• Question: why do you want to win im a scientist get me out of here ?

    Asked by pinklady1910 to Christine, Edd, Jess, Nicolas, Zara on 13 Jun 2011.
    • Photo: Edward Codling

      Edward Codling answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      Aaaah – I was expecting this question at some point! 🙂

      I didn’t actually enter I’m A Scientist to win the money (although of course it would be nice to win if you all decided to vote for me!). The main reason I entered was because I wanted to have the opportunity to speak to schoolchildren and explain what I am doing and answer their questions. Hopefully you will all find it useful as well, and also good fun and enjoyable. I am enjoying it so far, although it is very hard work with all these questions!

      If I did win I would use the money to get local schoolchildren involved in some real experiments I am doing about how human crowds behave under different conditions. Hopefully, they would then see how science research really works and some might even be inspired to become scientists themselves!

    • Photo: Nicolas Biber

      Nicolas Biber answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      I’m with Edd for that one 🙂 Above all I want to chat with everyone who is attending this event, I think that’s the best part of it. I just got out of a chat, and this was an amazing experience. To me it’s more important to be a part of this than winning the contest. I will be glad for anyone to win if they have a good idea of how to use the money. If I win I will try to put up an exhibit of my research, something people don’t just have to look and read but can also touch and feel.
      With the event and with what I would do with the money it’s the same thing: I want people to become curious about science and if they already are I want to help them really get into it.

    • Photo: Jessica Chu

      Jessica Chu answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      I registered to be involved this is because I quite enjoy talking about science to people!
      It started last year when several small group of us (students from Notts uni) will arrange to visit our local schools and do a mini experiment with the children and for them to ask us questions! They are children around 10-12 years old and it was great to see them having fun with science!

      And then I heard about IMAS and thought that’s a brilliant idea because when I was younger – it would have been really nice to talk to scientists who are doing lots of different things to find out what it is really like.
      Back then I was choosing between science and business to study further at uni and luckily I followed my heart and chose science!!!!
      But thinking back maybe it wouldn’t have been such a hard decision if I just had the chance to speak to someone at the time!

      So if I am lucky enough to win, I will give the schools the prize money to arrange for a trip to the science museums in london or some kind of field trip so they can see more areas of science rather than sitting in the classroom as I am sure they do that most of the year! I don’t mind who wins as long as we all had fun and I have already learnt so much from the other scientists in this zone!

    • Photo: Christine Switzer

      Christine Switzer answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      My motivations for applying to I’m a Scientist were to help excite kids about science and also to work on my own science communication skills. Of course, winning is nice, too. 🙂

      I am used to talking to adults and using technical language, which means that some people understand me while others may just be sitting quietly and hoping that I will stop talking soon. Students your age are a lot less likely to let us get away with something like that! So far, the questions have been great both on the site and in the chats. I hope you are enjoying it, too!

    • Photo: Zara Gladman

      Zara Gladman answered on 13 Jun 2011:

      The all-important question!

      I don’t think I would mind very much if I didn’t win… it’s only day 1 and I’m already having a great time chatting to you and the other scientists, so I’m just grateful that I was chosen to take part in the first place! 🙂 I think I’ll learn a lot from speaking to you all (you’ve already been asking some very thoughtful questions!) and hopefully some of the things I say will be interesting to you too!

      If I did win, I would be very happy! I would use the money to help young people do some hands-on science of their own, by giving them a batch of fish eggs to study and look after, before releasing them into the local river. I think this is a great way of learning about the fish life cycle. Even more than that – by releasing the fish that have been cared for into the river, the schoolchildren will be making a great contribution to conserving the species! So it would be a win-win situation for both science education and conservation 😀

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