What we did

Malaria
The Malaria microbe, Plasmodium Vivax, became a Spaghetti Western “Baddy” invading “Liver City”, multiplying in the local saloon, “The Red Bloody Cellar” and finally coming to a sticky end in the shoot-out with Sheriff Chloroquine.

Measles
Measles was interpreted via the Bollywood musical, and a re-writing of the Cinderella story, with “Bhindirella” as the “primary response” and her “shoe” as the “virus antigen”.

Art and science - a perfect relationship?
There was a very successful relationship between artist and science leaders in both projects. Science tutors and artists co-operated on everything from storyboarding to makeup, from lyrical content to choreography. Artists were inspired by the science and the scientists enjoyed participating in new ways to convey the topic.

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What the scientists said
“The children involved have been able to express the rather rigid nature of school science in a creative way. I do not believe that science is a black and white subject but getting this across to young people is often very hard, especially within the confines of the National Curriculum….in the year 8 exams this January, the students that were involved in the project did significantly better on a question on immunity, than those that were not… They learnt something new without knowing it.”

Fiona Hattersley-Smith , Head of Science Islington Arts and Media School, London

“I loved working with ActionDog on this project; it was an exciting venture, portraying science in such an original and dynamic way. Working with other professionals has opened my eyes to the varying ways media can be used to educate pupils and I enjoyed working in a fun environment with my students…I believe cross-curricular and holistic approaches to learning are the most effective. Pupils are imaginative and love creative projects, so using this to fuel their interest and focus in science is very important. Using different analogies and models helps pupils to visualize the concepts and enhances their understanding”

Shira Rubin, Science Teacher, Elizabeth Garret Anderson School, Islington, London

What the students said
“I helped me understand science better”

“I learnt a lot from this project, especially cause and effect”

“I learnt a lot about measles from doing the project… we had a lot of fun in the workshops”

“I thought their methods of teaching were great”

“I learnt a lot about science”

“They were very nice, very fun, and they helped us understand exactly what we had to do for acting, our movements etc. Taking part in the project helped me to understand the disease completely”