Supporting Activities

To help your students get the most out of the I’m a Scientist Disease Detectives Zone we have put together some self-led activities that can be completed before and after the live chats. There are different levels for students of different abilities.

Students can find the activities from their profiles, or you can send them this page.

Pre-chat activities

Students choose a Pre-chat activity to help them prepare for and get the most from their Live Chats with the Disease Detectives. The activities encourage students to prepare questions for the different scientists in the Disease Detectives Zone.

Profile Surfing [PDF]
Before taking part in the Live Chat students read three Disease Detectives profiles. Write down their names, their job and prepare one question per scientist.
Tell me more! [PDF]
Students choose a short article or information page to read related to the scientists in the Disease Detectives zone and write some questions linked to the article(s) they read. These can be asked during the live chat or through the ASK section if they can’t make a Live Chat.

Post-chat activities

Students choose one post-chat activity to help them reflect on what they have learnt through the Live Chats and ASK sections of the Disease Detectives Zones.

Disease Detectives Quiz [PDF]
Students complete a short multiple-choice quiz based on the Disease Detectives Zone.
Disease Detectives reporter [PDF]
Students write a short one-page report on their topic of choice, highlighting three key things they have learnt from the Disease Detectives Zone.

Disease Detective Student Competition

Following the Live Chat students can enter a competition to win Amazon Vouchers. There will be a 1st prize of £100, 2nd Prize of £50 and 3rd prize of £30. The first prize winner will also win £300 for their school science department.

What do students have to do? [PDF]

Students have to produce a poster discussing how studying DNA can help us understand and make new discoveries about disease.
All entries will be judged by scientists from the Disease Detectives Zone.
We will be looking for:

Creativity
Engaging content
Use of images (not just lots of text)
A correct understanding of the science
Something that you have learnt from taking part in the Disease Detectives Zone.

How to enter All entries should be emailed to engage@wgc.org.uk, with the student name, age, school, and teacher’s contact details. If easier we can also accept zip files or batch files of entries from a class via a file transfer program such as dropbox or Wetransfer.

The winners and highly commended entries will be displayed on the Disease Detectives Zone page and the Wellcome Genome Campus Public engagement website.

The closing date for entries is 20th July 2020.