STFC Small Awards Scheme
Public Understanding of Science and Technology
Successful Applicants in Round 01A (Spring 2001)
Mr S G Allen, 18 Baxter Road, Hingham, Norfolk NR9 4HY
Tel: 01953 850571 Email: sastrohing@aol.com|
£1,734 FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF PROJECT 'ORACLE'
Project 'Oracle' (Observing, Recording, Automated, Celestial, Learning Experience) replaced the secondary mirror of an 8.5 inch reflector telescope with a CCTV camera to allow recorded real-time astronomical images to be shown to audiences in Norfolk and Suffolk. This development will add a STV system to allow a greater range of fainter astronomical objects to be displayed. The targets are young people, families and teachers.
Mr D Baker, 5 Queens Court, Lower Clarendon Street, Derry BT48 7AH
Tel: 07803 831264 Email: scifestival2001@hotmail.com|
£3,000 STFC SCIENCE IN THE COMMUNITY
An Award to develop the STFC Science Programme of the Millennium Festival of Science and Innovation, held in Derry in 2000. The 2001 Festival will include planetarium shows, and will display the work of the UK Research Councils to both schools and the general public, aiming to generate interest in scientific careers.
Mr S J Brown, Milton Abbey School, Blandford Forum DT11 0BZ
Tel: 01258 880484 Email: stevebrown18@hotmail.com|
£1,000 DORSET SCHOOL SCIENCE FESTIVAL
A contribution towards the costs of the third Dorset School Science Festival, described as 'a mixture of a trade fair and a village fete'. The theme of the PUST component will be '2001 A Space Odyssey', and the festival encourages children to come with parents rather than with organised school trips, in order to encourage both children and parents to extend their interest in, and understanding of, science.
Note: This event was postponed to 2002 owing to the Foot and Mouth outbreak.
Dr J L Collett, Physical Sciences Division, Hertfordshire University, College Lane, Hatfield AL10 9AB.
Tel: 01707 286073 Email: collett@star.herts.ac.uk|
£3,898 THE RUNAWAY PLANETAR
An Award to create a teaching video on astrophysics for 'A' level students, using the scenario of a rogue planetar expelled from a distant planetary system within our galaxy. Students will work with fragmentary and sporadic data and limited resource materials to gradually build up a scientific picture of the events taking place.
Mrs J Fitzjohn, Education Business Division, Careers Wales West, Pensarn, Carmarthen SA31 2BT
£2,712 NASA JOHNSON SPACE CENTER PROJECT 2001
An Award to support the participation of one teacher in the Space Center Project, part of the BT-NASA Programme. The purpose of this programme is to encourage pupils and teachers to use information & communication technology by developing partnerships between schools in Wales and the USA. The Award will enable one teacher to accompany the two project leaders to the Center. The Welsh and American teachers will interact with NASA scientists, engineers, astronauts and education specialists.
Ms S P Flanagan, 62 Chigwell Road, South Woodford, London E18 1NN
Tel: 020 7739 7324 Email: flanagansp@aol.com|
£980 ASTRONOMY EDUCATION AT SCIENCE TEACHER MEETINGS
An Award contributing to a project to enable the Association for Astronomy Education (AAE), a charitable organisation, to participate directly and actively in important science events in order to promote and enhance the relevance of Astronomy within educational environments.
Prof. M G Green, Physics Department, Royal Holloway, Egham Hill, Egham TW20 0EX
Tel: 01784 443454 Email: m.green@rhul.ac.uk|
£4,350 PARTICLE PHYSICS SUMMARY SHEETS (UPDATE)
The Particle Physics Summary Sheets for Schools were originally developed in 1995 through a PUST Small Award, and have proved extremely successful with both the intended audience of 'A' level students and many other recipients. This Award is for a major update and presentation improvement.
