UK Particle Physics Outreach Very Selective Highlights Peter - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

UK Particle Physics Outreach Very Selective Highlights Peter Watkins – Head of Particle Physics Group, University of Birmingham

• UK Particle Physics groups very active with strong support from STFC • Wide range of activities including • Masterclasses at ~15 UK Universities (PP groups), Very large numbers of students at some Many groups two successive days (some three!) LHC computing exercises used in several • Many talks to schools and general public • Many contributions to local and national media- CERN/LHC now in popular radio/TV programmes Just time for a few recent highlights in this talk (thanks to many colleagues for information)

Feedback from Birmingham 2009 Masterclass • LHC Computing activity - Minerva rated - 4.75/5 – teachers - 3.97/5 – students (higher than 2008) • 97 student feedback forms • 28 students voted the computing activity the best bit of the day (CERN video link – 30 votes) • 18 student votes for more “hands- on activities”

Live video links to CERN have proved particularly popular Some 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

http://www.einsteinsuniverse.com/

http://webnix.physics.ox.ac.uk/accelerate/

http://www.hep.phy.cam.ac.uk/ outreach/outreach2008.html

Spark Chamber demos in schools… John Wilson visits up to 30 different schools per year, taking out the spark chamber to demonstrate cosmic rays and talk about particle detection • Feedback is excellent – and regular repeat bookings are made!

http://www.collidingparticles.com/about/index.html

http://www.scifun.ed.ac.uk/pages/pp4ss/pp4ss-exhibits.html

http://www.scifun.ed.ac.uk/main.html

http://hep.ph.liv.ac.uk/~tara/Outreach.html

The Goldsmiths Particle Physics Summer School. This five day residential course, fully funded by the Goldsmiths Company, for 25 A-Level Physics Teachers includes a day trip to CERN, and has been oversubscribed in each year it has run. (Brunel) The Beldam Art Gallery at Brunel University was home to an art exhibition called ‘Moving Forward’, which included exhibitions from the particle physics group, with a group member being on hand to explain and discuss interactively the work of CMS and BaBar with visitors.

http://www.hep.bham.ac.uk/VideoAnimationCompetition/Welcome.html

Conclusions • Many researchers (staff and students) making major contributions in UK • Most groups also active in supporting and enhancing CERN visits for local schools • We strongly support recent CERN efforts to review and enhance these school visits