Click image above to read full report [PDF]
This report summarises our 2019 activities.
Highlights:
- Activity in live chats has increased by 35%. While overall engagement levels remained relatively steady across the events compared with the previous year, and with a similar number of students actively taking part, 2019 saw more than 10,000 additional lines of live chat written compared with 2018 (39,266 up from 29,033).
- The majority of students taking part in the events were from underserved communities, with 57% of students taking part from schools in SFI target counties.
- The Shape the Future Zone successfully engaged students and the public in 3D printing and its role in helping to create a sustainable future. 48 different and creative ideas were submitted showing how people of different ages had interpreted the brief. Between July and November 2019, the Shape the Future site was viewed 23,916 times by 1,991 users. The winning water filter idea will be produced, and promoted by the winner, continuing the impact of this zone.
- Students saw a wide range of science and engineering happening across Ireland, helping them to better understand how science and engineering is done, and smashing stereotypes:
- When teachers who took part in our 2019 projects (IAS and IAE in Ireland and the UK) were asked to rate the effectiveness of the project from 1 (not effective) to 5 (highly effective), teachers gave average scores of:
- 4.1 (n=119) in terms of teaching students about how science works
- 4.3 (n=122) for improving students motivations towards science/engineering
- 4.5 (n=122) helping students to see how science/engineering relates to the world around them, and
- 4.6 (n=122) for challenging students’ stereotypes about scientists/engineers.
- When teachers who took part in our 2019 projects (IAS and IAE in Ireland and the UK) were asked to rate the effectiveness of the project from 1 (not effective) to 5 (highly effective), teachers gave average scores of:
- Scientists and engineers improved their communications skills and gained a greater appreciation for the value of their work.
- 80% (20/25) reported an increase in their appreciation of the value of their work, and 72% (18/25) in their enthusiasm towards their own work.
- 88% (22/25) reported increases in their skill and confidence at communicating their work, and 92% (23/25) said that their interest in public engagement had increased.
Read the report: I’m a Scientist and I’m an Engineer Ireland 2019: Summary Report [PDF]
