"Hvorfor det?" for ungdomstrinnet

"Science fair" is a widely used concept in the United States, where school children are conducting a science project in their spare time and then present their projects at a research exhibition featuring the best ideas. A Norwegian project; "Why?" has developed a similar arrangement adapted to Norwegian conditions. The target group for this project is children from 8-13 years and during the last few years the project has organized several successful research exhibitions in schools in the Eastern part of Norway, where children have shown their own research on self-chosen questions. In this project, we want to further develop and adapt the "Why?" concept to a version aimed at the youth (13-15 years). This will be a collaborative project between Mari Mæland Nilsen and Ingunn Jolma in "Forskerne kommer" and Ruth Aga in "Why?". Based on several years of experience in research dissemination for children and adolescents, we have discovered that many young people have little knowledge of what it means to be a researcher and different research methods. There are several nice events for children interested in research (e.g. Nysgjerrigper, Forskerfabrikken, Why?), but no similar offers for young people are found. In order to keep their research interests beyond child school age, inspiration and self motivation are needed, and by creating research exhibitions in the American way, we hope to create and maintain an engagement among the young people. At the same time, we hope that we, as female researchers, can act as role models for young people who have not necessarily identified themselves as potential future researchers. So far, we have organized two research exhibitions where young scientist have presented their research on different topics. The first research exhibition was organized in collaboration with one of the high schools in Stavanger in November 2018 (St Olav videregående). The topic of the science fair was 'Sustainable development' and all first years students participated (approximately 200 students). We have also organized a science fair for students in 8th grade at Rennesøy ungdomsskole in April 2019. For both events we have participated in the development and organization of the exhibitions, inspired and motivated the students during the process and attended as science fair judges. We have also organized several planning meetings and have contacted several schools and teenager clubs in the region which could be interested in joining such a project. Furthermore, we have held a presentation about 'Life as a researcher' for students at the researcher program at St Olav videregående school. We are planning to organize three new science fairs in the Stavanger/Sandnes region during autumn 2019.

I dette prosjektet ønsker vi å videreutvikle og tilpasse «Hvorfor det?» konseptet til en versjon som retter seg mot ungdomstrinnet (13-15 år). Dette vil være et samarbeidsprosjekt mellom Mari Mæland Nilsen og Ingunn Jolma i «Forskerne kommer» og Ruth Aga i «Hvorfor det?». Basert på flere års erfaring med forskningsformidling for barn og unge, og ikke minst erfaring fra «Unge Lyse Hoder-et forskningsnettverk for unge forskerspirer» som også har blitt støttet av PROFORSK, har vi oppdaget at mange ungdommer har liten kunnskap om hva det vil si å være forsker og ulike forskningsmetoder. Det finnes flere gode opplegg for barn som er interessert i forskning (bl.a. Nysgjerrigper, Forskerfabrikken, Hvorfor det?), men man finner ikke tilsvarende gode tilbud for ungdom. For å holde på forskningsinteressen utover barneskolealder, behøves inspirasjon og selvmotivasjon, og ved å lage en forsknings-utstilling på amerikansk vis håper vi å kunne skape engasjement hos ungdom.