National Awards Scheme 2004 winners

Successful applicants in the 2004 round

Dr Louise Webb, ecsite-uk, Wellcome Wolfson Building, 165 Queen's Gate, London SW7 5HE  Tel: + 44 (0)1244 313067 email: louise.webb@ecsite-uk.org

A contribution of £75,000  towards Space Activities for Girlguiding UK.

This sciZmic (link opens in a new window) Space project will support  Girlguiding UK (GGUK) (link opens in a new window) in developing space-related activities.  Specifically, the project will

• Develop and produce GGUK-approved siZmic Space materials for Guides and Brownies.

• Train GGUK leaders to deliver space-related activities

• Offer stimulating and quality-assured space-related activities at Science and Discovery Centres.

The project builds on the Go For It! With sciZmic Science project developed by ecsite-uk and GGUK (funded by Planet Science, Copus (link opens in a new window), the Institute of Physics (link opens in a new window) and the Royal Society of Chemistry (link opens in a new window)).

2 Professor James Stirling, Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology (link opens in a new window) Ogden Centre for Fundamental Physics, Department of Physics, University of Durham, Science Laboratories, South Rd, Durham DH1 3LE.  Tel: + 44 (0)191 3343749  email: w.j.stirling@durham.ac.uk

£92,685 for A Beginners Guide to the Universe.

This is a joint project between the Universities of Durham and Sheffield, together with selected schools in the North East of England. It extends the work of the the existing outreach programme "From Fundamental Particles to Galaxies and the Universe (link opens in a new window) funded by a previous Science and Technology Facilities Council ("the Council") Large Award.

The award will enable the extension of the existing programme to encompass work at Key Stages 2 as well as at Key Stages 3/4 and post 16.  The proposed programme for the years 2005-2008 will:

• develop a teaching pack A Beginners Guide to the Universe for use with  KS2 children and an associated programme of activities.

• continue and develop work with KS3/4 and 16+ - including further development of teaching packs, masterclasses and Faulkes Telescope (link opens in a new window) workshops.

• develop projects aimed at a wider range of the general public.

When fully developed, activities and resources produced will be made available nationally to other interested organisations.

3  Professor Martin Barstow, Dept of Physics and Astronomy,  University of Leicester (link opens in a new window),  University Road,  Leicester LE1 7RH UK  Tel: 0116 252 3492 email:mab@star.le.ac.uk

A contribution of £55,000  towards the National Redshift Project.

This will be a 2-year programme to develop tools to make Faulkes Telescope (link opens in a new window) spectrographs accessible to schools.   There will be a parallel national project to reproduce Edwin Hubble's measurements of the expansion of the Universe.

The aims of the project are to:

• help teachers with teaching spectroscopy

• provide a teaching tool that can contribute to other areas of the science curriculum (e.g. nature of light, data analysis etc.)

• help bring ICT into the science curriculum

The project team will develop software and support material with the support of teachers. They will also provide training for teachers in developing the use of this resource.  Resources produced for the project will be made available on the web.

The project builds on work carried out in two earlier Council-funded projects Telescopes in Education and Classroom Space (link opens in a new window)

4 Professor Colin Pillinger, The Open University (link opens in a new window) Walton Hall, Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA  Tel: + 44 (0)1908 652119  email: psrg@open.ac.uk

A contribution of £20,000  towards Mars in their Eyes

This project will exhibit a collection of cartoons on the subject of Mars and capitalising on the publicity generated by the Beagle 2 project (link opens in a new window). This will be used to introduce the visitor to the science behind the cartoons.  Working in conjunction with the Cartoon Art Trust, and other organisations, the exhibition will be shown in London. The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue listing the cartoons and linking them to current science.

This innovative approach will engage a significant number of new people in understanding more of what we know already and what is waiting to be discovered on Mars.  Mars in their Eyes  will bring the science of Mars to a new and wider audience.