What is matter? How did the Universe begin? Are there other planets like Earth? And how do we know? Eleanor Hayes reports on the first EIROforum teacher school.
The first teacher school organised by EIROforumw1, the publisher of Science in School, saw 35 science teachers from 17 European countries flock to CERNw2 in Geneva, Switzerland, in November 2009. Over four days, the teachers were inspired, fascinated and challenged by the evolution of the Universe – what do we know and how do we know it?
The aim – which, to judge by the teachers’ feedback, was amply achieved – was to give a flavour of the science done in four of the seven EIROforum organisations, inspiring the teachers to return home and motivate their students.
Using the same formula as CERN’s long-running teacher schools (see box), the EIROforum teacher school involved lectures by EIROforum scientists on topics as varied as the structure of matter (Landua & Rau, 2008), the origin of the Solar Systemw3, the search for extra-solar planets (Fridlund, 2009) and how to build a cloud chamber at school (Barradas-Solas, 2010). Other important elements were visits to research facilities including CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC; Landua, 2008) and the interaction both among the teachers and between teachers and scientists.
Model of a linear accelerator
at CERN
Image courtesy of Paulo José
Carapito
The key point was to show the teachers what we know about the beginning and the evolution of the Universe, but also – perhaps even more importantly – how this knowledge was obtained. The lectures, by scientists from CERN, EFDA-JET, ESA and ESO, demonstrated how the scientific disciplines work together to unravel nature’s mysteries, how the research done in these four organisations focuses on finding answers to this common question.
“The lectures were very interesting and they will be very valuable in my teaching,” reported Jens Nielsen from Norway. Svejina Dimitrova from Bulgaria and Dana Jancinova from Slovakia added: “We need to update our knowledge regularly. Such courses are very useful to us and we will be able to bring our enthusiasm to our students.”
The next in the planned series of annual teacher schools will cover research from the other three EIROforum organisations: ESRF, ILL and EMBL will combine forces to bring life sciences alive at ESRF in Grenoble, France. For those European teachers lucky enough to be selected, EIROforum will cover not only the costs of their participation and accommodation but also their travel expenses to Grenoble. Teachers are selected on the basis of their motivation and enthusiasm to apply what they learn – and competition is stiff. If you’re inspired to take part, keep a close eye on the Science in School websitew4, where details of how to apply will be published.
References
- For instructions on how to build and use a cloud chamber at school, see:
- To learn more about the CERN teacher schools, see:
- To learn more about the CoRoT satellite’s search for extra-solar planets, see:
- To learn more about the LHC, see:
- To learn more about the structure of matter, see:
Web References
- w1 – EIROforum brings together seven intergovernmental research organisations: CERN, the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA), the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Southern Observatory (ESO), the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), and the Institute Laue-Langevin (ILL).
- EIROforum’s mission is to combine the resources, facilities and expertise of its member organisations to support European science in reaching its full potential. EIROforum also simplifies and facilitates interactions with the European Commission and other organs of the European Union, national governments, industry, science teachers, students and journalists. For more information, see: www.eiroforum.org
- w2 – The CERN education website offers information about all the teacher programmes, as well as educational resources for schools. See: http://education.web.cern.ch/education/Welcome.html
- w3 – Many of the topics covered in Professor Bernard Foing’s lecture on the origin of the Solar System are addressed in the Science in School series on fusion in the Universe. See: www.scienceinschool.org/fusion
- w4 – To read or download all articles from Science in School – and (later this year) to find out how to apply for the next EIROforum teacher school – keep visiting this website: www.scienceinschool.org
- w5 – The EFDA-JET website offers brochures, photos and videos about fusion research: www.euro-fusion.org/jet/
- w6 – To learn more about EFDA, visit: www.efda.org
- w7 – For more details about courses run by EMBL’s European Learning Laboratory for the Life Sciences, see: www.embl.org/ells
- w8 – For details of ESA’s CanSat competition to design a satellite to be sent up to an altitude of 1 km, see: www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Education/SEMR59AK73G_0.html
- w9 – The ESERO website offers teaching materials to download or use online: www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ESERO_Project
- w10 – For details of all ESA’s education activities, visit the ESA Education website: www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Education
- w11 – The ESA Kids’ website can be found here: www.esa.int/esaKIDSen
- w12 – Educational worksheets about the ALMA project can be downloaded here from the website ‘In search of our cosmic origins’: www.cosmicorigins.org/education.php
- w13 – The ESO/ESA astronomy exercise series can be downloaded here: www.astroex.org
- w14 – To learn more about the European Association for Astronomy Education, visit: www.eaae-astronomy.org
- w15 – To learn more about ESO’s education activities, see: www.eso.org/public/outreach/eduoff
- w16 – To learn more about the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), visit: www.esrf.eu
- w17 – For more information about the Institut Laue-Langevin, a European institute for neutron-based scientific research, see: www.ill.eu
Resources
Institutions
Author(s)
Dr Eleanor Hayes is the Editor-in-Chief of Science in School.
License
Download
Download this article as a
PDF
Subscribe to our newsletter