STFC Small Awards Scheme
Public Understanding of Science and Technology
Successful Applicants in Round 2002A (Spring 2002)
Miss E A Ballard, Vanishing Point Theatre Company, 270 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, G2 3EH.
Tel: 0141 353 1315 Email: info@vanishing-point.org|
£4,526 A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME.
A project aiming to merge aspects of science and theatre to create an educational, entertaining and ultimately exciting work capturing the 'childlike wonder' of Stephen Hawking's book. Participants will enter environments in which they will be invited to explore the ideas of the book both viscerally and cerebrally. The work in progress presentation last March, supported by a previous Small Award, received critical acclaim, and this Award will finance four performances of a full production at Tramway, Glasgow in October 2002.
Dr J Becklake, Observatory Science Centre, Herstmonceux, BN27 1RP.
Tel: 01323 832731 Email: info@observatory.org|
£5,000 NATIONAL ASTRONOMY WEEK.
An Award to enable the Observatory Science Centre to administer and co-ordinate the publicity for National Astronomy Week (link opens in a new window) (23 - 30 August 2003), and to provide an information service to the general public, teachers, the media, and astronomy societies. The website (at www.astronomyweek.org.uk) will be developed (including links to other websites), and leaflets and posters will be produced.
Dr S B Chapman, BAAS, 23 Savile Row, London, W1X 2NB.
Tel: 0207 973 3057 Email: steven.chapman@the-ba.net|
£6,000 ASTRONOMY PROJECTS FOR BA CREST AWARDS SCHEME.
The 'BA Crest Awards' (link opens in a new window) is a project-based accreditation scheme promoting creativity in science and technology. It is run nationally by the BA, but is delivered locally by 13 CREST Regional Directors working with SETPOINTs. This Award will fund the development of a booklet of project ideas related to astronomy. Projects could include making a working model of the Solar System (at Bronze Award level), making a reflecting or refracting telescope (at Silver Award level), or making a telescope instrument (at Gold Award level).
Mr S P Davies, Educational Services, Worcestershire County Council, IATS, PO Box 73, Worcester, WR5 2YA. Tel: 01905 766142 Email:
spdavies@worcestershire-gov.uk| .
£1,500 WORCESTERSHIRE FESTIVAL OF SCIENCE.
A contribution towards the costs of the STFC science components of the week-long Worcestershire Festival of Science, held in June 2002. This aimed to promote and raise the profile of science among local young people, to encourage a desire to study science further, and to celebrate the good work already underway in local schools. Sponsored events include a lecture by Professor Russell Stannard, a visit by the Science Museum Outreach Team, and a 'Physics Challenge' competition for teams of Year 12 students.
Dr M M Dworetsky, Physics & Astronomy Dept, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT.
Tel: 0208 959 0421 E-mail: mmd@star.ucl.ac.uk|
£5,000 SOLAR ASTRONOMY AND DAYTIME OBSERVATORY VISITS FOR SCHOOL CHILDREN AT KEY STAGE 3.
A project to support a programme of daytime observing for local school groups at the University of London Observatory (link opens in a new window)| at Mill Hill. The programme is aimed at mainly Key Stage 3 pupils, and will relate to their study of the Sun and planets, and the physics curriculum unit on the behaviour of light. One telescope will be used for direct visual observing of the Sun's chromosphere, with a second used for white light observing. The Award will be used mainly to pay for the services of Dr Francisco Diego as guide and presenter.
Mrs L Fosker, Science Department, Robert Manning Technology College, Bourne, PE20 9DT.
Tel: 01778 422365 E-mail: Lfosker@Robert-manning.sch.lincs.uk|
£500 SciFEST 2002- AN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE FAIR.
A contribution towards the cost of hiring a 'Stardome' for an Educational Science Fair involving four Bourne schools. Aims of the event include providing opportunities for active participation in aspects of science that cannot easily be conducted in a school environment but enhance and extend the science curriculum, and organising a significant and memorable event for both students and the public to be involved in science and introduced to new concepts alongside current theories. The 'Stardome' will be used to enable participants to experience Earth and space-related activities.
