Campaign for Social Science Roadshow at UEA

Brief 'heads-up' post about a forthcoming roadshow at UEA:-
15 March 2012
Campaign for Social Science Roadshow at the University of East Anglia University of East Anglia - directions (includes light refreshments)
 
Supported by many Vice Chancellors, the Campaign will be presented to all Academicians and other social scientists via a series of regional roadshows around the country.  A Question and Answer session, will be chaired by Professor Neil Ward, Dean of Social Sciences, University of East Anglia.

Speakers include:

• Professor Edward Acton, Vice Chancellor, University of East Anglia – Introduction and Welcome
• Professor Sir Howard Newby, President of the academy of Social Sciences and Vice Chancellor, University of Liverpool
• Professor Michael Harloe AcSS, Member of the Board, Campaign for Social Science and former Vice Chancellor, University of Salford
• Professor Tony Crook, Chair of Board, Campaign for Social Science and former Pro Vice Chancellor, University of Sheffield
• Professor Neil Ward, Dean of Social Sciences, University of East Anglia - Question and Answer Session
• Stephen Anderson CfSS, Executive Director, Academy of Social Sciences

We would like to encourage ALL social scientists to attend.  Please spread the word amongst your friends and colleagues.

Internet Astronomy (Courtesy of Harvard & NASA)

You can do astronomy from the comfort of your own computer & internet connection without having purchased telescopes etc..

My Andromeda picture

My first photo of the Moon

Visit the Harvard Micro-Observatory pages to do some observing with NASA and you can choose what you want to look at from a menu and set the camera settings (Filters, exposures etc). A picture is taken that night and you get an e-mail with links to your picture(s). For some observations you can shoot with RGB filters and build up a colour image using free Java software from the site.

(1) Choose the target

(2) Choose settings

(3) Enter your e-mail details

My first (feeble) efforts are on this page - why not have a go and see if you can do better (I'm sure you can)?
Teachers - here is an opportunity to combine ICT with some physics teaching (or vice-versa) and to tie in with the recent BBC Stargazing.series.(Oh and did I mention that it is all free!).

Review of Stargazing (pt3)

Another good programme - Concepts covered in the final part were:
The extent of the Solar system (Kuiper belt & Oort cloud) and how we can detect objects that far out.

The search for Exo-planets and techniques used and the possibility that the TV audience had helped to find one amongst Kepler's telescope data.
We had Prof. Cox enplaning Astronomical Units  (AUs) using sugar lumps in a tea room (You need to see with your own eyes...).

Mars & it's atmosphere (NASA)

We also saw the programme succeed in the conversion of a light polluted village into a dark village (the effect was somewhat spoilt by typical British weather meaning that the stars were not visible...)

High Atlas, Morocco

Also covered was the search for life  "out there". As far as the Solar system is concerned we can probably only expect microbes ( Indeed, some people have hopes about the recent Mars meteorites in Morocco).
If we go farther out, maybe there will be intelligent lifeforms. Mention was made of the Seti project  and we had a brief snippet from David Brin (The SciFi Author of The Postman) warning about how first contact could go wrong.
This episode (and others) is viewable at the Stargazing web-site plus there are lots of resources (some from the OU) for Teachers, pupils and parents.

Review of Stargazing (ep 2)

The second programme covers even more ground than the first.

Andromeda Galaxy (Source: NASA)

We had demonstrations of how galaxies collide to form new ones; how we can detect black holes; a computer simulation of the formation of galaxies from the Big Bang with a discussion about Dark matter.

Once again we had time devoted to amateur astronomers and the weighty topic of light pollution reducing what we can see of the night sky.

There was a delightful example of an outreach activity in South Africa where children were enticed into looking up into the sky by simply flying kites and as dark descended they were accompanied by an astronomer talking to them about galaxies.

There was even a section discussing UFOs and explanations of what people had really seen (But no Mulder & Scully sadly).

Two episodes down and one to go...

Review of Stargazing (ep 1)

First part of three (viewable at Stargazing web-site) and pretty good viewing.
Quite a good proportion on the moon and interview with Eugene Cernan, who was both the LEM (Snoopy) pilot on Apollo 10 and the Commander of Apollo 17 (last man on the moon). Quite an interesting and forthright chap.


Prof Cox gave a good explanation about why tides occur and then showed that not just water was affected by gravitational tides.
Another highlight was segments on the role of telescopes based in South Africa and their view of the universe from the Southern Hemisphere.
Another section focused in on amateur astronomers and gave advice on equipment ranging from the naked eye to computerised telescopes.
Another highlight was at the end with the TV audience being invited to crowd-source in the effort to find exo-planets using data from the Kepler space telescope.

Aylsham High School Family Fun Day

A brief post to promote Aylsham Family Fun Day (Saturday 16th June 10-2pm @ Aylsham High School):

"The Aylsham Cluster of Schools is holding it's annual Family Fun Day on Saturday 16th June 10am - 2pm at Aylsham High School.  The event expects to attract around 500 children and adults to an action packed day full of free activities provided by the local schools and children’s centre, library service, adult education, Football in the Community and other local voluntary organisations as well as Redwings Horse Sanctuary, a mini-beast workshop, didgeridoo playing sessions and lots of other activities to try. The event is aimed at all ages of child but predominantly primary aged children attend."

