Friday 10 April 2015 What can you do with beach balls, a giant elastic band and a sledgehammer? Demonstrate the inner workings of the world’s largest and most powerful particle accelerator of course! The aforementioned items were all used as props in ‘Large Hadron Colliding’, an interactive talk at The Grammar School at Leeds (GSAL), delivered by Sam Gregson, Dr Ben Still and Dr Aidan Randle-Conde, all physicists involved in research at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. There was plenty of audience participation with flying beach balls to demonstrate colliding particles, a giant elastic band encircling three student volunteers representing the strong nuclear force and a sledgehammer to illustrate taking something apart to see how it works, using the right tool for the job. The importance of scientific collaboration was exemplified by dividing the audience into two teams to use an app on their handheld devices for data collection. However each team’s results only became meaningful when combined, making an important point about the purpose of the evening – to launch a new science education partnership between local schools. The new Leeds and Harrogate Ogden Schools Science Partnership will see schools share their resources to provide science enhancement activities for their students. The partnership scheme is supported by The Ogden Trust, a science education charity with a remit to maximise science learning opportunities for young people, especially in physics. Tom Rogerson, head of physics at GSAL, said: “We are committed to playing our part in creating the next generation of scientists, who are needed to help meet skills shortages and drive economic growth. The support of the Ogden Trust means that we can work together with other schools to improve attainment and inspire pupils about physics, by providing experiences that demonstrate its relevance to so many areas of our lives.” Ogden Schools Science Partnerships have been established nationwide to provide a means of sharing science enhancement activities for pupils across all age groups and abilities, promote the study of physics at GCSE, A-level and beyond, support teachers and encourage more physics graduates to become teachers. GSAL is the hub school for the new partnership. Other partner schools are St Aidan’s C of E High School, St John Fisher Catholic High School and Ashville College, all Harrogate; Prince Henry’s Grammar School, Otley; Fulneck School, Pudsey; Batley Girls’ High School; and Leeds schools David Young Community Academy, Allerton High, Corpus Christi Catholic College and Horsforth School. General News
