Teacher and Student Forum

9^th Meeting – December 12^th, 2020, 14:00, Zoom meeting

Participants: Pedro Abreu, Ian Bearden, Jiří Dolejši, Kati Lassila-Perini, Predrag Milenovic, Andreas Müller, Marcel Vlastuin, Zornitsa Zaharieva, Tetiana Hryn’Ova, Pierluigi Paolucci, Urszula Rybałtowska, Zuzana Ješková, Arnulf Quadt, Aleš Mohorič, Martin Hopf, Barbro Åsman, Zuzana Ješková, Roxana Zus, Elisabeth Cunningham, Rebecca Parker, Nils Hoimyr, Sascha Schmeling, Ana Godinho, Gerfried Wiener, Julia Woithe, Alexandra Jansky, Gernot Schreerer, Margherita Boseli, Stavroula Kotsi, Fabian Bernstein, Oliver Keller, Anja Kranjc Horvat, Sarah Zöchling, Merten Dahlkemper, Ece Inci

Excused:  Evangelos Gazis, Dezső Horváth, Nicolas Arnaud, Saulius Mickevičius

Minutes: Stavroula Kotsi

Meeting started: 14.10

Welcome and Introduction:

Sascha Schmeling welcomed the TSF participants and presented the agenda.

Minutes and matters arising:

No comments or remarks received.

Updates from CERN:

Gerfried Wiener presented the updates for the Teacher Programmes:

• Pedro Abreu asked if it would be possible to have some recorded visits for the programme, with some new points together with the old ones in case the programme takes place online in the end. Gerfried Wiener answered that this is currently discussed with the Visit Service and the plan is to have some of the standard visit points and maybe some new ones.
• Tetiana Hryn’Ova commented that videos of visits might be a good idea and that these could be translated by the members of the forum.
• Zornitsa Zaharieva expressed her interest in this and mentioned that there were already ideas about it.
• Ana Godinho commented that broadcasts with no educational scope are already happening on social media by the International Relations’ Audiovisual Service and with the input of the forum it would be possible to arrange broadcasts on specific topics.

Margherita Boselli presented the latest news and updates for the Beamline for Schools Competition

• Pedro Abreu congratulated her for the work and effort.
• Elisabeth Cunningham commented that it is great that the numbers stayed consistent.

Julia Woithe presented the updates for the Science Gateway Educational Labs

• Ian Bearden commented that he was lucky enough to participate in the Science Gateway Kick-off Workshop and it was the greatest experience for this year. Alexandra Jansky replied that it was great having everyone for the workshop.
• Ian Bearden asked if the schedule was affected by the pandemic and when is the opening planned. Julia replied that everything is on schedule and the plan is to open by 2022.
• Marcel Vlastuin and Rebecca Parker positively commented on the project.

Gernot Scheerer and Anja Kranjc Horvat presented the updates for the Virtual Science Shows

• Zornitsa Zaharieva positively commented on the initiative. She asked about the organization of the broadcasting. Gernot answered that there is no official planning yet. The bookings are happening via email and the mail contacts can be found on the S’Cool LAB homepage and the broadcasting takes place in Zoom. Zornitsa asked what the future planning for this initiative is. Gernot answered that the S’Cool LAB tutors have already been contacted and around thirty of them have expressed their interest in participating in the shows and, therefore, there will be the opportunity to expand. Zornitsa asked how many students could participate in each virtual science show. Gernot answered that a minimum of 20-25 students and up to three classes can participate per show, in order to have a good level of interaction.
• Rebecca Parker commented that it would be great to have some two-minute sneak peeks that could be available for teachers to use in classes. Ian Bearden commented that this is a great idea. Gernot answered that this is an idea to consider, in the meantime all the information on the shows will be published in the local area website (scool.lab@cern.ch https://voisins.cern/en/online-science-shows) and all the requests will be handled through S’Cool LAB website and email address.

Fabian Bernstein and Oliver Keller presented the updates for the Hands-on Experiments in classroom and home

• Ian Bearden commented positively on the detectors. He also commented that buying in bulk could reduce the cost of the electronics a bit. Oliver answered that if you buy a hundred of this kits, the cost goes down a bit.
• Rebecca Parker, Pedro Abreu and Ana Godinho commented positively on the experiments.

Sarah Maria Zöchling presented the updates for the Physics Education Research

• Rebecca Parker and Ana Godinho commented positively on the presentation and the website.

Gerfried Wiener presented the updates for the Particle physics online course for High-school Students

• Zornitsa Zaharieva, Pierluigi Paolucci, and Tetiana Hryn’Ova commented positively on this new project and congratulated the people involved.

• Pedro Abreu commented that is a great idea to have different levels and topics. He asked whether it has been considered to consult the teachers on the questions students have in order to have them already answered by the course. Gerfried answered that there are plenty of options to be considered for the development of the course and that the goal is to develop and go in different levels.
• Pierluigi Paolucci asked whether the course can be used outside CERN or if it’s only for internal use. Gerfried answered that the course will be completely publicly open in order to reach as many students as possible. Pierluigi Paolucci commented that translating in other languages should be considered as it could be difficult for some of the students to follow the course in English. Gerfried answered that the experience with the target group for the residential programmes for students is that language is not a burden. Roxana Zus commented that the language might be a problem for the teachers, but not for the students.

Updates from Members - Roundtable:

• Jiří Dolejši updated on the ICHEP programme in Prague, which fully took place online and provided the link for a short film that was created for the outreach and PR programme that was presented during the conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GK6NAeF5Erc .
• Elizabeth Cunningham commented that even though engaging with the audience online has been successful until now, it should be considered that there still some significant audience that does not have easy access with computers and internet. Pierluigi Paolucci added that the experience in Italy was that even though the motivation of students 10-18 years old was high at the beginning of the pandemic to participate online, it has turned tiring for them 3 months later, so inventing something new is needed. Ian Bearden also commented that engaging “low resource” students is extremely important. Sascha Schmeling replied that this could be a point to be added in the agenda for the next meeting in March, and have some more updated and reporting from all the countries.

Updates on European Strategy:

Sascha Schmeling presented about the European Strategy Update Process

• Pedro Abreu commented that education and outreach is also a scope for the IPOG collaboration, and it is important that different levels of ages students are being engaged. It is crucial to also reach lower levels than high school students, without meaning that all ten-year olds to become scientist but at least give them the eye and thinking of science.
• Kati Lassila-Perini asked if the staffing will remail the same once Science Gateway is open. Sascha Schmeling answered that he cannot give an answer to that yet.

A.o.B.:

Next meeting:

March 23rd, 14-16.30h  

There were no further questions or comments.