Schools' Accelerator Science Workshop

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At a local level, the project will engage pre-sixth form school children in physical sciences, engineering and scientific principles in machine construction. Participants will gain experience of putting their scientific knowledge into practice. The workshops will be geared towards year 9 pupils before they will have made up their minds about which A-level subjects to take and will be delivered in the second half of June when many schools have activity or work experience weeks. Keen year 10 pupils may also attend as they will be off school having completed GCSE exams. It is hoped that this will inspire pupils to take scientific topics for further study and to consider science and engineering as a career option.By targeting certain schools the aim is to redress the balance and encourage more female engagement as well as children from less privileged backgrounds who may otherwise not consider a career in science and, more generally, further education as a potential pathway.Teachers will attend the workshops and it is expected that this will inspire them to incorporate ideas from the workshops into their teaching to support them in promoting science and engineering as career pathways.Scientist volunteers (including postgraduate students from the University of Liverpool, the University of Manchester and the University of Lancaster) will be involved and gain experience in explaining science and engaging with the public which will help in their communication skills, in particular with an awareness of preparing material appropriate for the audience.Professional videos of the workshops will be produced and participating pupils will be involved in filming. This will maximise impact indirectly with widespread dissemination achieved through school social media interactions and web sites as well as institutional conduits. This will widen dissemination to a national level, promoting the applied science aspects.Resources will be developed in the form of 'how to...' worksheets. The latter will complement these accessible videos to be promoted via our quality-controlled public web sites and social media to broaden dissemination. Worksheets will also be distributed via other outreach events such as the Big Bang and via STFC's Public Engagement team.In addition, this event will increase the capability of our team which is already experienced at putting on outreach lectures and demonstrations. Organising and delivering interactive workshops will take us to the next level in public engagement and help for the organisation and delivery of more ambitious programmes funded through other national sources such as STFC Large Awards Scheme and at a European level (i.e. European Researchers' Night).