Friday, 14 July 2023
Families are being invited to a week of free events at the University of Nottingham to learn how the mind and brain work through a variety of fun games and activities.
Summer Scientist Week runs from the 31 July to 4 August and is organised by the School of Psychology. It’s open to children aged 4-11 and their parents or carers.
Working with academics, children can take part in a range of themed hands-on games designed to explore how the mind develops, covering areas including; social and emotional development, attention and memory and spatial and sensory development.
Child taking part in previous Summer Scientist event
All the games have been specially designed to be fun and engaging whilst also helping to show how children develop. Examples of games this year include: Maths games looking at how memory is involved in learning with animal and counting tasks, dancing and treasure hunt tasks investigating how children learn from, and interact with others and using a MIRAGE illusion box to look into how what we see and feel might change how we know where our hands are and what shape they are.
Children complete a ‘log book’ to record the games they have taken part in and receive a small gift at the end of the session. Parents can follow up on our findings after the event by via our newsletter and Facebook page.
Bringing children and their families together for this event is always great fun and hugely beneficial for our research. The games and activities are built around themes we explore in the School of Psychology and the findings on the day could be valuable in informing new research or giving new insights into a current project. It also gives the families the opportunity to learn something new about the mind and brain and how it develops
Summer Scientist Week has been running for a number of years and parents who have attended with their children have said: “Every year gets better and better (in terms of organisation and range of activities) and we always look forward to it. Whilst simultaneously helping to support research we get a pleasant afternoon full of interesting activities.”
The activities take place in the Engineering Science Learning Centre on University Park Campus and run from 9am to 12pm and 1pm to 4pm each day. There will also be a relaxed session on the afternoon of Wednesday 2nd August for neurodivergent and differently abled children, which will allow them to engage in the activities in a quieter, more accessible manner.
To register click this link
Story credits
More information is available from Lucy Cragg on Lucy.cragg@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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