ACoRNS presents Festival of Social Science event: ‘Count me in! Celebrating student contributions to collaborative videos and game design’

On Friday 5th November, ACoRNS held our fourth event for the annual Festival of Social Science. This year, the event was lead by iPhD student, Verity Ward. Her work explores the opportunities that research can provide for autistic, and otherwise neurodivergent, students to participate in school. She presented ongoing work from two studies where students from Fairmead School in Somerset collaboratively designed computer games, and made videos.

The event consisted of two parts: a public webinar, and an in person showcase of the work in school. The webinar featured a short introduction to ACoRNS by Sarah Parsons, followed by a presentation about Verity’s research and the ongoing partnership with Fairmead School. Ben Crump, Assistant Headteacher at Fairmead School, spoke about the benefits and opportunities that engaging with the research had provided for the school. The recording of the webinar can be found in the link below.

After the webinar, the key stage four students at Fairmead School were given the opportunity to engage with three rooms showcasing work competed during the two studies. The first room featured the computer game created by the students, the second showed videos made about the process of designing and developing the game. Finally, the third room displayed the virtual tour created from the videos students made in the second project. Students from each of the projects volunteered to staff the rooms, answering questions about the work on display and supporting others with the interactive elements.

At the end of the school day, the three rooms were opened to external guests, including school governors, EPs and parents of students who had taken part in the research. Overall the day was a great success, and we would like to thank Fairmead School for hosting and ESRC for supporting the event.