As an engineer and designer working to understand and shape the future of technology, I see promoting science and engineering as an important part of my professional duty: getting people interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects, and highlighting the possibilities of STEM career. To that end, I have regularly written internal blog posts for my organisation on interesting STEM topics.
Need
During the Covid-19 lockdown, I spotted an opportunity to try something new with these blog posts: many colleagues now had children studying at home, children who would be missing out on the fun of lab-based science practicals.
Solution
I drew on past experience as a STEM ambassador to develop a short series of blogs with science and technology practicals that readers could do with children at home, using common household items. I produced photo and video demonstrations of the practicals to either follow along with or watch if readers preferred not to try them for themselves. One highly topical example, in the context of the public being urged to wash our hands more regularly by health professionals, involved the science behind soap, and included a colourful practical using milk and food colouring, shown in the video below.
The series of blogs was extremely well-received, generating a strong positive response from readers. I provided PDF versions to allow them to be easily emailed to personal accounts and used at home, and a selection of these are linked below.
