Talk to US!

Talk To US! Engaging University of Southampton (US) researchers with secondary school students and teachers.

PI: Professor Tony Kelly

Aims Talk to US! is a new initiative, funded by the RCUK, which aims to inspire students and their teachers at a wide range of secondary schools in the Solent region, including ‘hard to reach’ schools, and engage them in a dialogue with researchers at the University of Southampton.

There are three main aims to this study:

• to jointly design stimulating activities which engage and inspire a wider range of students and teachers, and enhance their experience of contemporary research being undertaken at their local university,
• to develop a research-oriented culture whereby the students carry out small-scale research projects at school and the teachers engage in school-based action research, 
• to carry out coherent and structured evaluations to establish an evidence base for the approach.

Methods

The three-year project is viewed as the first stage in the development of a long-term sustainable model of structured school-university interaction for wider delivery across other subject areas at Southampton and in other school-HEI partnerships. We believe this partnership has the potential to create a sustainable step change in teaching for schools and students across the Solent region. The main partner schools are two Teaching Schools recognised for their outstanding performance. Bitterne Park School, (Southampton city), and the Wildern / Hounsdown Teaching School Alliance (both Hampshire schools).

Researchers from six University academic units are involved in this project: The Southampton Education School, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, Oceanography, Chemistry and Biological Sciences. Each academic unit will focus on one specific area of their research (a sub-project) which is distinctive, cutting edge and relevant to the school students but the model is designed so that certain elements will be common to all six sub-projects.

These common elements are:

• Professional development for the teachers (in conjunction with the regional Science Learning Centre) to increase their knowledge and confidence in the relevant research areas.
• Professional development for University researchers on how to work with secondary pupils. 
• Production of high quality and accessible teaching resources.
• Curriculum linked lessons taught by the teachers at school.
• Pupils participation in a range of inspiring activities based on the techniques and equipment used by researchers.
• Small-scale school-based research carried out by students on a relevant topic.
• Small-scale action research carried out by teachers while working with their students after the University visit.
• Constructive feedback to the researchers about their activities and presentations from selected pupils.
• An end of year 'celebration' at the University, for students to exhibit their work, share experiences and present posters on their research projects. Questionnaires and interviews will be completed by pupils, teachers and researchers at various stages of the project to establish a structured and coherent evidence base.

Impact to date

This project is in its early stages – watch this space!