Explorathon 2016
On the 30th of September Henry Rae, Mike Fearon and Paul Reynolds joined with researchers at the Byre Theatre from 5pm to 11.30pm delivering an interactive science event at Explorathon 2016. They were kept busy all night demonstrating proprioception and the decrease in reaction time when focussing on multiple tasks. The event was well-attended throughout the night with over 500 people of all ages including a St Andrews Medical graduate from 1946 who still has fond memories of her Bute years.
At Craigtoun Park on Saturday 1st October 2016, Rachel Nutt was there as part of a team who created an interactive display where those attending the event could “have a go” at qualitative data analysis – by choosing themes to allocate to statements describing patients experiences of cardiac rehabilitation. This was to give Explorathon attendees insight in to the research process but also the experiences of those who’d had a heart attack and cardiac rehabilitation. Although there were a limited number of themes available to choose from, there was still discussion (and disagreement!) over which were “right”, with some people choosing to add their own themes. This was a great result as the third aim of the activity was to hopefully show, and prompt reflection on, how the interpretation of data can be influenced by your own background or bias. The Wellcome Trusts Institutional Strategic Support Fund, Public Engagement Bursary Scheme, provided funding for materials.
