What people have said - Scientists

“It was rewarding when they got so excited at times by contributing to the class with words and ideas. I felt like they all gained something from the experience and I certainly did in having a chance to work individually with these children… The ideas that resulted from this work were very inspiring… ”
Caroline Smith, Department of Metabolic Biology, John Innes Centre

“I knew how enthusiastic the kids could be… what really surprised me was how much I enjoyed working with them and seeing what they could achieve once one found the right stimulus.”
Trevor Wang, Department of Metabolic Biology, John Innes Centre (a participating scientist with a daughter at The Clare School)

“The experience has been wholly positive… a wonderful way to bring science to young children, and the convergence of the scientific concepts together with poetry and art helped to create an experience that I'm sure will stay with many of these children for their whole lives. We in Bio are extremely keen to participate again in SAW and we see this as an ideal way to engage our science with everyday life.”
Dylan Edwards, Head of School, School of Biological Sciences, UEA

“We need innovative approaches to helping pupils see that science is a creative way of understanding the universe and ourselves. See Saw does this in a way that is both beautiful and powerful.”
Michael Reiss, Professor of Science Education at the Institute of Education, University of London

“Scientists, artists and creative writers share a common purpose in their attempts to describe, interpret and ultimately to understand the world about them. SAW is singularly successful in drawing those threads together.”
Professor David Ingram OBE, VMH, Master, St Catharine's College, Cambridge: botanist, horticulturalist and conservationist

“Amazingly, I observed something about how Streptomyces colonies grow that had escaped my notice in the previous 39 years!”
Keith Chater

“I enjoyed the day hugely.”
Tony Maxwell

“During our SAW project we exposed children from ages 7-11 to non-linear dynamics, chaos and fractals. These are very advanced and challenging concepts, well beyond most undergraduate courses in maths or physics. To our great astonishment, the children’s openness towards new ideas and eagerness to play with new exciting things allowed them to grasp many of the concepts without being held back by the prejudice of it all being too difficult for them. The children were enchanted by this strange new world of fractal universes and recursive monsters that was presented to them. It was great to see how well the children responded. I think we all found SAW a hugely rewarding experience.”
Richard Morris

“The children gave surprisingly well-informed and thoughtful answers to complex questions related to the similarities and differences between art and science.”
Robert Sablowski

“The SAW day… was an extremely rewarding experience. The children loved investigating the different types of seeds and learning about their dispersal methods. The energy and enthusiasm they had for all of the activities was brilliant to watch and overall the day was a great success.”
Wendy Harwood and Hayley Jeffries

“I think other scientists should do this type of project as it’s a great way to get our research out there to a wide audience and it sparks a lot of interest and confidence in children to do more science.”
Jenni Rant

“In many ways it is more difficult to simplify a complex issue than to explain every aspect of the problem. Therefore it was an invaluable experience to be offered a young audience to communicate science with.”
Andrew Staphnill

“I was really surprised by the enthusiasm with which the children involved themselves in the SAW project – and the results were awe-inspiring. I was impressed at how clever the children were at grasping new concepts and how imaginative with their science-inspired poetry. The best part of all was seeing how much they enjoyed themselves, as did my scientific colleagues and I.”
Kamal Ivory

“The children were very enthusiastic and did the experiments with some thought. They made pertinent observations on some things I thought they probably wouldn’t notice. They used some of the equipment in a way I hadn’t anticipated, which all added to their and my enjoyment!
Gillian Rich

“Fantastic!”
Dr Uta Paskowski, plant biologist, University of Geneva, Swtizerland

“See Saw arrived this morning. I love it, and had to drag it away from our art editor, who also couldn’t tear herself away!”
Shannon Amoils, editor for Nature Reviews Microbiology

“Amazing. I really like ‘Earth-sick Astronaut’ and ‘The Spiral Staircase’. ‘Yellow Moon Haiku’ grabbed me too. The dust mites made me wonder what your poets would do with a forest of Aspergillus, seen through a microscope. Most of the drawings, charming as they are, are clearly the work of children. But the poems, in their perfectly printed type, are age-free.”
Professor John Taylor, evolutionary biologist, University of California, Berkeley, US

“I let myself be captured by the pictures and poems. Beginning with “People on the Great Wall of China, dancing the cha cha cha” and ending with “Birds fly in and out of the website”, I was enchanted.”
Professor Nick Amrheinn, biochemist, University of Zurich, Switzerland