The Power of Light

在这个项目中，我们将让高年级儿童(优先考虑符合STFC奇迹倡议目标受众的学校)在钻石设施进行研究。钻石工厂拥有一台同步加速器，用于在各种科学和技术应用领域进行研究。通过与戴蒙德的这个项目，我们将把如何利用光线来帮助调查我们周围的世界，解决现实世界的问题，并告诉我们关于大问题的想法。国家关键阶段2科学课程规定，孩子们应该发展他们对什么是“科学工作”的理解。作为这项工作的一部分，学生们需要“所需的科学知识来理解科学在今天和未来的用途和影响”(DFE，2015)。这意味着学生需要能够在他们所涵盖的科学主题和科学家在现实世界中的工作之间建立联系。然而，科学资本低的贫困地区的学生不太可能有机会参加帮助他们建立这些联系的科学参与活动(例如参观科学博物馆和参加STEM研讨会)。此外，小学教师在教授“科学工作”方面的信心可能会有所不同，特别是在回答可能超出他们专业范围的问题时。为了改善关于科学的对话，并向更广泛的受众推广STEM技能和职业的价值，该项目旨在支持小学科学教师和科学家之间的对话，以确保所有学生都能接触到‘科学工作’的奇妙和兴趣。认知性洞察倡议在联系国家课程科学主题、现实世界中的“科学的用途和影响”以及科学指导我们思考的重大问题方面拥有丰富的经验。在我们对小学科学教育的研究中，我们的发现表明，大问题有能力激发来自不同科学和非科学背景的儿童的好奇心和好奇心(Billingsley，Abedin&Nosa ji，2020)。因此，该项目将把我们的专业知识与钻石公司正在进行的尖端工作结合在一起，开发三个杂志，以主题将三个关键研究领域与KS2科学主题联系起来。Zines使用吸引人的文本和图像的组合来创建简洁的漫画般的叙事格式(A4的四面)，以激发人们对特定兴趣领域的热情。这些杂志将成为小学生的包容性和可访问性资源。这些杂志将：1。通过展示科学如何启发我们对大问题和现实世界问题的思考来培养学生的好奇心。通过发生在钻石公司的真实研究故事，培养学生对什么是“科学工作”的理解。展示科学家如何与其他学科对话来解决现实世界的问题。除了这些主要目标之外，杂志的图形叙事格式还将创造机会，围绕以下STEM参与的关键优先领域进行课堂讨论：-在科学界代表性别、种族和宗教的多样性。-消除对科学在实践中是什么样子的误解。-启发学生科学如何做出令人兴奋的发现，改善我们的生活。杂志将得到教师指南的支持，旨在促进关于科学工作意味着什么的课堂讨论，并将包括在课堂或家里完成的相关动手活动。杂志和相关资源将通过一系列研讨会共同创建，我们的教育研究团队将与钻石科学家、科学公共参与专业人士、STEM大使和小学教师汇聚一堂。

In this project, we will engage upper primary school children (prioritising schools that meet the profile of STFC's Wonder Initiative target audience) with research taking place at the Diamond facility. The Diamond facility houses a synchrotron which is used to conduct research in a variety of applied fields of science and technology. Through this project with Diamond, we will bring into classrooms how light can be used to help investigate the world around us, address real-world problems and inform our thinking about Big Questions.The National Curriculum for Key Stage 2 science states that children should develop their understanding of what it means to "work scientifically". As part of this, students need "the scientific knowledge required to understand the uses and implications of science, today and for the future" (DfE, 2015). This means that students need to be able to make connections between the science topics they cover and the work of scientists in real-world contexts. However, students in areas of deprivation with low science capital are less likely to have access to science engagement activities (for example, visits to science museums and participating in STEM workshops) that help them make these connections. Additionally, primary teachers may vary in their confidence in teaching about 'working scientifically', particularly when fielding questions that may be beyond their specialisms. To improve conversations about science and promote the value of STEM skills and careers to a wider audience, this project aims to support a dialogue between primary science teachers and scientists to ensure the wonder and interest of 'working scientifically' is accessible to all students.The Epistemic Insight initiative has a wealth of experience in connecting National Curriculum science topics, the "uses and implications of science" in the real world and the Big Questions on which science informs our thinking. In our research on primary science education, our findings indicate that Big Questions have the capacity to provoke curiosity and wonder in children from diverse scientific and non-scientific backgrounds (Billingsley, Abedin & Nassaji, 2020). Therefore, this project will bring together our expertise with the cutting-edge work taking place at Diamond to develop three zines that thematically connect three key areas of research with KS2 science topics. Zines use an appealing combination of text and images to create a concise comic-like narrative format (four sides of A4) to generate enthusiasm about a particular area of interest. The zines will be an inclusive and accessible resources for primary students. The zines will: 1. Develop students' curiosity through showing how science can inform our thinking about Big Questions and real-world problems.2. Build students' understanding of what it is to "work scientifically" through real-life stories of research happening at Diamond.3. Show how scientists work in dialogue with other disciplines to address real-world problems.In addition to these primary aims, the graphic narrative format of the zines will create opportunities for classroom discussions around the following key priority areas for STEM engagement: - Represent diversity of gender, ethnicity and religion within the scientific community.- Dispel misperceptions about what science looks like in practice.- Inspire students with how science is making exciting discoveries that improve our lives.Zines will be supported by teachers' guides designed to promote classroom discussion on what it means to work scientifically and will include a relevant hands-on activity to be done in the classroom or at home. The zines and accompanying resources will be co-created through a series of workshops bringing together our educational research team with Diamond scientists, science public engagement professionals, STEM ambassadors and primary teachers.