Mr P Ingram, 10 Williams Close, Ely, Cambridge CB7 4FQ
Tel: 01353 661734 Email: peter@spaceplace.org|
£135 ASTRONOMY FOR SCHOOLS
An Award to assist Mr Ingram with visits to schools with a package of astronomical tables and information tailored to (English) National Curriculum Key Stages 2 and 3. The package has been tested with Cambridgeshire schools and approved by the Cambridgeshire LEA.
Dr R Jarman, Graduate School of Education, The Queens University of Belfast, 69/71 University Street, Belfast BT7 1HL
Tel: 02890 335941 Email: r.jarman@qub.ac.uk|
£5,000 SPACE SCIENCE NEWS 'SPECIAL EDITION'
A project to produce a 'Space Science Newspaper (Special Edition)'. This will be an anthology of authentic space science articles from the recent annals of the Belfast Telegraph. Associated with each article will be a set of specifically generated classroom activities for teachers to use to fire the imagination and interest of pupils.
Mr S Kadifachi, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University College London, Charles Bell House, 67-73 Riding House Street, London, W1P 7PP
Tel: 020 7679 9018 Email: s.kadifachi@ucl.ac.uk|
£4,500 STFC SCIENCE AT THE UCL SCIENCE CENTRE
A contribution to the running costs over three years of the UCL Science Centre, which runs a high-profile programme of evening lectures aimed at under 15-18 year-old physics students and the general public, attended by approximately 2000 people each year. The Centre is also involved in some other activities, some of which will be expanded as a consequence of this Award. New initiatives may include afternoon lectures for 11-16 year-olds, and a 'hands-on' experiments centre for schools at UCL.
Dr D J Lennon, Isaac Newton Group, Apartado de Correos 368, Santa Cruz De La Palma, Tenerife 98700, Spain.
Tel +34 922 425441 Email djl@ing.iac.es|
£8,120 DISCOVERING THE COSMOS FROM LA PALMA
The Isaac Newton Group will run a pilot scheme to make astronomical images taken with the 1m Kapteyn Telescope available to the public quickly, but without compromising the data proprietary rights of the researcher who made the observations. There will be new Web pages on the ING site and 'mirror' pages on a UK site. Archives of images will contain processed 3-colour images. All images will be offered to the public, museums, planetaria and other educational institutions.
Ms S-K Liu, Public Affairs Department, Institute of Physics, 76 Portland Place, London W1B 1NT
Tel: 020 7470 4800 Email: shuk_kwan.liu@iop.org|
£5,000 UNCLE ALBERT SHOW
'A Trip Round the Universe with Uncle Albert' is a pantomime performance about space and astronomy, incorporating special effects. Aimed at children between 8 and 14 years, it is performed by Professor Russell Stannard, and is based upon his best-selling Uncle Albert series of childrens' books. The performance was a huge success when premiered at the 'Creating Sparks' festival in London in September 2000. This Award will contribute to the costs of performing the show at the Baysday associated with the British Association's Festival in Glasgow. There will be two shows on 5 September 2001 - for young people and for families.
Dr A Q Morton, Science Museum, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2DD
Tel: 020 7942 4169 Email: a.morton@nmsi.ac.uk|
£5,500 DISPLAY OF ALEPH AND DELPHI COMPONENTS
A contribution to support the design and installation of a display at the Science Museum, based upon key components from two of CERN's LEP detectors - the ALEPH Inner Tracking Chamber and the DELPHI Vertex Detector. The display will facilitate public appreciation and understanding of the LEP project and the LHC project, hopefully building upon the interest in particle physics sparked by the 'Building the Universe' Touring Exhibition's period at the Science Museum. (The Museum also plans a 'CERN archive' at its site at Wroughton near Swindon).
Dr R New, School of Science and Mathematics, Sheffield Hallam University, Howard Street, Sheffield S1 1WB Tel: 0114 2253034 Email: r.new@shu.ac.uk|
£3,235 SKYWATCH
A project to encourage the public to participate in a range of observing projects at the University's Star Centre, with access both to direct and remote astronomical observation, and high quality astronomy presentations. Findings from the projects will be presented in an open conference, via the web, and at follow-up events.
