National Awards Scheme 2000 winners

Successful applicants in the 2000 round

1. TELESCOPES IN EDUCATION

£60,000 for a project to promote the use of remote robotic telescopes by schools and to train teachers as potential users. The contract is awarded to The University of Leicester (contact: Dr Martin Barstow) to provide the programme of work, which will be almost entirely done by Dr Paul Roche (now at University of Glamorgan, Wales).

Dr Roche will promote the use of several robotic telescopes, of which the major two are the Faulkes telescope (link opens in a new window) (a 2m telescope located in Hawaii such that night-time there is during UK school hours) and the Liverpool Telescope (link opens in a new window) (also a 2m telescope, located on La Palma and having 5% of its time devoted to use by UK public and schools). Other telescopes include the 'TIE' small telescope in California, 'RoCoTTo' small telescope located in Glamorgan, and the Bradford Telescope (link opens in a new window).

In general science teachers are unfamiliar with most aspects of observing, such as astronomical co-ordinates, exposure times, data handling, and measurement and interpretation of images. Dr Roche will cover these in training sessions.

The Faulkes and Liverpool Telescopes have both been delayed, and are due to open in late spring 2003, with use by schools in July or September 2003.

Contacts:

Dr Paul Roche, Dept of Earth & Space Sciences, School of Applied Sciences, University of Glamorgan, Trefforest, Glamorgan, CF37 1DL.

Tel: + 44 (0)1443 482785

Dr Martin Barstow, Dept of Physics & Astronomy, Leicester University, Leicester, LE1 7RH. Email mab@star.le.ac.uk
Tel: + 44 (0)116 252 3492

2. PARTICLE PHYSICS EXHIBITIONS PROJECT

£37,500 for the operational phase of this project, which provides a loan scheme of particle physics display material and experimental apparatus that can be used in public talks, events, etc. Science and Technology Facilities Council ("the Council") has previously funded the setting up of this scheme, with a National Award in 1997 which funded the design and construction of the materials. The present funding covers costs of transport of the exhibits, travel & subsistence, and maintenance of the equipment.

Current contact:

Dr Norman Gee, Particle Physics Division, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (link opens in a new window), Chilton, Didcot, Oxon, OX11 0QX.

Email C.N.P.Gee@rl.ac.uk, Tel: + 44 (0)1235 446244

 

3. MESSAGES FROM SPACE

£50,000 for a project providing UK schools with direct access space-related data. It aims to produce an exciting inspirational teaching resource to promote an awareness in pupils of Space Science and Magnetospheric Science, plus space and satellite technology. The target age range is 15-19 but concentrating strongly on A-level Physics students. Resources will include multimedia online material plus paper-based resources fur use by teachers and pupils in the classroom. A project CD-ROM will complement the use of the website. While the project is run from Surrey University, and uses an educational consultant, there are links to the Council-funded research groups at Leicester, MSSL, York and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

Contact:

Dr Paul Sellin, Dept of Physics, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 5XH

Email p.sellin@surrey.ac.uk, Tel: + 44 (0)1483 876814