Particle Physics Outreach – Masterclass Ideas and Competitions in Birmingham

http://www.ep.ph.bham.ac.uk/index.php?page=general/outreach/index

Inspiring minds,Shaping the future.

Lynne Long, Schools Liaison Officer, The School of Physics & Astronomy

About what I do………..

• I organise activities and events for students & teachers - on the University campus - and out in schools, both locally and nationally• And have also worked with the IOP in the UK to develop a supportive teacher

network to share and disseminate interesting ideas & good practise

• http://www.ph.bham.ac.uk/schools/

Particle Physics is currently of great interest to teachers and students in the UK….

• Because it has had coverage in the media – first beam in September 2008 etc

• And because particle physics concepts now form part of the core curriculum at A LevelY9 poster competition 2007

I give talks out in around 50 different schools per year – reaching 3000-4000

students 11-18yrs• And particle physics is a very popular topic

to include……

Pupils of all ages in secondary schools are captured by the statistics of the

LHC………

• 27 km circumference – A BIG EXPERIMENT!• Each proton goes around the 27km ring over

11,000 times a second.• Energy of proton beam in LHC > 0.3 GJ (family

car travelling at 1000 mph)• Energy stored in magnets > 1 GJ• Super-conducting magnets cooled to ~ 1.9 K

(colder than Outer Space).

And the topic can be used to talk about curriculum physics concepts

and bring them to life……

• Electric& magnetic field theory

- Electromagnets & superconductors

- Forces on charged particles, Flemming’s LHR

• Mass-energy equivalence• Even special relativity etc

Specialist talks around Particle Physics are very popular…

• Many of the research group at Birmingham give such talks as part of the schools evening lecture programme, masterclass days etc, as well as out in schools

• Feedback is very positive and demand is increasing

Specialist Particle Physics Masterclass days

• Have been held several times per year in Birmingham for at least the past 8 years – the big event around Easter time attracting 100+ local students and teachers

The event involves talks from members of the Particle group, including young researchers/role models, discussion and workshop groups

Live video links to CERN in recent years have proved particularly

popularSome quotes from

2009:• The live link was

amazing to see people working there and what it actually looks like

• The link with CERN added relevance

School competitions organised 2006-2011

•In recent years school students from all over the UK have been invited to prepare particle physics presentations which are fun and inspiring to other pupils of various ages

•Finalists have been invited onto campus to showcase their talks

•BIG prizes have been awarded to finance inspiring trips to CERN

Map to show schools entered 2008 cascade competition

Some finalists……..

September 10th – 2008 –First proton beam injected

Excited post Graduates explainprogress on the day to A level students from invited schools

Birmingham hosts a live video conference to the ATLAS control

room

And our competition winners were there at CERN!!

They were able to describe their feelings to the students here in Birmingham – “exciting and surreal!”

• Short videos/animations to use in the classroom

• Particle physics FOR students

……………….BY students

And our latest schools competitions…

An exciting Opportunity to….Enhance your Physics studies Develop Key Communication Skills

Make personal links with Research staff at a leading University Win prize money

New Competition for 2008-9 CONCEPT VIDEOS/ANIMATIONS for the classroom

Insights into Particle Physics - for students by students STFC

What is involved? Groups of up to 4 A Level or GCSE students are invited, with support from their teachers, to prepare a - short, but interesting & stimulating, video clip or computer animation relating to particle physics - lasting up to 4 minutes - aimed at a particular & specified age group (your choice!)

The entries will then be judged by a team from the University – Particle Physics experts and teachers - Prizes of £300 will be awarded for up to the best 5 entries submitted.

Prize winners will be invited to an event at the University to collect their prizes – in June/July 2009 - Lunch and discussions with Particle Physics researchers & students

Winning videos and animations will be uploaded onto the web and schools will be invited to use them to introduce, illustrate or summarise concepts in the classroom Please see enclosed information sheet for details of competition rules and procedures.

,

IF YOUR SCHOOL IS INTERESTED IN TAKING PART…………………….

PLEASE RETURN THE ENCLOSED FORM ASAP!!

Your video / animation could be on one of the following topics:

or come up with your own question!!

37 schools registered to take part and over 100 students were involved in preparing the

videos/animations. • Six entries won prizes and the teams were invited on to campus,

with their teachers to collect their winning certificates.

• Prizes of £300 were awarded to teams from• Hampton School, Middlesex• Hutcheson’s Grammar School, Glasgow• King Edward’s School, Bath• Runshaw College, Lancashire• St Paul’s Girls’ School, London• Torquay Boys’ Grammar School

……….who used their prize money to help fund a group trip to CERN.

http://www.hep.ph.bham.ac.uk/VideoAnimationCompetition/

Welcome.html

The Birth of Matter

Torquay Boys Grammar School

The God Particle -The Search for the Higgs Boson

Hampton School, Middlesex

An exciting Opportunity to….Enhance your Physics studies Develop Key

Communication Skills•Make personal links with Research staff at a leading University Win money to help finance

a trip to CERN

National competition 2010-11 A Cascade of Physics in & from Particle Physics Research

STFC

What is involved? Groups of 2-4 A Level or GCSE students are invited, with support from their teachers, to

prepare a - short, but interesting & stimulating, video relating to the physics ideas used in, or the applications developed from, particle physics research experiments - lasting 3-4 minutes - aimed at a particular & specified age group (your choice!)The videos will then be judged by a team from the University – Particle Physics experts and teachers - Prizes of £300 will be awarded for up to the best 6 entries submitted.(to help fund CERN visits) Prize winners will be invited to an event at the University to collect their prizes – in June/July 2011 - Lunch with Particle Physics researchers & students - Discussions with academics - Live video link to researchers at CERN Winning videos will be uploaded onto the web and schools will be invited to use them to introduce concepts in the classroom

Please see enclosed information sheet for details of competition rules and procedures.

,

IF YOUR SCHOOL IS INTERESTED IN TAKING PART…………………….

PLEASE RETURN THE ENCLOSED REGISTRATION FORM ASAP!!

In 2010, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the World’s most powerful particle accelerator, began running the most energetic ever particle collision experiments at CERN in Geneva.

The biggest detectors ever built are investigating the origin of mass and studying the fundamental particles that were present at the beginning of the Universe……..

The experiments bring together thousands of scientists from dozens of countries - including the Particle Physics group at the University of Birmingham.

Possible ATLAS event ALICE Detector

LHC Tunnel

How do they do this? What physics principles do they need to know?

The World Wide Web….now the Grid…where next?

Medical scanners

And what useful technologies have emerged from the experiments in the past?

In conclusion……..

• Students and teachers are very interested in making links with University departments/research groups

• Exciting news of big experiments linked to school curriculum concepts are particularly well received – can prove inspiring and encourage students to look further

• Post graduate and undergraduate role models are appreciated

• Students/teachers in schools gain a lot from the experience –

• …. and so do the researchers and academics!