The Life Sciences Challenge: delivering an all-Wales bilingual inter-school competition for over 10 years and throughout a global pandemic

Introduction

Engaging young people with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has long been a priority for universities (Archer Ker et al., 2013), fuelled by a STEM skills shortage reported over many decades (Smith and White, 2019). The Cardiff University School of Medicine Science in Health (SiH; https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/scienceinhealth) programme was developed to engage young people in the health sciences, and to present the breadth of career opportunities that science in health can offer. The programme in its entirety aims to complement and expand on the school science curriculum by challenging students to research beyond the curriculum boundaries, offering hands-on practical activities, informing university and career choices, and demonstrating the applicability, transferability and impact that science has on everyday life.

The Life Sciences Challenge/Her Gwyddorau Bywyd (LSC/HGB) initiative was conceived in 2013. Early career researchers (ECRs), alongside non-clinical staff and PhD students in the School of Medicine, observed that following engagement activities with school students, there was a strong sense of career aspiration bias towards clinical training, as opposed to academic and research-based science career paths (Figure 1).

Figure 1.

Illustration of the original aims of the LSC/HGB, using original branding

Delivery of the first LSC/HGB

The LSC/HGB took shape as a head-to-head knockout-style format, like the BBC television quiz University Challenge. A flyer advertising the initiative was sent to known local teacher contacts, and disseminated utilising the teacher networks of STEM Learning (https://www.stem.org.uk/) and See Science (https://www.see-science.co.uk/). In total, 12 schools (8 English and 4 Welsh), involving Year 10 pupils from the Cardiff area took part.

Volunteers made up of PhD students, early career researchers and members of academic staff from across the university designed the quiz and set the questions for each round. The diverse training of volunteers meant that the range of questions was wide, and thus truly reflective of the life sciences.

Initial rounds of the quiz were hosted in schools in early May and at the end of July to avoid examination periods. Each school was attended by a minimum of two scientists who would undertake the roles of quizmaster and scoremaster. Attending facilitators would introduce themselves, briefly describing their schooling choices, career path, their research and its importance in the field of science in health.

Bilingual quiz finals were held on the same day in September, providing the now Year 11 pupils with often a first opportunity to experience university facilities. Pupils’ families and peers were invited to support the finalists, and an exhibition of science posters and a tour of research facilities provided visitors with the opportunity to find out about current research.

Overwhelming positive feedback received resulted in the LSC/HGB becoming a component of the SiH programme. This not only avoided the quiz becoming an ‘one-off’ engagement event (Archer et al., 2021); it also ensured its continued delivery and development by the School of Medicine’s Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) team.

Evolution of the LSC/HGB

The quiz has evolved extensively over the period, as highlighted in Figure 2. Since 2015, a new cohort of PhD students has been recruited during each October induction week to compile new and fresh questions, and to deliver the quiz rounds with the support of the core team.

Figure 2.

Timeline highlighting notable milestones in the evolution of the LSC/HGB between 2013 and 2022

The LSC/HGB now engages with schools from across the whole of Wales, following the introduction of an online preliminary round utilising a specialised quiz platform, Flexiquiz (https://www.flexiquiz.com/). All communications with schoolteachers are managed utilising an established database of science teacher contacts developed to promote all SiH initiatives.

The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 meant that the ‘live’ rounds could no longer take place in host schools or on campus. The team quickly adapted to the online running of these rounds, using either Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Key elements of the in-person events were transferred to the virtual delivery, including the introduction and career backgrounds of students and members of staff facilitating the LSC/HGB. The use of physical buzzers was replaced by a free online buzzer system called BuzzIn Live (https://buzzin.live/). Despite the challenges of school closures during the pandemic, schools and their pupils continued to engage with the LSC/HGB. In 2022, a hybrid model of the quiz was delivered, with the quarter- and semi-final rounds held online, and the finals held in person, on campus. This model continues to be in operation today.

