Week 2: Actual Outreach

Week 2:

So after my first week where I settled in and finally got some work done, week two has arrived like an oncoming train. Little did I know that lion's den would be a place of inspiration or somewhere I could shine but alas somethings still surprise me.
Monday was the first day where I'd meet my new colleague, a graduate of biomedical science and someone who had a genuine enthusiasm for science. Hannah was a pleasant addition to team especially since she is more closer to my age so offers some conversational starter point and some one to relate to. This day was one of relative calm at least for the day ahead, we spent most of it chatting and learning about each other; all meanwhile prepping for the week ahead.

Tuesday was the day we prepared for our event on Wednesday, first we walked to where all the talks would take place, and by that I mean Hannah lead and I followed hoping to remember the route. after this we were tasked with packing around 70 tote bags filled with several documents mainly flyers and the two prospectuses (postgraduate and undergraduate). It was something akin to being a bag packer in the most depressing hipster supermarket.


Wednesday was the first day of actual outreach work, and it was quite alright actually. It was a teachers conference on behalf of STEM learning and we had prepped for it over the past two days and we knew what we needed to do. My day started with on the preparing the front desk and moving some equipment into a teaching room in preparation for a talk later today. After the basic set up I was tasked with the task of walking the arriving teachers into the cafeteria for coffee. After the teachers had a cup of coffee, me and Hannah led the teachers to a keynote talk led by the AQA head of curriculum who discussed all the common problems with last years exams and where they went well in some cases. After the keynote it was back to the foyer and where we lead the people to their respective talks, I was the guide to the talk about how to achieve the highest grades at GCSE. After the talks we went to lunch. Beyond that I was tasked with handing out the tote bags we had packed earlier in the week. Overall it was fun day fundamentally where me and my colleague started to understand our roles a bit better.


Thursday, was almost the comedown of the day before where I started to recollect my thoughts of my first actual experience of outreach, even though I was mainly admin work I was doing, it felt great doing something practical. The rest of the day was spent mainly doing paper work and prepping for the event on Sunday.


Friday was the last time we would be able to prepare before Sunday the big event of the week, here me and Hannah made sure all was prepped for the next day and also we started on some more projects. Hannah worked on zome tools building toy which is a really cool way to demonstrate shapes and chemical structures, I worked on finch robots; which is a tool that can be used for the basics of coding and understanding logic and functions.


Sunday, the big day, I was never one for lay ins and so I would be prefer to be up and about and this Sunday offered a fair justifications for being up. Upon arrival to the Newham Arts Centre with Martin and Zoe we set up the tables with our science technology. We had five main tools; the zome tools which I have discussed previously, the 3D body puzzle which is one the anatomical models you see in every educational facility, A slime making station which used Borax and diluted PVA glue to make a sticky, slimy substance. The Van de Graaff generator which works by static electricity; this was oft a source of entertainment for the public as the hair would stand on end. The final major project was the air vortex cannons which used pressure to propel air to knock down cups. Overall the day went over really well, especially considering it was my first interaction with the public of Wolverhampton.