Projects We have now completed projects at two schools in Leicester city. Our projects began with a 30 minute assembly which comprised an overview and a play about health research using interactive handsets so that the children could participate by answering questions. Staff from the Department of Health Sciences then attended 5 hour long sessions in which the children defined their health research question, designed their data collection tool, collected data, graphed the data, drew conclusions and made recommendations on what they had learnt. The children then prepared scientific posters on their work with clear introduction, methods, results and discussion sections. Braunstone Frith Junior School We undertook our first project at Braunstone Frith Junior School in September 2007 and were given great support by the Head teacher and the two year 5 teachers. The projects included: 'Who eats healthy snacks after school?' 'Do tall people run faster than short people?' 'How many pieces of fruit do you have in your packed lunch or school dinner?' 'How many steps do boys and girls take at break?' 'What do people drink at home?' 'Are children fitter than adults?' 'How many meals do you eat with meat a day?' On the 16 October the two year 5 classes made fantastic presentations of their work to their year group, teachers and staff from the university. Evaluation of the project We undertook an evaluation of the project and the following graph shows positive responses to the 11 questions we asked the children about the project. Overall, response to the project from the children was very positive. The children were also asked on their evaluation sheet whether they had any additional comments, the comments below are a summary of those provided. The play "I liked the team work and the Harry Ponder play. It made me laugh." Data collection "I liked it when we collected the information." "I really liked using the pedometers." Designing the poster "What I liked about it was the poster because it was fun." "I liked designing the poster because it was fun." "I liked doing the powerpoint." "I really liked the part where we made our poster and when we used the pedometers." Presenting the poster "I liked the project because we got to show it at the end." "I really liked presenting it to you." "I didn't like presenting the poster because I'm a bit shy." "I liked working with [2 children's names] and presenting it in front of people." Comments on the project overall "I really liked doing the project because it was exciting. I didn't like it when we practised because [child's name] kept on pushing people about." "I really liked working in a team. Everyone was helpful. I liked everything." Overdale Junior School We undertook our second project at Overdale Junior School in February 2008 and were given great support by the three year 5 teachers. The projects included: 'Do year 1 or year 5 children eat more healthy foods?' 'Are children more active than adults during a school day?' 'Do year 5 children in England eat more healthy foods than a year 5 class in Sweden?' 'Do year 3 and year 5 children do different activites after school?' 'How do different year groups travel to school?' 'On average how many portions of fruit and vegetables do boys and girls eat a day (data collected using a food diary for a week)' 'Do adults or children eat more fruit?' In March 2008, the three year 5 classes made fantastic presentations of their work to their year group, teachers and staff from the university. Evaluation of the project We undertook an evaluation of the project and the following graph shows positive responses to the 11 questions we asked the children about the project. The children were also asked on their evaluation sheet whether they had any additional comments, the comments below are a summary of those provided. The play "I really liked using the handsets and the play." Data collection "I really liked collecting data and working in a team. I didn’t like thinking of a question." "I liked collecting the data around the classrooms." Designing the poster "I didn’t like doing the bar chart because I don’t like maths." "I really liked designing the poster and drawing the charts." Presenting the poster "I really liked presenting my poster." Comments on the project overall "It was good because you could find out new things." "I really enjoyed working in a team." "It was really fun but it was a bit hard thinking of the research question, but I most enjoyed designing the poster."