Here are evaluations of Are We Nearly Here Yet? These are gathered directly from the participants by the website, Eequ.
Go to https://eequ.org/experience/866. for full information on the ZOOM series:
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” … Informative + mindblowing, really well illustrated, but also great storytelling + a fab show. Thank you. I thought it was marvellous, intrepid, funny, very interactive. No insults toward this marvellous adventure into life. It was very informative”.
” … It blew my mind! I wouldn’t have known all this stuff if it wasn’t for this talk.”
” … Brilliant show. Great answers to questions and great environment where kids felt very able to ask questions. Thank you”.
” … Very interesting, funny and knowledgeable. Learnt loads!”
“…you made it great fun for our 7 year-old. Thanks for creating some ‘wonder’ that will spur lots of questions … which we love”.
” … I found the talk very enlivening and stimulating. The illustrations were very unusual and helped make sense of the words. It was good to talk to Richard afterwards and find out how he had created the visuals. I would never be able to learn about evolution from a book. So, thanks.”
” … Richards talks and illustrations were a superb help in understanding the story of biology and the development of living things. The combination was very successful. Also the chapter by chapter format meant there was not too much to take in at once – though the earlier chapters were very big. It was a revelation really and most enjoyable.”
” … We asked to Lola if she wanted to go to the park, she said ‘after science, I don’t want to miss what’s happens to the cute mousy’.”
” … Fun science lecture that our daughter and us enjoyed so much. She got so engage every session, loves the illustrations and the ‘magic’ activities.”
” … Breakfast and fun learning every Saturday morning. nnnn.”
” … Informative + mindblowing, really well illustrated, but also great storytelling + a fab show. Thank you. I thought it was marvellous, intrepid, funny, very interactive.”
” … Thanks so much for all your wonderful Are We Nearly There Yet? zooms. Christopher has absolutely loved them. … I particularly liked your cartoon molecules at the start!”
” … I loved the Zoom calls and I think that it should be made into a book because I loved the illustrations – they were fun – and the facts are told in a funny way. I liked that you make the creatures have faces and say funny things. I also loved the activities and I think it would be nice to include them in the book.”
” … Absolutely wonderful. So excited to be able to take part in something like this. Richard has an infectious enthusiasm and manages to make complex ideas relatable and fun.”
“… Perfect for my nearly ten year-old girl, who loves making things. We both enjoyed it.”
“… Thank you I love your experiments and find your sense of humour funny. And the way you interact with children is fun. As you may have observed teenagers are less easily interested and basically pick up their questions from their parents. We want to find out more about jellyfish and their feelings and are exploring this through the medium of jelly but not in a wasteful way. I love some of your ideas about expressing the stars moving. Thanks so much and maybe I will see you in the future!”
” … Thank you so much for coming to inspire the children on Friday- they absolutely loved both the assembly and the workshops.”
Miss R Beresford Year 6 Teacher, Science Leader – Lewes Old Grammar School,
… “Thank you for bringing ‘Are we nearly there yet’ to our EBC science club. It has been a joy to see the children take a journey into the scientific understanding of how life on Earth began and evolved. It has been explained simply with your engaging story-telling and wonderful imagery. We have been able to explore some complex science and it inspired some creative activities for our club. I am truly grateful for your time and expertise that continues to inspire our young scientific minds here at St Marks!”
Catherine Lewis (Year one teacher and Science co-ordinator at St Marks CE school)
Thank you for visiting Westdene School for our science week. The idea of the week was to inspire our pupils in science and indeed in stem based learning overall: you certainly did that satisfactorily, if the whoops and cheers, the eye popping, the gasps and looks of awe are anything to go by that were seen on the children’s faces throughout the week.
The Monday assembly to kick us off, “Are We Nearly Here Yet”, was the story of the whole Universe, told in 45 minutes. It gave us all a structured narrative of how we got here – stars, planets, Earth, volcanoes, life, bacteria, animals, and us – so we can see how we fit into the whole picture. There were so many complex ideas within this. Having looked at some discussion notes, posters, little books that the children completed after this assembly it demonstrated that everyone, from year two to year six including their teachers, learned something out of it. The assembly presented by year 4 on the Friday of science week showed how much they had really understood of this complex idea.
In honesty when I planned the week, I was concerned about the possible attendance for the Wednesday evening parents and children evening as in the past we have offered workshops but this is very limiting in numbers and I was keen to get as many people as possible involved in science week. However, my fears were completely misguided as you entertained so many of our school community (over 200 in all), from reception to year six, to teachers, to parents and grandparents, with a show about gravity which taught us some very important principles in such an entertaining way. I loved that fact that the ideas were simple enough for children and parents to replicate at home rather than it being the usual large bangs and pops which can, I fear , make school science then seem less interesting to the children. The parents were talking about it in the playground on Thursday and Friday and telling the other that they had missed a great evening!”
Melinda Stone, head of Science, Westdene Primary School