The content of the LSC/HGB

The quiz aims to stimulate interest and inquisitiveness about all areas of life science for Year 10 pupils. Quiz questions are based on the taught sciences (biology, chemistry and physics) and mathematics curricula, but they aim to challenge and stretch pupils’ knowledge and imagination further, and therefore to reward those who conduct research outside the classroom. Importantly, the quiz is also designed not only to test knowledge recall, but also to probe the ability of pupils to analyse data, interpret a range of graphical formats and to think laterally, essentially, recognising teamwork and rewarding pupils with the skills that scientists require in their daily work.

Quiz questions are largely created in English and, since conception, an expert translator of scientific terms has been employed to translate each of the quiz rounds. Translations are further checked by first-language Welsh speakers working in the sciences to ensure authenticity.

Scientific content

The preliminary online round is mainly made up of multiple-choice questions in a range of formats, and some open-ended questions (see Figure 3).

Figure 3.

Examples of online preliminary round questions

The quiz quarters, semis and finals are normally made up of seven different rounds (see Figure 4).

Figure 4.

Different types of rounds utilised in the LSC/HGB

Evaluation strategy of the LSC/HGB

From conception, the LSC/HGB has adopted a common standard for the evaluation of its design, delivery and impact (Reed et al., 2018), utilising several different feedback methods (paper forms; Mentimeter, Google Forms). However, it is widely acknowledged that evidencing the impact of public engagement initiatives in general is challenging (Hopkins et al., 2021, Ravenscroft et al., 2017). Here, tracking student A-level and degree choices would potentially provide some indication of the impact of the LSC/HGB. Nevertheless, quantifying the level of influence of a public engagement activity over a year before A-level choices is difficult, as is tracking student choices and post-16 destinations.

Geographic reach of the LSC/HGB 2013–22

Figure 5 illustrates the geographic reach of the quiz from 2013 to 2022, evidencing engagement from 106 secondary schools from 21 out of 22 local authority areas in Wales.

Figure 5.

Map illustrating the geographic reach of the LSC/HGB 2013–22

Lessons learnt

Over the first 10 years of running the quiz, we have learnt important lessons that help us to sustain the LSC/HGB in an ever-changing and challenging environment for all stakeholders involved. These are summarised below.

Running an annual engagement activity such as this requires input from a multidisciplinary team of researchers, PhD students and engagement professionals, as well as sustained funding. In Cardiff University School of Medicine, a small core-funded PPIE team coordinates public engagement activity across the institution, supported by a core-engagement budget. When author AW moved on, the organisation of the LSC/HGB was subsumed by the PPIE team, ensuring its future development and sustainability. Often initiatives such as these have a short lifespan purely because their creators are on short-term contracts linked to specific research grants (Langenberg, 2001; Woolston, 2021).

The presence of an SiH academic lead with protected time for public engagement, has proved invaluable to ensure:

• that the LSC/HGB complements and aligns with the ‘science and technology’ area of learning in the Curriculum for Wales (Hwb, 2020), and challenges students to broaden their science learning and undertake tasks that will prepare them for a career in science

• the annual recruitment of PhD students to support the design and delivery of the LSC/HGB

• that appropriate direction and support is provided to the PhD students.

At the outset of an individual’s potential research career, it is important to offer opportunities to engage audiences in the research being undertaken (Jensen et al., 2008; Pham, 2016; The Vitae Researcher Development Framework, 2024). The quiz has evolved to act as a public engagement activity driven by PhD students, providing a mutually beneficial platform to develop key engagement and communication skills in a supportive environment, and to ensure the continued freshness and innovative delivery of the quiz. Some members of academic staff involved in the delivery of the LSC/HGB reported that this needed to be done in their own time. Often, time given to public engagement of this nature (acting as a bridge between the university and schools, aiming to inspire the next generation of science talent) is seen to be voluntary and not part of the academic role, which is a recognised problem of the culture within the higher education sector (Eberl et al., 2023; Meredith, 2021; Weingart et al., 2021).

