Giving young people experiences of the curiosity, creativity and wonder of thinking like a physicist

动机学校的学生通常喜欢物理方面的实际工作，但不喜欢所谓的配方调查的僵化--这种调查遵循一套固定的方法，旨在引导他们找到预期的答案。此外，从长远来看，过度使用配方研究会导致人们对科学不感兴趣，对科学是如何做的产生误解，对物理学告诉我们什么是宇宙的本质感到困惑。此外，对中学科学和考试压力的根深蒂固的学科划分意味着物理与现实世界的背景和其他学科讨论的多学科主题脱节。作为正规学习的一部分，学生们错过了探索物理和大问题之间关系的机会。贫困地区的学生经常难以获得雇主为基础的和科学丰富的活动，而且科学资本较低--而且受到学校科学这些负面方面的打击最大。我们的项目旨在解决这一差距。目标、结果、产出、影响该项目将改变六所学校的600名参与学生(8-12岁)在贫困地区的方式，并将通过为他们提供与现实世界背景和大问题相联系的研讨会活动来丰富他们对物理的理解，在这些活动中，他们可以看到物理学的价值、相关性、力量和局限性。因此，学生们对现实世界科学探索中的好奇心、创造力和好奇心有了更深的欣赏。每所学校将有三个校内研讨会，最多可容纳100名学生。学生们以大约30人为一组，工作坊同时进行三次。180名学生(每所学校30名)还参加了校园内的展示活动。将设计六个工作坊-三个为8-10岁的小学生，三个为11-13岁的中学生。工作坊的简要内容是帮助学生体验像物理学家一样思考的好奇心、创造力和奇思妙想，同时解决与划分、考试压力和食谱调查有关的误解和对物理的负面态度。专家物理学家约翰·伍德教授(雷尔名誉科学家)将提供情景，启发学生从太阳和粒子物理、宇宙学和加速器科学中想象物理是如何工作的。这些工作坊将补充之前项目中现有的两个物理工作坊。参与学校的专业发展将帮助24名教师了解如何创建活动，将课堂物理与关于现实本质的大问题联系起来。五名大学外展大使将获得科学交流和向学生教授物理的方法方面的专业知识。我们的目标是，我们的大使大多是教育研究专业的本科生，他们将在未来成为有经验和热情的STEM影响者；在研讨会期间，学生们将为校园内的展示活动创建一个项目。展示的挑战和刺激将创造一个焦点，同时给予学生研究和设计自己的回应的自由。180名学生将在一天的校园里分享问题、想法和演示。该展览将向大学教师实习生、大学教职员工和媒体推广。项目传播将提供一个案例研究，展示研究人员、经验丰富的科学家和大学外展大使如何与学生合作，增进他们对物理学本质的理解。案例研究和成功活动的资源将被出版，并通过ASE等组织向STEM专业人员和教师推广。研究成果将通过国家课程政策小组通过会议报告、政策报告、期刊文章和《学校科学评论》特别版传播给学者、教师和政策制定者。

MotivationSchool students generally enjoy practical work in physics but dislike the rigidity of so-called recipe investigations - which are investigations that follow a set method, designed to guide them to an expected answer. Further, over the long term, an overuse of recipe investigations fosters a disinterest in science, misperceptions about how science is done and confusion about what physics tells us about the nature of universe.In addition, the entrenched subject compartmentalisation of secondary school science and exam pressure means that physics becomes disconnected from real-world contexts and the multidisciplinary topics discussed in other subjects. Students miss out on opportunities to explore the relationships between physics and Big Questions as part of their formal learning.Students in areas of deprivation frequently struggle to access employer-based and science enrichment activities and have low science capital - and are hardest hit by these negative aspects of school science. Our project is designed to address this gap.Aims, outcomes, outputs, impactThe project will transform how 600 participating students (age 8-12) in six schools in areas of deprivation and will enrich their understanding of physics by providing them with workshop activities linked to real world contexts and Big Questions in which to see the value, relevance and power and limitations of physics. As a result, students develop a deeper appreciation of the curiosity, creativity and wonder that is involved in real-world science exploration.Each school will have three in-school workshops for up to 100 students. Students are in groups of about 30 and the workshops run concurrently three times. 180 students (30 per school) also attend a showcase event on campus. Six workshops will be designed - three for primary students aged 8-10 and three for secondary students aged 11-13. The workshops brief is to help students to experience the curiosity, creativity and wonder of thinking like a physicist while tackling misperceptions and negative attitudes towards physics associated with compartmentalisation, exam pressure and recipe investigations. Expert physicist Prof John Wood (honorary scientist at RAL) will provide scenarios that inspire students' imaginations about how physics works drawn from solar and particle physics, cosmology and accelerator science. These workshops will supplement two existing physics workshops from a previous project.Professional Development in participating schools will build 24 teachers' understanding of how to create activities that link classroom physics with big questions about the nature of reality.Five University Outreach Ambassadors will gain expertise in science communication and ways to teach physics to students. Our aim is that our Ambassadors who are mostly Education Studies undergraduates will become experienced and passionate STEM influencers in future;During the workshops the students will create a project for a showcase event on campus. The challenge and excitement of the showcase will create a focus while giving students the freedom to research and devise their own responses. 180 students will come on campus for a day of sharing questions, ideas and demonstrations. The showcase will be promoted to university teacher trainees, university staff and the media. Project dissemination will provide a case study of how researchers, experienced scientists and university outreach ambassadors can work with students to enhance their understanding of the nature of physics. The case study together with resources for successful activities will be published and promoted to STEM professionals and teachers via organisations such as the ASE. Research findings will be disseminated to academics, teachers and policy makers via National Curriculum Policy groups via conference presentations, policy reports, journal articles and a special edition of School Science Review.