The Outreach Certificate recognises the valuable time and effort that students invest in science outreach. It celebrates students' achievements and endorses the time and effort that they put into outreach to potential employers.
Why
Being involved in Public Engagement or Outreach takes time, effort and commitment. It delivers on a lot of fronts: The public or the audience benefit, students who participate talk about improved time management, organisational skills, communication, engaging a non-science audience, communicating fundamental science, meeting new people and fun- a whole range of life skills, and useful for future employment too!
How
This is about communicating stuff you’ve learned in the course of your study in activities not required for coursework.
This activity may be paid or unpaid; may involve web-based things such as blogs or websites; exhibitions, artwork or films; it may be preparing interpretation or information boards for community groups; it may be mentoring high school students (or younger), it may be teaching in an outreach programme such as the NZ Marine Studies Centre GATE programme or Chemistry Outreach. You are limited only by your imagination...
Where
Not all departments offer loads of opportunities to get involved in outreach, but there are some activities that are open to many and they’re not department-specific. These include:
- Education at Orokonui Ecosanctuary
- Chemistry Outreach
- Science Academy (OUASSA)
- Hands-On Science
