Transforming education with the Timepix detector - Ten years of CERN@school

Parker, B.; Thomas, L.; Rushton, Elizabeth A. C.; Hatfield, Peter

doi:10.1016/j.radmeas.2019.03.008

Cited by 11 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…It facilitates students to undertake a range of investigative research projects from a varied portfolio of options. For example, these projects have included CERN@School (Whyntie, 2016;Whyntie et al, 2015Whyntie et al, , 2016, where students have been found to have positive experiences, developing research and data analysis skills, and developing wider skills such as collaboration and communication (Hatfield et al, 2019;Parker et al, 2019). Teachers who have facilitated projects for their students report that the experiences produced personal and wider benefits around:…”

Section: Institute For Research In Schools Projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigative Research Projects for Students in Science: The State of the Field and a Research Agenda

Reiß¹,

Sheldrake²,

Lodge³

2023

Can. J. Sci. Math. Techn. Educ.

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One of the ways in which students can be taught science is by doing science, the intention being to help students understand the nature, processes, and methods of science. Investigative research projects may be used in an attempt to reflect some aspects of science more authentically than other teaching and learning approaches, such as confirmatory practical activities and teacher demonstrations. In this article, we are interested in the affordances of investigative research projects where students, either individually or collaboratively, undertake original research. We provide a critical rather than a systematic review of the field. We begin by examining the literature on the aims of science education, and how science is taught in schools, before specifically turning to investigative research projects. We examine how such projects are typically undertaken before reviewing their aims and, in more detail, the consequences for students of undertaking such projects. We conclude that we need social science research studies that make explicit the possible benefits of investigative research projects in science. Such studies should have adequate control groups that look at the long-term consequences of such projects not only by collecting delayed data from participants, but by following them longitudinally to see whether such projects make any difference to participants’ subsequent education and career destinations. We also conclude that there is too often a tendency for investigative research projects for students in science to ignore the reasons why scientists work in particular areas and to assume that once a written report of the research has been authored, the work is done. We therefore, while being positive about the potential for investigative research projects, make specific recommendations as to how greater authenticity might result from students undertaking such projects.

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Section: Institute For Research In Schools Projectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigative Research Projects for Students in Science: The State of the Field and a Research Agenda

Reiß¹,

Sheldrake²,

Lodge³

2023

Can. J. Sci. Math. Techn. Educ.

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“…We do not discuss the former here as they are necessarily limited in reach, catering only to heavily bought-in individuals (i.e. typically one to three students; Paull and Xu, 2017) from any given school. Most independent research projects based within schools are not linked to current cutting-edge and novel scientific research topics or questions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…IRIS (Institute for Research in Schools) is a UK charity formally launched in March 2016 (IRIS, 2020), building on the previous CERN@School project conceived in 2007 (Whyntie et al, 2016;Parker et al, 2019). While IRIS' projects cover all the sciences, current physics projects include the aforementioned CERN@School, Higgs Hunters (Barr et al, 2018), LUCID (Furnell et al, 2019;Hatfield et al, 2019), and Webb Cosmic Mining (in preparation for the James Webb Space Telescope).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is not possible to compare how these schools go about project work and how much support they are given by participating universities, which may vary by institution, as at the time of writing HiSPARC has not published any reviews of their processes or evaluation. IRIS (Institute for Research in Schools) is a UK charity formally launched in March 2016 (IRIS, 2020), building on the previous CERN@School project conceived in 2007 (Whyntie et al, 2016;Parker et al, 2019). While IRIS's projects cover all the sciences, current physics projects include the aforementioned CERN@School, Higgs Hunters (Barr et al, 2018), LUCID (Furnell et al, 2019;Hatfield et al, 2019), and Webb Cosmic Mining (in preparation for the James Webb Space Telescope).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Evaluating participants' experience of extended interaction with cutting-edge physics research through the PRiSE “research in schools” programme

et al. 2021

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Abstract. Physics in schools is distinctly different from, and struggles to capture the excitement of, university research-level work. Initiatives where students engage in independent research linked to cutting-edge physics within their school over several months might help mitigate this, potentially facilitating the uptake of science in higher education. However, how such initiatives are best supported remains unclear and understudied. This paper evaluates a provision framework, Physics Research in School Environments (PRiSE), using survey data from participating 14–18-year-old students and their teachers to understand their experience of the programme. The results show that PRiSE appears to provide much more positive experiences than typical university outreach initiatives due to the nature of the opportunities afforded over several months, which schools would not be able to provide without external input. The intensive support offered is deemed necessary, with all elements appearing equally important. Based on additional feedback from independent researchers and engagement professionals, we also suggest the framework could be adopted at other institutions and applied to their own areas of scientific research, something which has already started to occur.

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“…The IRIS project CERN@school provides a representative example of the types of engagement and collaborations between school student researchers, teacher-mentors and research scientist partners across the wider group of projects experienced by teachers in this study. CERN@school lends a radiation detector and software to schools which enables the visualisation of alpha, beta and gamma radiation particles (Parker, Thomas, Rushton & Hatfield, 2019). Since 2008, CERN@school has included more than 300 schools, hundreds of teachers and technicians, and involves thousands of students.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ten Salient Practices for Mentoring Student Research in Schools: New Opportunities for Teacher Professional Development

Walkington¹,

Rushton²

2019

HES

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This paper proposes ten salient practices of research mentoring activity in high school settings for teachers and technicians based upon survey and interview findings from 96 English and Scottish high school teachers from STEM disciplines, working in research collaborations with scientists. Mentoring high school research provides career development, with teachers identifying new aspects to their professional roles including 'teacher researcher', 'teacher scientist' and 'teacher mentor'. This study suggests the potential for using the ten salient practices to initiate individual teacher reflection and wider professional development, and, a way of framing and disseminating effective practice across the school sector.

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Transforming education with the Timepix detector - Ten years of CERN@school

Cited by 11 publications

References 20 publications

Investigative Research Projects for Students in Science: The State of the Field and a Research Agenda

Investigative Research Projects for Students in Science: The State of the Field and a Research Agenda

Evaluating participants' experience of extended interaction with cutting-edge physics research through the PRiSE “research in schools” programme

Ten Salient Practices for Mentoring Student Research in Schools: New Opportunities for Teacher Professional Development

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