Dr G A Russell, Aberdeen College Planetarium, Gallowgate Centre, Gallowgate, Aberdeen AB25 1BN Tel: 01224 612323 Email: g.russell@abcol.ac.uk|
£6,083 INNOVATIVE SHOWS FOR THE MOBILE PLANETARIUM
An Award to develop four innovative planetarium shows, incorporating poetry, music and storytelling, for use with an already-purchased mobile planetarium. This will extend the potential audience of schools, science festivals, road shows and other events. The new shows will be made available, free of charge, nationally to other mobile planetaria.
Ms H C Scoffield, 13 Mundella Terrace, Heaton, Newcastle upon Tyne NE6 5HX Tel: 0191 2658830 Email: scoffield@another.com|
£750 UK SEDS 13th ANNUAL STUDENT SPACE CONFERENCE
A contribution to the costs of this year's conference, entitled 'Moon on a Stick, Get a Handle on Space', and to be held at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. A main theme of this conference will be the growing commercialism of space, and will feature talks, an exhibition, outreach, an astrodome, and hopefully a live satellite link with the International Space Station. There will be a one-day workshop for schools, including a competition to design space- and Mars- habitats.
Dr A M Shaw, Techniquest, Stuart Street, Cardiff CF10 5BW
Tel:029 20 475 475 Email: anita@techniquest.org|
£3,000 PLANETARIUM POST-VISIT ACTIVITIES
Techniquest runs a comprehensive programme using both its on-site planetarium and three mobile planetaria. This is a contribution to a project to provide a booklet which will be given out at the end of planetarium shows to capitalise on the interest generated by the experience. The booklet will be designed and written to be easily understood by three main target audiences, namely families, Key Stage 2, and Key Stage 3. The booklet will also be in an easily photocopied format, to enable teachers to reproduce it for use at school.
Mr P K Shaw, Science Dept, Grove School, Stafford Street, Market Drayton TF9 1HF
Tel 01630 652121
£500 FLIGHT AND ROCKETS
A contribution to a project using model aircraft and rockets to develop an understanding of the physical principles involved in aircraft and rocket flight. This will increase the relevance of physics and space studies at both Key Stages 3 and 4, and 'A' level.
Mr K A Strachan, Lancaster Girls Grammar School, Regent Street, Lancaster LA1 1SF
Tel: 01524 32010 Email: lggs@kencomp.net|
£1,000 ASTRONOMY MASTERCLASS FOR SENIOR PRIMARY PUPILS
A contribution to a project to run 'masterclasses' for able pupils from local primary schools. A course of approximately 20 one-hour sessions would include a mobile planetarium visit and a visit to the University of Central Lancashire's observatory. The lesson plans and resources produced will be made freely available to others as well as directly to the school's partner primary schools, and via the school's website.
Mr C M Tracy, 16 Cranbourne Road, Hatfield, AL10 8AP
Tel: 01707 258075 Email: c.tracy@schoolscience.co.uk|
£7,500 AN INTRODUCTION TO A WORLD OF PARTICLES
A contribution to a project to extend the electronic resource 'A World of Particles', available on www.schoolscience.co.uk (link opens in a new window)|.' which was itself produced with the support of a PUST Small Award. ISE will add a mini e-source at a lower scientific level, entitled 'An Introduction to a World of Particles', targeting young people aged 13-16. The existing material on 'A World of Particles' (suitable for able GCSE and A-level students) will be kept up-to-date, for example by adding adapted articles from STFC's Frontiers magazine and by adding a 'Frequently Asked Questions' database.
Dr J A Wilson, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT
£3,532 SPARK CHAMBER DEMONSTRATIONS AT SCHOOLS
A three-year programme of schools visits, demonstrating the transportable spark chamber built with help from STFC via a previous PUST Small Award. Postgraduate research students in the Department will help with the visits, which include a presentation and a supporting Website
