I had forgotten what it was like to define yourself by your favourites but this took me back and it was fun to force myself to choose my favourites. I got quite a few of these kinds of questions (pollinator, flower, plant, part of studying pollination, area of Science (Biology, Chemistry, Physics) when I was at school). On that note, be prepared to answer what your favourite organism/subject when you were a kid/part of your work/etc is. Although there were a few more science-oriented/fact based questions, much of what they wanted to know was about what it is like to be a scientist and how you become one. For the group I had, one of the main goals was to give a face to science. Pretty much is every ecologist I know has this chance! I think it is important that scientists are seen as people.

I was happy to provide an example of a scientist that isn’t what the stereotypical view often is. They asked interesting questions and were really engaged. Even though I speak to an eight-year old almost every single day, I wasn’t quite sure what it would be like to chat with a group of 10-11 year olds. But I was especially nervous to talk to a group of kids since that was new. First, I’m almost always nervous before I start talking to a group of people so this was no different.

It might seem weird since I’ve taught many classes and have even given class on science communication but I assure you for me it is not. If you are curious how this works here are some thoughts on my experience: This fall I met with a class in England and hope to be matched again. It gives students and teachers a chance to talk to real living scientists and scientists a chance to chat with students. This is a program connecting scientists with classrooms. It is time to sign up for skypeascientist.

Skype a scientist com