Dr AGM Gaud McKee, Passerelle Science-Cite, 30 qu. Ernest- Ansermet, GENEVA 4, 1211, Switzerland.
Tel: +44 22 345 25 17 or +41 76 345 25 17 Email: anne.gaud@biochem.unige.ch|
£7,500 BRINGING 'INTO THE ANTIWORLD' AT THE EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL.
In 1999, a collaboration began between CERN and Mimescope, a theatre company founded on the concept of marrying art and science to make scientific thought accessible to all. This resulted in the play 'The Oracle of Delphi' (re-christened 'Into the Antiworld'for the English version) about a mythical Paul Dirac and his realisation of the implications of the prediction of antimatter and an antiworld. This was performed for the first time in the UK last year at the Bloomsbury Theatre, London to a total audience exceeding 1,000 people. This Award will fund a performance of the play at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2002, presenting a unique opportunity to reach an audience without scientific knowledge, or possibly even initial interest.
Ms J Hartnell, Greendown School, Grange Park Way, Swindon, SN5 6HN.
Tel: 01793 874224 Email: jaynehartnell@lineone.net|
£500 BRIDGING THE 'SPACE' BETWEEN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS.
A project allowing a member of Greendown Community School to visit local primary schools, to carry out investigative work based around the NASA/STFC Lunar Samples. This work will then be built upon during the students' first week of induction into Greendown School. The project will ease the transfer of primary pupils to secondary school and will provide an exciting focus for investigative work to be carried out during the induction period in secondary schools. Access to the lunar and meteorite samples will aid their understanding of both meteorite impacts and the problems of space exploration.
Mr A J Heywood,National Space Centre (link opens in a new window)|, Exploration Drive, Leicester, LE4 5NS.
Tel: 0116 261 0261 Email: andrewh@spacecentre.co.uk|
£8,100 'STARZ'.
A project to produce a planetarium programme catering for the demands of Key Stage 4 National Curriculum for Science. This programme will explore stellar evolution from birth to death, looking at the Sun as a typical main sequence star. The presenter-led programme will utilise imagery drawn from UK projects such as XMM Newton and SOHO to draw attention to the strong British involvement in space. Displays in the NSC will enable visitors to investigate the current status of these missions, and educational trails around the Centre will be developed. Teachers' Information packs will be available, both at the Centre and from the website prior to the visit. The videos produced will be made freely available to other UK centres.
Mr D J Hillier, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh EH9 3HJ.
Tel: 0131 668 8406 Email: Djh@roe.ac.uk|
£5,000 PILOT CPD PROGRAMME FOR 5-14 EARTH AND SPACE.
A pilot Continuing Professional Development Programme for teachers of the Scottish 'Earth and Space' 5-14 Curriculum, based upon findings of market research into the needs of Scottish science teachers. It involves collaboration with educationalists and teachers to build upon the inspirational value of both ROE itself, and science and technology. The project addresses the third strand of the repositioning of the ROE Visitor Centre (link opens in a new window)| (the other two being new exhibitions presenting the ROE's heritage and modern astronomical science and technology, and outreach to schools and community groups).
Ms F J Holland, KU SEDS, School of Engineering, Kingston University, Roehampton Vale, London, KT2 6BD.
Tel: 07929 282408 E-mail: Artonauts@aol.com|
£1,000 UK SEDS 14th ANNUAL STUDENT SPACE CONFERENCE.
A contribution towards the cost of this event, having the theme of 'International Co-operation in Space'. The conference will take advantage of Kingston University's excellent links with Russia and its space activities, and will give special emphasis to the International Space University (link opens in a new window)| (ISU) of which Kingston University is the only current UK Affiliate Campus. Planned activities include lectures, an outreach workshop for local schools based upon an Astrodome portable planetarium, a half-day rocketry workshop presented by MARS, and a Space Exhibition for universities with space-related courses and space companies.
Dr C J McFee, Space and Climate Physics, MSSL, Holmbury St Mary, Dorking, RH5 6NT.
