Advice on doing presentation in a school?

[Solasshole]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping if someone could give me some advice about an upcoming presentation I'm doing at a school for 6-8 year olds I haven't worked with young children in a looooong time so want to make it fun and educational at the same time!!

Anyway, I'm a scientist and I've been asked to tell them about my job. I work with blood as my job so I was going to tell them very basically what I do, and then play a game perhaps to teach them what all the different parts of blood do in a very simplified version.

E.g. I was going to tell them they have "red blood cells" that gives them energy to run around and then play a game simulating red blood cells transporting oxygen throughout the body, something like a baton relay race but with the baton being balloons to simulate oxygen

Then I was going to tell them they have "white blood cells" that keep them safe and fight bugs/germs and another chasing type game where half the students are the white blood cells who have to catch the other half who are the germs/bugs

Then finally I was going to tell them about platelets/plasma that help mend them when they fall over and scrape their knee etc and make them do a team building activity to simulate platelets and plasma working together to form clots/scabs in the body. My plan for this was to blindfold their teacher and have the kids help the teacher navigate a very basic obstacle course, perhaps in 2 separate teams so they can compete to be fastest and make it a bit more fun

Would these explanations be age appropriate for 6-8year olds? Don't want to freak them out talking about blood And would playing games to demonstrate it be more fun than just listening to me talk for ages?

I've asked the school if these are ok to do but would like some advice from parents as to whether these ideas would be good or not!!

Thanks in advance

sounds like a great presentation! I think though that three moving around activities might be one too many. I would cut out one of them, possibly the teacher / platelet one because it is a harder concept for them to grasp, though they would love it. How long have you got to give your presentation? maybe a nice visual of how long the major veins and arteries are in their bodies . Lots of Red wool and a child at either end of the hall unravel the wool back and forth between them? Or a whole line up of plastic bottles filled with red water to show how much blood is in a child/adult. A loud recording of a heart beat would make a good introduction for you to come in to, ask them what it is and what a hearts job is.

do make sure you wear a white lab coat, nothing like dressing the part, you don't need two pairs of glasses and Einstein hair though.

That sounds great. DD did blood in Y6 recently and while they obviously went a bit more detailed about it they also played games like you describe.

What stuck with DD most though was “making blood” with coloured water and small sweets representing the various components.

As long as the school are aware that is what you are doing - might need to arrange to be out of the classroom as might be no room for running about
Good also to have something for them to keep / take away...... diagrams or a little spiel on a leaflet.

Agree about finding your labcoat. Essential to keep the myth going that scientists wear labcoats at all times.

Sounds great! Top tip for any visitor is to not take questions/comments as soon as someone puts up their hand. It's so easy to want to engage that you get side tracked. Save questions for a set time.

Warning: "questions" are often entire life stories with a vague connection to something you mentioned!

It sounds great apart from the blindfolded teacher part. I would warn the school that you wanted to blindfold an adult as part of the activity so they can provide an extra person. Even when there is a visitor in, the teacher is the one responsible for the class so couldn’t be blindfolded. Or maybe take someone with you to be the plasma/platelets?

Red beanbags for red cells to carry to body?

Being oxygen - sorry pressed too soon

Sounds great! A few points:-

I would personally remove the platelet explanation. While platelets are indeed amazing , it may be more realistic to just focus on red and white cells with that age group.

No teacher in their right mind will agree to be blindfolded while responsible for their students so you will need to rethink that bit.

As PP have said, be prepared for totally off the wall questions and stories they tell you which may or may not be related to blood!

Be ready to explain how to stop bleeding and nosebleeds as they may ask about that.

I would not be getting a group of children you don't know to run around unless you've talked this through with their teacher first and you're confident in your own ability to bring them back to you at the end of the activity. They will get hyper and silly and they won't listen to the rest of what you have to say.

It's my job to take science activities into schools.

What you're planning sounds like fun, but it's very ambitious for your first time in charge of a class. One big action running game max, and I'd recommend keeping it for the end: perhaps to sum up & consolidate what they've learned, as they'll be hard to settle afterwards. It takes far longer than you think to explain the rules of a game.

Plan for what your signal will be to get the running to stop & regain their focus. A simple "Sitting down in 3 .... sitting down in 2 ... sitting down in 1. Thank you" will suffice.

By all means keep the science simple, but be wary of introducing misconceptions. Red blood cells don't give you energy. Year 2 will be fine with learning that red blood cells carry oxygen from the air in your lungs which is used to turn sugars from food into energy ( & carbon dioxide and water).

Please don't wear a lab coat unless you actually do in your job! Bust some myths!!! If there is some simple equipment that you can borrow for them to safely handle, they'll love that. Do you use pipettes, syringes without needles, etc?

If you've been asked to talk about your job, then do talk about it. Relate it to things they might have come across eg illness.

There's lots of advice on the STEM Ambassador's website 😀
www.stem.org.uk/stem-ambassadors