After I just wrote about how much I like being a teacher, I could start this blog about how much I enjoy being a student myself again as well. My course is very interesting and I met new friends among my fellow adult classmates. One of them, Edwin, works on the Baudartius College in Zutphen and he heard his colleagues talk about me one day…
I also love being an ambassador for science, which is how Edwin’s colleagues heard of me. They were thinking of asking me to come to their school and do a lecture, when Edwin mentioned he actually knows me, so he ended up calling me to ask. Not that I wouldn’t have said yes to this great idea anyway! The Baudartius college was organising a ‘science afternoon’ for girls in the last classes of nearby primary schools and as part of this they’d like me to explain what I discovered through the Zooniverse project.
And there actually were 98 girls who signed up for this! Being a primary school teacher before I started teaching at the Citaverde college, I know it’s hard for a big group like that to concentrate on someone talking for long, but they didn’t seem all that bored after my 30 minute lecture. They even came up with a couple of great questions (more or less related to the subject)!
After my talk, the girls were divided in groups, where they worked on making mobile solar systems. Edwin showed me around and we visited the hardworking girls as well. Some of them used this moment to come up to me and ask for an autograph. At the end of the day they were asked to fill in a survey about this day, so I got grades from them (for a change)!
This is what the 98 girls replied to the question ‘I thought Hanny van Arkel’s lecture was interesting’ with 0 meaning ‘totally not’ and 5 meaning ‘very much’. And that from a group of girls where at the start only 59% said to be interested in astronomy. They were also positive about making the solar systems, the teachers present and the atmosphere in general. Well done, Baudartius college!
The Entrance.
98 Girls interested in science.
My co-student Edwin, pretending to be a mobile himself.
The group of girls making the mobile solar systems.
