Galway teachers and students learn from CERN

Two Galway teachers have been applying the tricks of the trade from the world’s most eminent scientists since returning from the European home of nuclear research in Geneva to their classrooms for the new term.

Neasa Mhic Dhonncha, science and maths teacher and Transition Year coordinator at Scoil Chuimsitheach Chiaráin in Carraroe and Eleanor Nolan, the head of science and STEM coordinator at Claregalway College, spent three weeks this summer at CERN.

The pair were invited by the Galway Science and Technology Festival to attend the course alongside 54 teachers from 31 different countries after bringing their students to several events in recent years.

The course involves workshops, lectures and site visits at the engine room of international physics, with the opportunity to network with some of the great brains in science as well as teachers from across different educational backgrounds.

Talks examine the origins of the universe, teachers study particle physics, cosmology, particle accelerators and medical applications of particle physics. Workshops focus on how to improve science teaching to students in order to stimulate interest in the next generation.

“It was a brilliant course, very intensive. Just talking to other teachers and finding out about how they do things in their country was invaluable, sharing their ideas about teaching methods, it was very helpful,” enthuses Neasa.

“Instead of talking about particle physics, you get the overall picture of what’s happening in CERN, which is reinforcing information and getting a different understanding of it.”

CERN hit the headlines last year after the news that experiments performed by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on the campus in Geneva had discovered a Higgs boson, the so-called God particle, which the current model of physics describes as giving mass to all particles in the universe. Being at the site of the discovery gave a true sense of the enormity of the breakthrough, but what became clear after the visit was that nothing was clear at all.

“Nobody’s really 100% sure about anything. They’re still investigating everything. Even the findings last year, they’re still working on them and trying to get beyond that, they’re still investigating,” explains Neasa.

There has been a surge in interest among students in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects, particularly in higher level maths with an extra 25 points up for grabs in the CAO system. Four times the number of students in Carraroe are taking the combined psychics and chemistry course compared to a decade ago.

This week 44 city students and five teachers from Coláiste na Coiribe on the Tuam Road and Coláiste Einde in Salthill left on a four-day school tour to CERN.

The group is being led by teachers Mícheál Ó Marcacháin and Matt Lockett, who last year participated in the same High School Teachers programme.

Matthew explained that a visit to CERN gives an immediacy to physics, which is applied in every walk of life. Much of the science behind cancer treatment is based on the work of medical imaging invented at the Geneva centre while the internet was also invented there. It was through work here that satellites and mobile phones were created.

“The curriculum tends to focus on physics that was discovered three to four hundred years ago. Even modern physics was discovered in the last 120 years.

“It’s good to show how it’s evolving which helps drum up interest.”   Following last year’s visit, both colleges introduce particle physics at a much earlier stage of the curriculum and they use new power point presentations and classroom resources. There are plans to hold masterclass webcasts with CERN scientists.