Download National Science Week Event with Girlguiding Worcestershire

National Science Week Event with Girlguiding
Worcestershire
This case study is reproduced with kind permission from http://www.stickyphysics.co.uk/stem-ambassadoractivity-national-science-and-engineering-week-2014/
My task was organised via STEMNET and frankly, I’m not going to do it justice in the time I have to write about it.
I responded to a request from Girlguiding Worcestershire to support their National Science and Engineering
Week event.
The Girlguides had chartered a train that would take approximately 400 Girlguides and Leaders from
Kidderminster to London, where they would undertake an “I Spy…” challenge. This involved the Guides travelling
around London in order to tick STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) related items and
locations off their lists. Points were earned for each item/location observed, and evidence was provided by taking
photographs. My role was two-fold, but I had not been warned about the second…
Firstly, I was to walk up and down the train carriages, talking to the Guides about Science, being a scientist and
anything and everything STEM related.
Also (this was the part I hadn’t been warned about), one of the items to tick off the Guides’ “I Spy…” lists was “a
Scientist”. You might remember me mentioning that photographs were taken as evidence… Cue the 400
unexpected digital photographs of myself!
I have to congratulate Girlguiding Worcestershire on a brilliantly organised event that was a pleasure to be part
of. The Guides and Leaders were friendly, talkative and asked some really excellent questions. A few encounters
that come to mind are the following:
(1)“What are atoms made of? I’ve been told they have electrons in, but what about the rest?”
“What a good question!”, I thought.
Given the level of the question, I assumed an age of about 14. So I went straight in with:
“Have you come across the model of the atom with the nucleus in the middle and the electrons whizzing round
it?”.
“Ummmm… no I don’t think so…”, came the reply.
At this point, the adult next to her said “No, she is only in primary school at the moment”. It turns out that this
Guide was only 11 years old – a very impressive question given her age!
I went on to explain a simple model of the atom. At the centre is a nucleus that it is made of protons and
neutrons, and around this nucleus are the electrons.
“Do you understand?”, I asked.
“Yes”, she replied.
Would you like to know more?”
“Yes – Science is fun!”
I proceeded to tell her about the charges on the different particles: neutral neutrons, positive protons and
negative electrons, and the fact that atoms are neutral (we didn’t go into ions).
“Do you understand?”, I asked again.
I have not been able to forget her reply… She proceeded to repeat back to me everything I had told her about
what atoms are made of. Not only that, she had organised the information and put it into context. She had
omitted all of the explanatory “fluff” and given me only the important details. I was incredibly impressed. So much
so, I asked her if she wanted to delve deeper. The answer, of course, was a resounding, “yes!”
I found myself teaching this 11 year old how by smashing protons and neutrons together in particle accelerators
like theLarge Hadron Collider, we more recently discovered that they are made of even smaller particles called
quarks. Quarks come in different colours and flavours, and the protons and neutrons are made of different
combinations of three quarks. Yes… I was unexpectedly explaining some basic quantum chromodynamics to an
11 year old!
She again explained everything back to me, showing an incredible depth of understanding and even telling me
about some of her own science research she had done to explain a cartoon that had not made sense.
This was an extremely rewarding exchange and is one of the great things about being a STEM ambassador!
(2) “How long will it be before there is no rainforest left?”
This was a brilliant question because I couldn’t give an answer, therefore giving me the opportunity to explain to
the group why I couldn’t give a definite figure and teach the Guides how to approach the problem like a scientist.
We talked about the various factors that affect how much rainforest might be lost every year, that forests
replenish themselves over time and how to obtain data that we could use to predict how much rainforest will be
left in the future. We discussed how our approach to the problem affects the answer we get, which allowed me to
lead a discussion on the reliability of facts and figures quoted to us by the media and advertisers.
(3) “Can we predict the future?”
Any opportunity to talk about quantum mechanics!
This allowed me to explain the difference between the
Newtonian approach where everything is predictable if we know the position and momentum of every atom in the
Universe, and the ideas of quantum mechanics where we can only consider probabilities. This led one of the
group to ask about the Schrodinger’s cat thought experiment and what the idea of a “dead-alive” cat was meant
to show. Very thoughtful and insightful discussion!
Final remarks
This was my first encounter with the Girlguiding organisation and I have to say that I was impressed with the
whole event. It was very well organised and the atmosphere on the train was lively, yet relaxed and it was a
pleasure to encounter such an inquisitive and confident group of young people and their leaders. I am thankful to
the organisation for having me as part of the event.