SCIENCE FOR ALL
Millions tune in to online lessons during lockdown
GLASGOW Science Centre closed its doors as the UK entered lockdown. A pandemic brought life to a halt and everyone felt uncertain. The world looked dark.
The science centre team wanted to ensure science was fun and accessible even when its doors were closed, and so GSCAtHome was born.
After the dark times of no toilet roll or pasta in the shops came the time of applause, community, zoom quizzes and daily videos from Glasgow Science Centre’s communicators.
During lockdown, children and families across Glasgow and beyond toured the solar system, made lava lamps, created volcanoes and tornadoes, explored sound and vision, gravity and light, and delved into density and biodiversity.
The team of science communicators became YouTube stars overnight, writing content, setting up home studios and going all out to get the perfect shot.
And the communications team became an editing powerhouse, experiencing the highs of managing to say that complex scientific phrase in one take and the lows of cameras falling over during experiments.
Five months on, with 100 videos uploaded and more than one million views, Glasgow Science Centre is making plans to reopen its doors in the autumn.
GSC At Home was a way for the team to work together in their own homes, and transmit fun science to households across Glasgow, Scotland and the world.
Their efforts paid off.
GSCAtHome has been shortlisted for several awards as well as having ignited the imagination of thousands of children in lockdown.
The GSCAtHome team explain how it went behind the scenes.
Sabah said: “At 10am each morning I settled down with a cup of tea to watch the new release and create a record for our video catalogue. “I checked the content against the Curriculum for Excellence guidelines, recorded key words, themes and learning outcomes.
“Then it was time to create resource sheets to accompany the videos, an outline of the experiment followed by a step- bystep guide. I finish by including obscure facts related to the videa, ranging from
‘ Humans share 50 per cent of our genes with bananas’ to ‘ Animals are frequently employed as secret agents to gather information’.
Niall said: “My flat was transformed into a glamorous pre- production studio, with my flatmate sent to the kitchen to work from home.
“Once the lighting was ready ( daylight through a window) and my iphone was precariously perched on top of a drum case and a large stool, I would be camera ready.
“After my first shot I seriously considered becoming a hair model. Having stored the script in my brain it was time to squeeze into my homemade spacesuit and pop on my space helmet, a cardboard box covered in tin foil. Then it was lights, camera, action, and hoping the camera wouldn’t fall over ( it did).”
CJ said: “We met online each morning to discuss what was on the cards for the rest of the day.
“For me that meant finding out which spelling mistakes I had let slip through in my subtitles or which videos I had to edit.
“Once that was done it was onto the fun stuff; choosing the best royalty free musix, deciding whether to jump cut or zoom or transition. Editing videos wasn’t something I ever imagined myself doing but it was a blast!
Alicia said: “How to film an episode for GSCAtHome when your flat is not a film studio?
“What you don’t see in the GSCAtHome videos is the chaos just outside the camera shot. Pillows thrown on any bare surface to reduce echoes, a pile of washing hidden in the corner, and old boxes doubling as a tripod for the camera.
“BluTac became my new best friend – an essential item to stick my phone to the wall and make it look like I had a camera crew.”
Chris added: “We had to look at what materials we would have at home.
“What science could we do that doesn’t involve fancy chemicals or expensive equipment? Turns out, there are loads!
“If you had empty drinks cans and straws, we could talk about air pressure. Kitchen towels and felt pens meant we could get into chromatography.
“I taught myself the science behind each concept, trying the experiment as I went and writing a script. It’s surprising how difficult it can be to explain simple things, like how a bubble is formed and why it is spherical.”
Lorna said: “One hundred videos, one million views and countless hours of editing. “Lockdown was incredibly busy for our team. Our science communicators did a fantastic job with their videos, but once they’ve stopped the camera there’s a lot of work to do.
“Each video had to be edited and subtitled, have backing music and sound effects added and branded. It could take an hour or two days. Once they’re ready, they have to be uploaded and scheduled for each of our social media channels.
“We’re all so proud of the GSCAtHome campaign.”