seeing children realise they’ve achieved something is an incredibly rewarding experience. Organising a series of successful STEM events within a very short timeframe proved to be challenging but allowed me to develop excellent organisation and communication skills. I hope every individual I worked with gained inspiration from my workshop which I hope will foster a ‘can do’ attitude towards learning science in the future.

Anatomy of a Science Club; or…

Sun, 13 Jan 2019 13:30:27 GMT

Evolution of a Science Club…

When I decided to set up STEM Scotland, I produced a huge Mind Map of all the things I could include in the business; a Science Club was just one of them. When an opportunity presented itself to run a Science Club, I threw myself into it, unleashing the creative me. It has been great fun! Even the paperwork in a way, as it is so satisfying to do this for a clearly defined purpose.

Resources!

Deciding what experiments are suitable for a Science Club depends on a variety of factors. Fun being crucial! Messy is good. Scientific is essential. Using everyday materials is great; cuts down costs, encourages recycling, and helps make it more visible that science is everywhere (I have been stashing takeaway food tubs for months now).. It’s also important to have actual scientific instruments and equipment you may find in a lab, so that pupils/students have exposure to these and hands-on experience of using them.

Research!

There is a huge amount of material online for science experiments suitable for children; I have spent hours researching, watching YouTube and other clips, partly feeling “guilty” as I was having fun doing this, and taking the time out of my day to do so; I had to keep reminding myself this was work. It was great! My brother reminded me of the legend that is Bill Nye (Science Guy) and from his (Bill’s) video on Bones & Muscles I really loved the few-seconds clip on Dissolving Bones; I will come back to this… An interesting (frustrating?) point to note is that in my searches so far I have come across very few videos with women presenters…I will come back to this too….

Human Communication

Never underestimate the power and value of talking to other people; there is so much we can learn from each other, and sometimes I think this gets forgotten in our increasingly online world. Attending the Scottish Learning Festival (SLF) at the SEC Glasgow (September 2018) gave me so many ideas, from the excellent presentations, the trade stalls, talking to people in sessions and at coffee breaks, and probably most importantly, the STEM Expo 2018! This was a new feature of SLF, where a large room (Lomond) was set aside for real proper hands-on try-it-out sessions for conference participants. Tables/stalls/floor space was occupied by various groups including several schools (pupils and teachers), organisations such as Institute of Physics (IoP, who were presenting their material on gender equality in science), and STEM Glasgow. The children were absolutely fantastic at not letting anyone (me!) pass by without trying out their experiment/creation. What great salespeople never mind budding scientists! I learned about global warming, plastics in the ocean, how to build and test a helicopter, and how to make a catapult among other exciting things. The whole room was buzzing; the enthusiasm was palpable, and the creativity and potential in that room were inspirational! I took as many examples, leaflets, samples and contact details as I could; this became source material for my Science Club ideas and resources. Perhaps most important though, was the clear knowledge that children do want to do science. We need to help them fulfil that early potential and talent.

Experiment Practice (and chickens)

Going back to the bones…I set up an experiment in the kitchen with some bones from the Christmas turkey, in test tubes (herb containers) of red wine vinegar, Pepsi (this one fizzed!) and tap water as a control (pictured below). At the same time as carving off the meat to obtain the bones, I also set up a frying pan with onions and korma sauce, into which I stirred the turkey meat (end result also pictured). This is a very important part of the experiment. I am wondering if there would be interest in making a video series…

The china chicken (you can just make out a corner of it in the pic below) was a Christmas present. We were not quite sure what to do with it, so it has carved a role for itself as a star in the Science Club preparation and delivery.

I then began to wonder; are the properties of bone affected if they are cooked? Maybe I need to use uncooked bones? So I bought an uncooked supermarket chicken; off came the bones (and on went the casserole; I sense a theme developing here). I managed to dissect out the thigh bones, breast bone and rib cage, the latter being particularly challenging but well worth the effort. These bones are now the subject of the first session of Dr Dot’s Science Club, currently resting in vinegar in a box in my garage, and will be reported on at a later date.

Risk Assessment and Insurance

There are several examples online of Risk Assessments (RAs) for various purposes and contexts; I began with looking at the STEM Ambassador resources and followed links from there. The first step to producing an RA for a Science Club is to actually decide just what experiments you want to do (witness the fun I had researching this!). Making the decision I found was perhaps the hardest part, more so than the actual paperwork. However once I had a clear list, I adapted an online template to produce a grid, starting with the list of experiment titles on the left. Opposite each, I detailed the possible hazards; location; who might be affected; the risk rating; control measures; and finally the risk rating after these measures are taken. I also included for clarity an appendix showing how the risk is calculated. This can all be quite time-consuming; but once produced, your own template/draft can then be adapted/updated as required. I was able to complete mine while on the train down to London for the Pharmacology 2018 conference, which was a most satisfying and very productive use of the journey time (possibly more so than if I had been in the office….)!

