In celebration of International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we spoke to two members of our Young Steering Group, nine-year-old Bethan and seven-year-old Tillie, about how they feel about science and being part of the Young Steering Group.
Here at Wonderseekers, the Charity behind Winchester Science Centre, we value children’s voices. Through our Young Steering Group programme, which has been running for 5 years, a diverse group of enthusiastic children play an active role in helping us to develop new and exciting exhibits at the Science Centre. This is part of our bigger mission to make science and the natural world accessible to all children across the country.
Here’s what Bethan and Tillie had to say:
As a girl, how do you feel about science?
Bethan told us: ‘I think that science is a really exciting area of learning that everyone should be able to get involved with. I love that by experimenting we have learned so much and there is such potential to learn so much more.’
Tillie said: I feel really really really proud of how I am a girl in science because it’s really fun and one of my favourite subjects in school. Science lets me experience all of the things around me in the world.
How do you feel about being part of the Young Steering Group?
Tillie said: ‘Being part of the Steering Group is really good because you get to find out how things work and what’s going to be next in the Science Centre. I like to learn how things affect our environment. It’s also great to make new friends, have fun and do the activities and learn about our world.’
Bethan added ‘I feel so happy to part of the Young Steering Group, and lucky to be invited to be a part of it. It has helped me get a bigger understanding of science and the many ways we use science in our day to day lives.’
What do you think is the best part of the Young Steering Group?
Bethan explained: ‘The best part of the group is being able to learn about science with friends in ways I may not be able to do at home. I am really proud to be able to be part of a team that is influencing how the charity is working and what it can offer.’
Tillie told us: ‘I like how Wonderseekers help the Steering Group to learn about our world and how we can help children and grown-ups learn about the world around us too. Even if they know all about our world already, we can help all of those people to learn about science.’
What made you volunteer in a science role?
Tillie said: ‘As soon as I heard that there was a young steering group, I said to myself I’ll just give it a try and see how it goes. Now I’ve got really into it, I feel happy because I really wanted to learn about our world around us.’
Bethan said that she decided to get involved because ‘as a family we home educate, and this offered an amazing opportunity to get involved with a group that could help my personal learning and give me an opportunity to help others at the same time. I am always intrigued to know how things work and explore science more, so this was a great opportunity for me to further my own interests.’
What would you say to other girls who think science isn’t for them?
Bethan explained: ‘I would encourage them to give it a try, they might be surprised at how science is a part of our everyday lives. In a relatively short period of time science has changed how we live drastically, it has given us so many new inventions like electricity, medicine and so much more. How exciting would it be to be the next scientist that discovers a life changing piece of science we haven’t yet discovered. I would encourage them to have fun and experiment with science - you never know what we might find next!’.
Tillie had this to say: ‘I would say that science is fun, and if they didn’t believe me then I’d show them the Science Centre and how they can learn about our world. Girls can help in science as well as boys because we’re all part of the same world.’
You can find out more about our Young Steering Group on our website.