Tel: 01483 204229 Email: cjm1@mssl.ucl.ac.uk|
£1,355 HANDS ON THE SOLAR SYSTEM- AN ASTRONOMICAL EXHIBITION.
A project to mount an exhibition at Godalming Museum (link opens in a new window) for one month, presenting the current state of understanding about the Solar System, and aimed principally at the 8-13 year old age group. The exhibition will be based around a series of posters, describing each planet together with other bodies. These will link to the many successful space missions involving MSSL, including Soho, Yohkoh, Solar-B, Cluster, Cassini, and the forthcoming Mars Express/ Beagle 2. Four themed days will involve a number of activities including talks and demonstrations.
Dr C K Mackay,HH Wills Physics Laboratory (link opens in a new window)|, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TL.
Tel: 0117 928 8772 Email: K.Mackay@bris.ac.uk|
£5,000 TAKING A REAL-TIME COSMIC RAY DETECTOR TO THE PUBLIC.
A contribution towards a project to purchase a portable, real-time cosmic ray detector, and to use this in effective visual demonstrations of modern physics phenomena in schools in the South West and South Wales, to attract students, teachers and the general public to the excitement of particle and nuclear physics. In particular, demonstrations can reveal the presence and properties of elementary particles such as electrons, photons, muons, hadrons and their interactions. Physical quantities such as charge, velocity, momentum, energy and the effects of special relativity can be revealed visually.
Dr A M Shaw, Techniquest, Stuart Street, Cardiff, CF10 5BW. Tel: 029 20 475 460 Email:
anita@techniquest.org|£2,000 SHARING METEORITES TO ENRICH LEARNING IN SOUTH WALES.
Techniquest (link opens in a new window)|'s current outreach programme includes events on astronomy for schools and other visitors on-site, and schools via the Starlab programme. This has involved using STFC's Lunar Sample Loan Scheme to enrich the Earth in Space programme for Key Stage 3 (11-14 year old) audiences. This Award will enable Techniquest to purchase a set of meteorite samples. This will both facilitate their own programmes and those of the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Cardiff University, and other local organisations will be invited to book the samples for their own events.
Mr J R Tate, The Spaceguard Centre, Llanshay Lane, Knighton, LD7 1LW.
Tel: 01547 520247 Email: spaceguard@dial.pipex.com|
£4,760 THE SPACEGUARD CENTRE
The Spaceguard Centre (link opens in a new window)| aims to act as the Faulkes Telescope node for Mid/ North Wales, and is actively supporting the Faulkes Telescope project by assisting with one of the key research project areas, that of 'Near Earth Objects'. This project will provide funding for equipping the Centre with a network of five PCs to enable multiple access to the Internet. This will allow full participation in the Faulkes and Liverpool Telescope projects, as well as providing for access to other web-based educational material and software.
Mr C M Tracy, 16 Cranborne Road, Hatfield, AL10 8AP.
Tel: 01707 258075 E-mail: c.tracy@schoolscience.co.uk|
£4,500 BIG BANG ANIMATION AND RADIOACTIVITY WEB RESOURCES
A project to enhance the three related particle physics resources on the 'Schoolscience' website (link opens in a new window), by writing and developing an animation of the Big Bang aimed at Key Stage 4 pupils. This will allow users to drag a cursor along an interactive timescale, and have the effect of smoothly moving through a time tunnel back to the beginning of the universe, seeing representations of the major events in the universe's history.
Mr R Whale, Science Department, Hayesfield Technology College, Upper Oldfield Park, Bath, BA2 3LA.
Tel: 01225 4270005 Email: Richard@whaler.freeserve.co.uk|
£620 DEVELOPING ROLE PLAYS ABOUT THE LIVES OF CAROLINE AND WILLIAM HERSCHEL.
A project to develop a series of role plays in collaboration with the Herschel Museum, for school parties visiting the museum. Targeted at secondary school students, these plays will reflect the lives of William and Caroline Herschel, the 18th century astronomers and discoverers of Uranus. Teaching materials, and a video will be produced, for sharing with other schools planning a visit to the museum.
