Information for Parents and Guardians
What to expect from the Junior Scientist event
We are excited to invite you and your child(ren) to take part in our Junior Scientist event. Last year’s event was a roaring success, and we are again making this year’s one bigger and better! At the Junior Scientist event, you and your child/children will be invited to join us for a fun-filled session of learning about and taking part in science! For children – they will have the chance to take part in lots of fun science themed games, as well as some short (and fun) research studies (there is also one study for caregivers). There will be lots of prizes to be won on the day as well as goodies to take home. For parents/caregivers, you will hopefully be able to relax and enjoy seeing your child taking part in the fantastic activities we have planned.
Refreshments will be provided for parents (tea/coffee & biscuits) and children (juice & biscuits). And the best part – it is all for free! If you do decide to take part, we will invite you to a 2.5-hour fun-filled session of activities at Collingwood College in August 2024. We will let you know what time to arrive (sessions either start at 10 a.m. or 2 p.m.). Once we check you in, we will have a team of people ready to engage your child in a range of fun activities (e.g., virtual reality games, creative stations; problem-solving games; face painting) and interesting research studies. For every study that your child takes part in (none lasts longer than 20 minutes) they will earn tokens that they can ‘spend’ on fun activities of their choice. You do not have to stay for the full 2.5 hours if you do not want to.
What to expect from the research studies
One of the aims of Junior Scientist is to engage children in research about child development. At the event, your child will have the chance to take part in up to 12 studies. These are really fun experiences for children, and take no longer than 20 minutes each. The information sheet and consent form you will read through the booking portal explains each of these in detail. Importantly, your child does not have to take part in any of that they don’t want to.
All studies involve tasks that have been designed for children, and children almost always enjoy them and complete them with ease. However, if at any time a child appears unhappy or distressed and does not want to complete a task, it will be stopped immediately. They are able to withdraw from the task at any time. Even if you sign the consent form and your child starts the study, they can still withdraw.
All of these studies are being run by experienced researchers from the Department of Psychology here at Durham University. All of these have received ethical approval. All of the volunteers who are helping out at the event are students from Durham University.
You are welcome to accompany your child as they take part in all of the research studies. As part of the booking system, we also ask you for some information about your child (via brief questionnaires).
What to expect from the activities
The way we run the event is that children earn ‘tokens’ for taking part in studies, which they can ‘spend’ on activities in our activity area. These activities mostly have a psychology/science relevance. For example, in our reaction time game we use this to talk to children about how they control their movements, and what part of the brain is responsible for this. In our prism googles game, wearing the goggles makes the world look very different and we talk to children about vision and how our visual system adapts to different situations. But we also have lots of activities that are just about fun, such as face painting and virtual reality games. So there is lots of variety and interesting things to do!
Breakout space, refreshments, and sensory corner
While the Junior Scientist session will be action-packed, we also provide a quieter space where free refreshments are provided (tea, coffee, juice, biscuits) for some chill time. We recognise that neurodivergent children may have more need for some chill time, and we provide a sensory corner with some relaxing sensory toys for anyone who needs a little break.
Further queries?
If you have any questions or queries about the Junior Scientist event, or any of the studies that we plan to run, please contact the organisers at junior.scientist@durham.ac.uk
Need to contact us?
Questions or concerns about the event or any technical issues? Please email us.
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