Discover the Cosmos Athens meeting

April 11-12th 2012

Activities in Birmingham UK& summary feedback

September – March 2012Lynne Long, University of

Birmingham, UK

Activities: Oct – Dec 2011 Event Date

(Project Month)

Location Purpose Participants

Mensa Science day

8/10/2011 (M2) Birmingham Public Talk on LHC

150 Mensa members (mainly adults)

IPPOG meeting 3-5/11/2011 (M3) CERN, Switzerland

International meeting of Particle Physics outreach – national reps

~ 30 international members

Darwin Science Society

11/11/2011 (M3) Shrewsbury Public talk & discussion session on LHC

~ 90 students aged 17-18

Mini Particle Physics Masterclass

7/12/2011 (M3) UB Talks & workshops incl use of Minerva software tool

~ 30 students aged 17-18

Meeting of UB/Midlands Physics Teachers Advisory Board

Dec 2011 (M3) UB Project dissemination – discussion of ideas

~ 10 experienced High School Teachers or educational/outreach practitioners

Activities: Jan – Feb 2012Event Date

(Project Month)

Location Purpose Participants

Astronomy Ireland

9/1/2012 (M5) Dublin Public Lecture on LHC

General public

ATLAS outreach 31/1/2012 (M5) CERN, Switzerland

Outreach meeting talk

~ 40 ATLAS researchers

Café Scientifique 20/2/2012 (M6) Nottingham Public discussion on LHC

General public

Teacher Visionary Workshop

29/2/2012 (M6) U B with input from LJM and U of G

Project Dissemination & hands on resource workshops

24 teachers fro 23 different schools in 14 different LEAs across the UK + IOP Teacher network coordinator & IOP Teaching & Learning coach

Activities: March 2012Event Date

(Project Month)

Location Purpose Participants

Institute of Engineering & Technology (IET)

6/3/2012 (M7) Cardiff Public lecture on LHC

General Public

BIG BANG FAIR 15-17/3/2012 (M7)

NEC, Birmingham

Stall of interactive activities with researchers & PG students

Teachers/students aged 5-18, general public.

~ 20,000 visitors

School visit and workshop organised by Y3 UG student on placement

22/3/2012 (M7) UB Workshop using Minerva Software Tool

15 Y12 students from local school

Particle Physics Masterclass

28/3/2012 (M7) UB Talks & workshops incl use of Minerva software tool

~ 100 students aged 17-18 + teachers

IET/I Mech E 29/3/2012 (M7) Dunchurch Public Talk on LHC

Members of IET or I Mech Eng

Feedback from Visionary workshop

• All teachers present were generally very positive about the Discover the Cosmos project and e-learning portals

• Sparking interest and excitement ,and using hands-on, interactive activities in the classroom to enhance curriculum and encourage learning, were the most important factors for teachers

• A minimum of 10/26 delegates attending were interested in running their own teaching training events with the e-learning resources – with our support

• The majority of delegates left contact details and were keen to remain involved with the Discover the Cosmos project.

Teacher opinions re main roles of e-Learning activities in the

classroom• Allows more interactive rather than passive

learning• Emphasises scientific methods• Encourages out of school learning/independent

learning• Allows possible interaction with real scientific

research – real data, real researchers etc.• Illustrates cutting edge

experimentation/technology in action• Promotes skills development

Teacher opinions re added value of e-Learning activities in the

classroom• Provides excellent resources in one place• Good exposure for careers in science• Provides relevance to curriculum topics

studied• Enhances teachers repertoire for

classroom activities/updates teacher knowledge

Necessary steps to integrate e-learning activities into school

curriculum• KEY requirement cited – activities must be relevant to school curriculum

as well as• Easy to pick up and use/don’t take too much

time in the classroom

Helpful if use of such resources• Cited in syllabi as important• Supported by senior management in schools• Are championed by enthusiastic staff willing and

able to support and train colleagues

Possible student engagement now?..in the

near future?• Most teachers very positive about this but need support, time and easy non problematical access

• Not many of the attending teachers were using e-resources regularly at the moment…and these were keen enthusiastic teacher leaders in their institutions!

Next Steps• To maintain contact with teacher delegates and

outreach organisers, and to set up workshops to train more teacher groups in using the resources across various UK locations in the next 12 months.

• To investigate developments of resources that may span the HEP / Astronomy areas – eg software resources and activities based around the ALICE experiment at CERN.

• To maintain the momentum of outreach talks/activities to disseminate ideas to schools and general public and keep the interest generated so far in cutting edge science.