National Awards Scheme 2001 winners

Dr M A Barstow, Dept of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leicester (link opens in a new window), University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH.
Tel: 0116 252 3492 Email: mab@star.le.ac.uk

£70,000 CLASSROOM SPACE: SPACE HARDWARE

A two-year project to extend the number and range of materials offered by the existing 'Classroom Space' project, funded by a previous PUST National Award, and which is already proving to be a useful teaching resource and student motivator on the subject of space science. New topics of space technology and hardware will widen the current target audience to include post-16 year-old students and their teachers. The Classroom Space website (link opens in a new window) will also be upgraded from a teacher resource into an interactive website for teachers, students and their families. These new materials will be based on the coming SWIFT mission, (link opens in a new window) which is NASA-led but with strong UK involvement. It will search for Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs ) and will investigate their nature and origin. The project will focus on the UK's role in the development of the technology for the mission.

Due to the nature of the science involved, some of the new materials will be ideal for the post-16 age range, and will complement the new AS level syllabi which draw heavily on space science and its applications. During the second year, the interactive website will be developed and trialled, together with the other materials at schools and sixth-form colleges across the country. The results of these trials will be gathered before the upgraded website goes live at the end of the second year.

Professor C S Frenk, Dept of Physics, University of Durham, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE.
Tel: 0191 374 2141 Email: c.s.frenk@durham.ac.uk

£80,000 FROM FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLES TO GALAXIES AND THE UNIVERSE

A joint project of the Universities of Durham (link opens in a new window) and Sheffield (link opens in a new window), together with selected schools in the region, to develop a public outreach programme in particle physics and astronomy in North-east England. The primary target is 11 to 16 year-old schoolchildren and their teachers, and the project aims to reach approximately 35000 schoolchildren at Key Stages 3 and 4, 1000 teachers, and 5000 members of the general public. The focus is on exploring the origin of the universe, the properties of fundamental particles, and the nature of dark matter. This represents the first step in an ambitious programme to establish a self-financing science centre in Durham City, involving the universities, local government and businesses.

The proposal builds upon the award of JIF grants to two research centres of excellence in the region, namely the Ogden Centre (link opens in a new window) For Fundamental Physics at the University of Durham, and the Boulby Mine near Cleveland which hosts the UK Dark Matter Project (link opens in a new window). The programme is constructed around five key activities: the development of innovative teaching packs; the delivery of masterclasses in both particle physics and astronomy; the establishment of the first Regional Faulkes Telescopes (link opens in a new window) Centre to provide training and acccess to the telescopes; school visits; and teacher support sessions. The teaching packs will contain a new interactive CD-Rom, entitled 'From Fundamental Particles to Galaxies and the Universe' which will feature research from the Ogden Centre and Boulby Mine, together with other supporting material such as a teacher's guide, worksheets' quizzes and existing PUST material.