Research Physicists Encouraging Outreach into Primary Schools

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The applicants are a team of distinguished condensed matter physicists and astrophysicists who have created a web site hosted by the Institute of Physics that contains material for presentations in primary schools. This material is aimed at working physicists who are keen to engage primary school children in physics-related outreach, but are unsure how to get started on this.The presentations involve the whole class in activities. The site has been widely welcomed by people who already have experience of going into primary schools. However, the presentations are sufficiently different from the lecture format with which working physicists are familiar that further support will be needed to assist those who will be doing this for the first time.This application addresses that need, allowing the material that is being developed in our previous outreach project to be made useful and accessible to a much wider audience. Funding is sought for three types of additional user support: (1) video clips of the presentations being given to a class which will be added to the web site, (2) training sessions for Science and Engineering Ambassadors (SEAs) and interested members of the Institute of Physics, and (3) an email many-to-many network for users of the site. The site will be updated in view of comments received.