Look into my eyes: colours, light and powerful lasers

We will engage primary age students with the subject of light through a series of activities in their classroom. Through exposure at an early age, our intention is to inspire the students to think about science as a real career and life choice. We will educate the children about important, counter-intuitive properties of light and will familiarize them with the nature of scientific work, in places such as the Central Laser Facility.

The ongoing success of the International Year of Light has clearly demonstrated the significant relevance of light and light-based scientific research activities to the general public. Light is everywhere and essential for everyday life. Our activities have been designed in a way that aims to capitalize on truths that primary school children hold to be self-evident, such as "Robots are cool!", "Lasers are cool!" and "Alien planets are cool!" in order to create or reinforce the more general understanding that "Science is cool!".

We will educate the students about important properties of light that underpin the PI's research work, such as the spectrum of light and frequency mixing processes. We will also explain how these properties are crucial for Astronomy. For instance, by analogy with the Doppler Effect in sound, we will demonstrate how the Relativistic Doppler Effect in light can be used to discover exo-planets. This will be done with the help of a humanoid robot. Moreover, we will emphasize that the Relativistic Doppler Effect constitutes the only real way for us to measure distances beyond the local Universe, to study the expansion of the Universe and the rotation of galaxies.

Furthermore, we aim to provide a hands-on introduction to the principles behind, and the work involved in, operating systems such as the Astra laser at the Central Laser Facility in the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. The children will be involved in building laser setups and in various activities to help them develop an understanding of light's wavelength/frequency and frequency mixing.

Our activities aim to appeal to both genders. We will increase the confidence and skill of the children in successfully handling real scientific equipment and tools, regardless of gender. We will also improve awareness of scientific careers as, during the visits to schools, the PI will be accompanied by both a female and a male PhD student.

In the present context of government funding restrictions, the public needs understanding and trust in publicly-funded science. Often, the science being developed at publicly-funded facilities may seem remote and counter-intuitive. We aim to show that counter-intuitive science can be not only understandable but also fascinating and accessible to primary school children. Our message is thus not only limited to the classroom but to their families as well, which we believe is very important for the sake of scientific accountability and transparency. Moreover, parental influence plays a strong role in students' subject choices, and hence engaging parents will contribute to engaging children too.

An important aim for this project is to motivate our PhD students by engaging them in this public outreach project, in order for the students to feel valued and recognized. They will also improve their communication skills and will be taking a leading role in the outreach by supervising/guiding individual activities and asking/answering questions.

We aim to create partnerships between scientists at the University of Bath and educators within local primary schools. In the future, these partnerships are expected to grow through additional outreach activities (by the PI and his colleagues) and through Royal Society Partnership Grants projects. This project will lead to more participation from local schools in the yearly Bath Taps into Science festival, which is aimed at primary schools. Working with teachers increases the reach of students and can give a more embedded impact in schools.

MARKETING FOR THE PROJECT
Advertisement for the project can be done directly to local schools by the PI. So far, two such schools have been contacted and the response from both was very enthusiastic and positive. These schools are Oldfield Park Junior School and Widcombe Junior School. Should this application be successful, the PI will contact other schools in the region.

Beyond these personal contacts, the university public engagement team and the department of Physics have also contacts with local schools, through which marketing for the project will be pursued.

Also locally, the project will be advertised within the framework of the Bath Taps into Science festival, which is aimed at primary schools. The PI I participated in last year's edition of the festival as a volunteer and he is familiar with its functioning. Contacts with science teachers will be made in person during the festival, and these will result in visits to the schools. Additionally, the project will be advertised through the mailing list of the festival, which too can result in invitations to visit schools.

Contacts with local schools will also be sought through the Bath & North East Somerset Council. The PI has already contacted the Family Information Service there, in order to inquire preliminarily about the local authority's ability to assist in establishing such contacts. Marketing for our project will happen through "the hub", which is a website accessible to schools to inform them about, for instance, training opportunities. This website is not public.

The project will also be advertised by the University of Bath, within the framework of the 50th Anniversary of the University. The public relations' office will be advertising through their social media accounts and webpages.

DISSEMINATION OF THE RESULTS
The PI is a URF of the Royal Society and last year, he attended a Royal Society course on how to prepare Educational Outreach activities. This project came as a result of this course and, consequently, the Royal Society's public engagement and educational outreach teams will be naturally made aware of the project. The Royal Society has also stated that they will disseminate the activities to Associate Schools and Colleges, as well as to other Research Fellows.

The results of this public engagement activity will be disseminated through participation in the "Engage" conference, by the National Coordination Centre for Public Engagement. It is also possible to post the evaluation on the British Science Association's collective memory website or on the European Space Education Resource Office (ESERO). More locally, dissemination will be insured via the University of Bath's public engagement unit and within our Department of Physics' Outreach Committee.

An important part of the project will be to produce two videos. One will present the educational activities to other scientists, educators, communicators and to the public in general. The second video will focus on the science as presented by the robot. Both videos will be advertised by the University of Bath.