Youth Group Science Club
This webpage is still being developed
About the Science Club
We are currently developing a new activity specifically for youth groups, the Youth Group Science Club, to be ready for September 2022 in Galway County and nationally in 2023. The club was piloted by the University of Galway team in June 2022 with a local Galway Foróige youth group.
This science club comprises five 1.5hr weekly sessions, hosted at local youth groups, where young people will engage in a series of hands-on STEM activities. They are guided in their discovery by local Cell EXPLORERS scientists explainers.
To contribute towards informing the design of the Science Club, Cell EXPLORERS participated in the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI) pilot project `Working with youth work organisations for equity and inclusion in STEAM` 2021/22.”
The Youth Group Science Club has been developed with funding from Science Foundation Ireland. Its dissemination to youth groups is part of the Cell EXPLORERS GROWS project - 'Giving Real Opportunities to Widen Participation in STEM'. The GROWS project is supported by the US Medtronic STEM foundation.
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Ethos and programme of the Science Club
Collaboration is at the heart of this science club, and young people are the drivers of their own STEM engagement as they choose which activities to complete and participate in peer-learning and teamwork. Young people also have the opportunity to learn more about what it means to be a scientist, with structured discussions with the scientist explainers.
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Science club objectives
The science club runs for 5 weeks, with a 1.5 hr each week. Each session has a different objective and hands-on activity. As young progress through the club they become more independent, and leaders within their own STEM commuities.
The activities
All science activities in the science club are hands-on, and young people complete all experiments individually.
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Day 1 - Meet the Scientists: The young people meet the Cell EXPLORERS science explainers and play a series of icebreakers to get to know each other.
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Day 2 - Fantastic DNA: Young people are introduced to molecular and cellular biology and guided in an established session to extract DNA from bananas using our Fantastic DNA in a Box science kit.
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Day 3 and 4 - Choice of activities: Young people choose from a selection of 12 hands-on science experiments. These science activity cards were designed by the Vienna Children's University - Kinderbuero. Young people complete the hands-on experiments using materials contained in the provided Science Exploration kit. After completing an activity the young people become science explainers and engage in peer-learning by guiding each other through the activities.
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Day 5 - Mini Showcase Day: Young people create posters illustrating their Science Club experiment - including their favourite hands-on science activity, and what they learnt about the Cell EXPLORERS scientists and themselves! Young people present the posters to their peers, youth workers, explainers and parents/guardians. Check our our Poster Parlor featuring the posters of previous youth group science clubs.
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Example of an activity card for Vienna Children's University
The Science Exploration kit
Young people use the materials provided in the Science Exploration kit to do the activity cards from Days 3 and 4. The exploration kits are theirs to keep!
All activities are not completed during the Science Club, leaving some to be explored by the young people under the supervisor of their youth group workers after the science club has ended. All activity cards follow the same structure and pattern. This aims to extend the miniature science community beyond the programme of the 5-week Science Club.
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The Online Club
We want the young people and their youth groups to be able to stay in contact with the Cell EXPLORERS team - even after the Science Club has ended! This space can be used by young people and their youth workers/parents/guardians to:
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Submit questions to the Cell EXLORERS team using the form below: this questions can be about your science activities, or what it is like to be a scientist. Messages can only be made with parental/guardian supervision.
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Browse ways that you can continue your own science journey - find more public engagement in science activities available in your area (Not available yet)
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View the posters that you or other young people have made - we will upload here a digital poster parlour celebrating the posters that young people made about their science club experience. ​​​
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