From the outset, this initiative was offered bilingually in English and in Welsh. Welsh-medium/bilingual secondary schools have valued this opportunity, evidenced via the successful engagement of over 70 per cent of these schools. Several participating Welsh-language teachers have confirmed that they ‘highly valued the competition in school’, and have been grateful that pupils have had the opportunity ‘to compete through the language in which they are taught’. They confirmed that: ‘There are very few opportunities like this, run in an efficient way (and for free) that make it easier for teachers to organise to take part.’ Bilingual offerings are ‘very uncommon’, and ‘the HGB has been one of the only bilingual opportunities presented to us over the last decade’:

The quiz rounds are very well translated … which makes the quiz much more accessible to pupils. Sometimes translated resources can be clunky or machine translated which make their use difficult, but this is not the case for the HGB. The fact that pupils can have a fun quiz round like Scientific Answer Smash in ‘proper’ Welsh is a big thing they do not get in some walks of life. It is bilingualism at its best, where both languages have the same provision.

The following have proved instrumental in maintaining the bilingual intention of the LSC/HGB to the required excellent standard:

• the constant presence of bilingual resource within the core PPIE team

• attracting involvement from Welsh-speaking PhDs (one PhD student even learnt Welsh, and went on to deliver the HGB!)

• having a budget to outsource Welsh translation to a trusted expert scientific translator.

Teacher buy-in is key to the growth of the LSC/HGB, as engagement in the LSC/HGB requires a time commitment on behalf of teachers, including identifying teams of school students and appropriate times within the timetable to engage in the quiz, supporting invigilation during the quiz rounds, and acting as the point of contact between Cardiff University and participating teams. Time commitment and working within the school timetable have been highlighted as a challenge for some teachers. However, adopting a hybrid model since 2022 has provided additional flexibility, reduced time pressures for all involved, and avoided the need for staff, university students, school students and teachers to travel long distances (particularly for the more isolated schools) to take part in the quarter- and semi-finals.

Maintenance of the science teacher contact database supports the year-on-year participation of several schools. Database maintenance, however, is a constant challenge, and is time-consuming. Linking with teacher networks such as the Welsh Education Consortia (n.d.), the Royal Society of Biology (2024) Scottish Teacher Network, and organisations such as SSERC (2024) can help facilitate contact with teachers.

Mechanisms to capture lasting stakeholder impact data need to be thought through at the outset. A recognised limitation of this stakeholder impact data section of this article is that the sample sizes are small. Many of the pupil impact questions posed require at least a 12-month gap from the end of the engagement, and rely on teacher support to forward the link on to pupils.

The LSC/HGB is a team event that motivates and challenges science pupils to learn beyond the parameters of the curriculum. It provides young people with a passion for STEM with a level of recognition comparable to competitions available in the humanities and sports. This is best exemplified by the fact that one secondary school that won the quiz displays their trophy alongside its sporting accolades, highlighting the value it has (Figure 6).

Figure 6.

Whitchurch High School trophy cabinet, showcasing LSC/HGB trophies alongside sporting trophies/accolades (Photograph: Anne Davies)

The future of the LSC/HGB and concluding remarks

The team vision is to engage all secondary schools in the online preliminary round of the quiz. This will be encouraged by accommodating audiences for the final in person and via live streaming, to include Year 10 pupils from non-participating schools to watch the quiz in action, and to be inspired. Taster workshops are also planned to be delivered by our PhD students in the autumn term to Year 10 pupils attending schools in deprived areas of Cardiff to encourage sign up to the quiz preliminary round in the following February.

The LSC/HGB model can be adopted in other areas/countries. Potentially, there is the opportunity to run quiz finals across regions of the UK. The team would be happy to work with other universities interested in delivering an LSC to provide further detail and access to a bank of questions to get teams started.

The LSC/HGB will continue to evolve to ensure its aims, novelty and distinctiveness are maintained for future Year 10 pupils across Wales.

Declarations and conflicts of interest