Closing The Frog Blog

I have decided, after much deliberation, to close the Frog Blog. After over 1300 posts I feel it is now time to hang up my blogging boots and concentrate on work, my newly expanded family and any new science communication projects that arise.

Since I began the Frog Blog back in the summer of 2008 with my St. Columba's College colleague Jeremy Stone. We wanted to create an online space to bring current scientific research from the lab to the classroom, allowing our pupils explore science beyond their often dull and lifeless curriculum. We also wanted to provide a platform for our pupils own science writing, emulating our colleague Julian Girdham's excellent SCC English blog. 

The Frog Blog evolved quickly in the first year, moving beyond its intended audience and into the wider Irish science education stream and later the science communication community in Ireland. We both took a greater interest in science education theory, technology in the science classroom and science communication in general. We both found blogging a rich experience, which enhanced our teaching and personal learning. We also felt our pupils benefited too, gaining a deeper appreciation of the wider scientific world through the blog or our interactions with them. The blog was received well from the public and we picked up a number of awards, including an Eircom Spider and an Irish Blog Award. 

Jeremy returned to the UK in 2010, taking up a teaching position in his native Devon. I inherited the blog fully then and quickly put my own personal spin on the posts. I became more vocal on how science is both taught in Irish schools and how it is communicated to the public, particularly on Irish national television while continuing to write posts on current science news, apps for science enthusiasts and science events. I thoroughly enjoyed maintaining the blog, gaining a great deal of personal satisfaction from the experience. Most importantly of all, it provided me with invaluable connections to science teachers, scientists and science communicators across the country - something I couldn't have achieved without four years of blogging.

But now it is time to hang up the blogging boots, so to speak. While I still enjoy keeping an eye out for the latest science news and events, I feel that the blog has run its course. In the coming months I would like to focus on my classroom teaching a little more, spend more time with family (particularly with the arrival of my daughter Caragh) and possibly explore some new science communication / education projects in the coming year. I loved being involved in the Science 140 project this year and in the production of 'A Neutron Walks Into A Bar' - hopefully other projects like that will emerge for me to explore. I will still keep an active interest in science news through the twitter machine (@TheFrogBlog) and look forward to conversing with you all online.

But for now, I say goodbye!