Quick post that hopefully will be of interest to Primary & Secondary School students:

The RSC Bill Bryson Prize for Science Communication is an engaging and popular competition, designed to encourage and recognise clear science communication in schools and colleges.
The Bill Bryson Prize 2012 offers the chance to welcome the Olympics to the UK. In support of this major event the 2012 competition theme will be "Science and Sport”. This theme aims to celebrate the role that science and chemistry plays in supporting sport around the world. Boosting competi-tor‟s performance through improved nutrition, ensuring the integrity of competition by uncovering cheats and providing sportsmen and women the latest and most advanced equipment they need to excel, all rely on the uses and applications of chemistry and offer a rich vein of scientific ideas for entrants to explore.
The RSC Bill Bryson Prize 2012 is open to students aged 5-18 and entries can be submitted in all formats, from posters to power points to puzzles! The competition will be judged in two categories, primary school and secondary school, with both individual and group entries accepted. The best en-tries from each category will receive a cash prize of £500 for their institution, and £100 for the win-ning students to share.
All UK winners will be invited to a prize-giving ceremony in London, where the awards will be made. If the best international entry comes from a country where the RSC has a presence a local cere-mony in their home country may be organised. Note: all entries must be submitted in English.
The closing date for entries is 31 March 2012.
Entry forms are available to download and submissions should be sent to the RSC Education De-partment. An email address is also included on the entry form if you would prefer to enter by email.
www.rsc.org/billbrysonprize

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures 2011 review

Yes, I know it's January 2012. Courtesy of catch up TV and the web I thought I'd finally get a brief blog in about this Christmas's Royal Institution Lectures by Prof. Bruce Hood on the brain (click here to view).
I quite enjoyed the three programmes which covered a lot of good science. The first programme felt a bit slow in it's pace but the other two more than made up for it. There were nice demonstrations of neural circuits, transfer of neural imulses and a favourite of mine (from my psychology courses) - the Stroop effect.
There were also example of the physical nature of thoughts using disruptive magnets and also an MRI scanner.
The effects of the Internet upon how we communicate and think was also explored under the heading of the social brain.

As ever with the RI, quality stuff - recommended.

Stargazing LIVE interaction using Twitter

Something from my OU mailbox that mey be of interest to Physics pupils and teachers:-

Stargazing LIVE: Get involved

Stargazing LIVE returns for a second series on 16th, 17th and 18th January and this time, it’s an OU / BBC co-production with OU academics from the Department of Physical Sciences involved. Broadcasting live from the control room of the Jodrell Bank radio observatory in Cheshire, the show will be presented by Professor Brian Cox and Dara O Briain with Liz Bonnin reporting from South Africa.

As the show airs, you can get involved on Twitter if you have an account by tweeting using the #bbcstargazing hashtag. Also visit OpenLearn at http://www.open.edu/openlearn/stargazing and enjoy a series of interactives including the Virtual Planisphere which allows you to track the night skies throughout the year and the Virtual Microscope which gives you the chance to examine moon rocks and meteorites up close.

To find out more, visit: http://www.open.edu/openlearn/stargazing

Ase conference day 3

Started with a rocket launcher workshop given by Institute of Physics (Resources here but you will need to register). Picked up some plumbing skills and made a cardboard rocket that flew well from Chadwick building to the ASE marquee!

Components from screwfix rather than NASA!

Completed launcher (with blood stains!)

Closeup of 'trigger'

Chadwick Car park not Canaveral...

With a bit of a dash I made it to a talk on literacy in science education. This had some useful ideas like using giant pipecleanrrs from pound shops to get across gene splicing concepts.
Next, I went to the ASE presidential talk on "science for all". Which was thought provoking (is science education for general scientific literacy or to train future scientists?).
Then after lunch I gave my second open conference talk on food security to a diverse audience.
Had another tour around the exhibition marquee and then off to the station for the six hour journey home...

ASE conference day 2

A busy day at the ASE conference... (but stimulating)
First talk I attended was about the difference researchers had found in trainee teachers approaches to teaching maths & science.

Whizzed off to talk to a workshop presenter about the TI-nspire calculator (&TI lab stations) as a means of capturing, processing and analysing data (so possible goood activity combining science & maths).

Apparently TI will loan kit for up to 3 weeks for good STEM teaching activities.

Went to a workshop on Forensic Science learning kits (Taking advantage of the CSI TV series) to see if I could get ideas for a food forensics outreach activity (a la Biotracer). Did some finger printing and saw some blood spatter experimental kit.

Trekked around the huge marquee (which was resisting the gales quite well) and looked at many suppliers and talked to several outreach people. Collected a few ideas that I may use for STEM activities.


Then I had a slot at open conference to deliver talk on Biotracer project and its possible application in schools.

Judith Hackett CBE (HSE) gave  a talk aimed to reassure schools that they were not out to restrict schools use of 'risky' experiments. The problems of insurance came up especially costs for individual schools vs. LEAs - this is apparently currently being discussed by the UK government.

Next I attended a workshop on recycled electronics - maybe can be used by pupils e.g. build own Optical density meter for growth curve experiments. Had fun remembering how to solder (and de-solder :-( )

Tweeted an advert for my second open conference talk to the ASE tweetup  (#asechat).

Phew!

Association for Science Education conference

First day at conference. Two interesting talks so far today.
One on cheap Physics demonstrations using everyday items and a CLEAPPS demonstration of microscale chemistry experiments (including drop chemistry) which we may be able to adapt for outreach activities.
The afternoon had a couple of interesting talks on science in primary schools.
Dinner with theInternational delegates in the evening at Victoria Gallery & Museum. Impressively, there were delegates who had travelled from Hong Kong & Shanghai to attend the ASE conference.
The meal was very good and there were several speeches including one from the Mayor of Liverpool.
Walked back to hotel in the gales (very nearly blown back towards the university...).