If running a Science Club, Public Liability Insurance is a good idea; it is not a legal requirement (unlike Employer Liability Insurance), but many organisations can request it or even insist on it, and it makes absolute sense to just have this from the beginning even if it is not required officially. Some companies do not offer Public Liability Insurance for a Science Club and refer you on to a more specialised broker so leave plenty of time to shop around, particularly as there can be quite a bit of to-ing and fro-ing with underwriters before giving a quote.

Timing and Logistics

How many children there are (can you set upper or lower limits?); ages/stages; whether people work in pairs, groups or individually; whether you have any assistance....how best to allocate/divide up equipment; what's the optimum number of set-ups to provide; are there occasions where a demo would be better; how many eyes in the back of your head you have...these all require careful consideration. And be prepared to revise as you go. It goes without saying that planning is absolutely essential, but don't be afraid to completely change or adapt procedures. It could be argued that for a successful well-run Science Club, organisation is just as important as the science (perhaps even more so).

The Bare Bones

So there it is; the Anatomy of a Science Club. To be continued…or evolved….!

Happy New Year!

183:739620982 (Dorothy Aidulis) — Fri, 04 Jan 2019 16:08:10 GMT

What will 2019 bring for/to STEM Scotland?

Well, that was a very speedy 6 months! 6 months since STEM Scotland officially started. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to post more often; blog more often. Starting now with a very quick update! The stock tropical paradise pic will disappear once I upload my science/STEM photies but it does look v nice in the depths of winter :).

Here is a brief list of some of the activities I have been involved in:

Attending various conferences, including the UWS (University of the West of Scotland) Summer STEM Academy (Paisley, July 2018), Scottish Learning Festival (Glasgow, Sept 2018), Procurex Scotland (Glasgow, October 2018), EduTech (Glasgow, Nov 2018) and British Pharmacological Society (London, December 2018).
Taught on a range of science and Professional courses at Glasgow Caledonian University (Sept-Dec 2018).
Ran an Workshop at the "Full STEAM Ahead" day for Women for Independence (Stirling, Sept 2019).
Tutoring pupils in various SQA subjects/levels (Higher Biology, Higher Human Biology, Nat 5 Chemistry).
Meeting with a range of interesting science, education, Local Authority and other contacts to discuss possible work/collaboration/future relationships....Watch this space!!
Researching lots of areas of science I am interested in! This is very much an ongoing and hugely enjoyable activity and often does not seem like "work" :).
Signed up as a Registered Supplier with Public Contracts Scotland, and attended several training/networking sessions around Scotland, both face-to-face and online, with the Supplier Development Programme. This is an absolutely excellent programme; the training is of an extremely high standard and the course/session facilitators are thorough, very well versed in their areas, extremely professional, and (arguably most importantly) the most approachable bunch of people you could ever hope to meet!! Absolutely to be recommended if you are considering getting involved in the Public Sector. Thank you and I will see you in 2019 most definitely!
Attended a hugely interesting and informative range of Summer School Business Workshops at Glasgow University, run/arranged by Marion Anderson, Student Enterprise manager. Thank you so much Marion for inviting me along; I am so much more informed, and much more familiar with the business environment/setting than I would otherwise have been. This has done wonders for my confidence, contacts and ideas.
Signed up for support/advice from CLASP (Corporate Law Advisory Support Programme) via the Business Workshops above. Again; the support and backup is fantastic and is helping develop a professional, sustainable, ethical and robust business in STEM Scotland.

Science Club!!

Perhaps the project I am most excited about for 2019 (so far) is designing and running a Science Club for a local Primary school. There will be a blog about this in the very near future so tune in! I have had a most exciting Christmas practising experiments in my kitchen and have amassed a very interesting collection of items and solutions.... (yes there will be vinegar and baking soda. And chickens :)

Now to update my LinkedIn!

Guest Blog

Thu, 16 Aug 2018 20:09:25 GMT

Panda or pandemic? The Case for STEM

STEM is a handy acronym. A stem suggests strength, something with roots, not some casual collection of curiosities padding out a syllabus. But is there a root behind the stem? What is it about science, technology, engineering and maths that sets them apart from other pursuits?

We understand science as a discipline, a method of separating the wheat of truth from the chaff of hoaxes, wishful thinking, unbridled speculation and dated, dogmatic falsehood. Technology, engineering and maths, as the cousins of science, also spare little time for fictions. If your engineering is unsound your bridge will not stand up. If your technology is flawed your phone will not connect to the network. All the maths professors in the world cannot make two plus two equal five, although a poet might stand a chance.

