Learning how to communicate your science is an essential part of any scientist’s career. Whether for an interview, a presentation or for sharing your latest research with family and friends, there are many routes to explore. However, have you ever considered a board game…?
It is definitely an unusual form of public engagement, but it is one that has been an incredibly rewarding experience for us all. The ‘we’ here is Mark Basham, Claire Murray (both from Diamond Light Source) and Matthew Dunstan (University of Cambridge), who had never worked together before this project. However, we quickly became good friends and collaborators in the process of creating our board game to engage teenagers in the life of a scientist and in STEM careers. The game is based on the floor plan of Diamond Light Source and every experiment is one that has been carried out there. We playtested our game with lots of family and friends before taking it to our target audience – teenagers between 12-18 who may not be aware of the full variety of careers in STEM available to them. We learned so much that we have actually just published a paper sharing the design process, evaluation and results and our approach to inclusive design. Check out the Diamond website to learn more about it!
Read more on the Diamond website
Words: Dr Claire Murray
Image: Three of the authors of the paper and creators of Diamond: The Game, (L-R) Dr Claire Murray, Dr Mark Basham and Dr Matthew Dunstan
Credit: Diamond Light Source