Feature Friday: #scienceathome with Dr. Naomi Lavelle

Looking for some fun experiments to try whilst you’re stuck indoors? Or maybe you’re homeschooling some young curious minds that could use some science exploration! This Feature Friday presents a solution!

Dr Naomi is a science communicator, specialising in communicating to younger audiences through workshops and also via Instagram on @sciencewows. She studied biochemistry at the National University of Ireland, Galway, followed by a PhD in Molecular biology. After that she did a post doctorate in INRA (Institut national de la recherche agronomique) near Versaille, in France. She also worked as a microbiology and biochemistry lecturer and then moved to an office job for a biomedical company. Then fast forward a few years, and she found herself with three children at home full time with them.

“Their curious minds starting asking a lot of science-based questions so I began to research and create ways to answer them through little experiments. This began to grow until it naturally developed into a small business.”

She now writes and consults on a number of science programs for children, both for television and radio. She also delivers workshops at local libraries, universities and schools and aims to get as hands-on as possible with the children attending. She also writes a regular newspaper column in the Irish Examiner, where she covers a new science question each week.

She had been using Instagram to communicate about science on her channel @sciencewows. When schools shut in Ireland due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she began an awesome series called #scienceathome, where she features stories daily on her Instagram that feature an awesome science experiment, as well as a thorough explanation of the science involved. Her experiments are perfect for parents looking to add a bit of fun and theory into their children’s homeschooling, or for avid science geeks like me who love any excuse to try something fun and new!

“I share these experiments with children in mind and I love when families work together on them. I try to keep them as simple as possible and remain mindful of the restrictions in resources, so I am still focusing on using materials that are to hand in most households, where possible.”

She’s just about to post her fiftieth experiment, and says she could easily do fifty more, but hopefully the isolation restrictions lift by then. You can watch them as stories each day, and see the archives in her story highlights.

“We are born with a natural sense of curiosity and to me, that is the essence of scientific exploration. Children are always trying to figure out how the world works as it does, as adults we often forget to question. To me a large part of science communication is simply about answering the questions that are already out there, hopefully in a way that keeps everyone involved and curious.

I think we live in a time when sharing and communicating science, in all its forms, is so easily achieved. There has never been more opportunities to communication, from short soundbites of information to more detailed scripts or video content, all can be shared rapidly and more importantly, all can be shared globally. We can bring ideas together from all corners of the world.”

Be sure to check out her Instagram page @sciencewows and follow the hashtag #scienceathome to see more experiments!

– Written by Rosie Arnold