STEM’s honest, uncluttered, incorruptible relationship with the Universe produces a binary result for all of humanity, for all time: true or false, and this is the root of our stem. The writer of fiction deals in constructs that permit two and two to equal five. In Orwell’s 1984, Winston Smith is brainwashed by his government into believing just that, but therein lies the strength of our stem and its importance to the world. The teaching of STEM in schools is our pushback against unchecked propaganda. The lines we draw on our blackboards: equals, greater than, less than, are lines beyond which no power of politics or dishonest persuasion can pillage. They are the impenetrable barriers of reason. Institutions who find inconvenient the findings of STEM may try to diminish their significance, but as long STEM retains our full-hearted support they cannot makes us accept doctored data and distorted claims because a mind that upholds the principles of STEM can never be persuaded that two plus two equals five. Those who are taught to value the truth will become the guardians of truth.

More than a defense against the dark arts, the trusty reality check of STEM allows us to build upon past successes and maintain momentum. When enough steps are taken along this path of discovery, the result is civilisation. Our species is littered by cultures that, minus any tool to test their instincts or beliefs, could not summon a good harvest, for example, no matter how many sacrificial offerings they gave to unverified gods. We are the civilization that embraced reason and did not perish. We the success story, the achievers, the A- and B-students of homo sapiens, the followers of Newton, of Einstein, of Darwin and Hubble. We have come far since those hopeful offerings to ineffectual gods, but our journey has barely begun.

STEM, then, as our sword of truth and shield against fakery, is both the builder of civilization and our hedge against tyranny. It is our compass in the fog and our well-lit door, showing the way when our politics goes astray. It spares us today from the futile pursuit of what can never work by guiding us towards the promise of what might work tomorrow. The lessons of history are as clear as our understanding of the rainbow: embrace STEM and save the panda; devalue STEM and invite a pandemic. By choosing the former, our forebears discovered germ theory and doubled our lifespan. We honour their wisdom by accepting the torch of reason that they once lit. Just as STEM was their gift to us, so it will be our gift to future civilisations both in ways we intend and in ways we cannot yet calculate.

STEM Scotland: What's The Story?

Thu, 16 Aug 2018 14:28:13 GMT

It's official; STEM Scotland is now in business!

I have finally decided to take the plunge! After fifteen years in a fulfilling, challenging, demanding but always interesting lecturing post, I left earlier this year to set up my own company, STEM Scotland . But; why now?

STEM is a growth area in Scotland
Right now there is enormous potential in Scotland around STEM, particularly in the Life Sciences, my own area of expertise. There are huge developments around space-related technology and industry, with a possible Space Port being located in Scotland in the next few years; Glasgow can also lay claim to being the biggest producer of satellites in Europe. Large infrastructure projects such as the award-winning Queensferry Crossing, and dualling of the A9, have put engineering in the spotlight. Exciting times!

Scotland has one of the most educated populations in Europe
Scotland has more universities per head of population than many other countries, and a higher proportion of its population hold degrees relative to other comparable countries.

So what are the concerns?
With so many positives, it may come as a surprise to realise there are several areas of concern for the future, in terms of maintaining and progressing these levels of engagement with STEM. These include decline in population growth; issues around gender balance in certain STEM areas; lack of awareness of the range of STEM careers available; known anxieties of primary teachers in the maths and science areas of the curriculum; general pressures in education around staff workload; to name but a few.

So why leave a full-time, permanent job (yes, really) to try and help?
Short story; it's time! The slightly longer version.....

Begins with; I don't remember a time when I have not loved science. I remember being in Sixth Year Chemistry with my two pals; collectively we (re)named ourselves Ethyl (Benzene), Di (Nitrophenolhydrazine) and Ester Hydrolysis. Singing into Bunsen burners; the whole works. Anyhow that's another story for another time.

The middle part is that I studied Pharmacology at university, then a PhD (which evolved from my Honours project investigating vascular smooth muscle control), and after a short period of post-doctoral research, did a PGCE in secondary science. Here I really found my niche; I became fascinated with theories of learning and teaching, and loved combining what I had learned in college with what actually goes on in a classroom; the two facets going hand in hand surprisingly well. I loved testing things out, and it was fascinating to wear two "hats" (teacher and learner) at the same time. After teaching high school science for a couple of years, I relocated back to Glasgow and a temporary university post turned into a 15-year lectureship. So....why leave?

Finally...now is the time! Seize the day! Basically that was it. Let me explain.

Enter STEM Scotland!
I have gained a huge amount of experience in science and education in various different contexts (academic, technical, research, teaching, schools, universities) over the years. Watching all the exciting things happening in Scotland STEM-wise; coupled with a sense that it was time for a change in career (perhaps somewhat ironically through helping students think about their own skills, career directions, and fulfilling their own potential); I decided to take the plunge.