Outreach report 2024
ECG Bulletin July 2024
In 2023, our events totalled ~170 meaningful outreach engagements from ~1400 festival attendees. So far in 2024, we have already exceeded this, with ~275 meaningful outreach engagements at just two festivals where these were measured – ATOM Science Festival in Abingdon, and Dorchester Science Festival.
But how do we measure these engagements?
A fantastic measure is giving out materials. Some event organisers hand out stickers to each of their guests and count how many stickers are missing at the end of the event. Others use pots or bags to give out slime or other crafts, and again, see how many are left at the end. I have used a clicker before – but that can be hard work. Our Float or sink? demo (see ECG Bulletin, July 2022[1]and ECG Bulletin, January 2024[2]) asks participants to vote on whether a plastic item will sink or float, then we test them, usually by asking younger members of the audience to throw items into a giant Kilner jar, selectively unlidded only when we are ready to test. It is still a rough measure of engagement: some adults will not vote alongside their children, some vote without thinking, and inevitably the pots incur different numbers of votes. If I bring my own children, they also insist on having a go at the “game”, although by now, I am certain they have memorised the answers.
Why are there more this year?
In all honesty, it could be down to the sunshine in Abingdon (outdoors) and rainfall at Dorchester (driving participants to the science tent), we cannot know for sure. Running fewer activities suggests improved engagement as one activity channelled into one game allows us to make accurate measurements. With multiple activities at a stall can result in participants only choosing one demonstration to engage with.
A fantastic measure is giving out materials. Some event organisers hand out stickers to each of their guests and count how many stickers are missing at the end of the event. Others use pots or bags to give out slime or other crafts, and again, see how many are left at the end. I have used a clicker before – but that can be hard work. Our Float or sink? demo (see ECG Bulletin, July 2022[1]and ECG Bulletin, January 2024[2]) asks participants to vote on whether a plastic item will sink or float, then we test them, usually by asking younger members of the audience to throw items into a giant Kilner jar, selectively unlidded only when we are ready to test. It is still a rough measure of engagement: some adults will not vote alongside their children, some vote without thinking, and inevitably the pots incur different numbers of votes. If I bring my own children, they also insist on having a go at the “game”, although by now, I am certain they have memorised the answers.
Why are there more this year?
In all honesty, it could be down to the sunshine in Abingdon (outdoors) and rainfall at Dorchester (driving participants to the science tent), we cannot know for sure. Running fewer activities suggests improved engagement as one activity channelled into one game allows us to make accurate measurements. With multiple activities at a stall can result in participants only choosing one demonstration to engage with.
But what do the votes tell us?
In the case of our Float or sink? demo, as we have gathered more and more votes in subsequent years and at different locations, we are slowly building up a dataset which tells us something (on a population level) about public knowledge of plastics.
Analysis of around 1000 votes has revealed that people vote ‘float’ slightly more frequently than sink (58%) – accurate to the fraction of items under scrutiny that do indeed float. However, discerning which specific object sinks or floats is harder, and voters tend to be wrong 35% of the time. The most misleading item was a silicone rubber flower, which sinks, although our voters are convinced otherwise. Meanwhile, a piece of nylon rope got a split vote (I will leave you to try that one at home!).
What next?
We will be doing more events like this in the future, and we always need volunteers, so please do get in touch if you are interested in helping us, or running outreach yourself – full descriptions of activities may be found in How To resources on our website (https://www.envchemgroup.com/resources.html).
References
1. Float or Sink pilot – see ECG Bulletin, July 2022, p.7.
2. Accessible Evaluation at the BIG Event- see ECG Bulletin, January 2024, p.10.
In the case of our Float or sink? demo, as we have gathered more and more votes in subsequent years and at different locations, we are slowly building up a dataset which tells us something (on a population level) about public knowledge of plastics.
Analysis of around 1000 votes has revealed that people vote ‘float’ slightly more frequently than sink (58%) – accurate to the fraction of items under scrutiny that do indeed float. However, discerning which specific object sinks or floats is harder, and voters tend to be wrong 35% of the time. The most misleading item was a silicone rubber flower, which sinks, although our voters are convinced otherwise. Meanwhile, a piece of nylon rope got a split vote (I will leave you to try that one at home!).
What next?
We will be doing more events like this in the future, and we always need volunteers, so please do get in touch if you are interested in helping us, or running outreach yourself – full descriptions of activities may be found in How To resources on our website (https://www.envchemgroup.com/resources.html).
References
1. Float or Sink pilot – see ECG Bulletin, July 2022, p.7.
2. Accessible Evaluation at the BIG Event- see ECG Bulletin, January 2024, p.10.
