< Previous58ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN FUTURE LOW-ENERGY ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGIESENGAGEMENT AND OUTREACHSPREADING A PASSION FOR SCIENCE: ENGAGEMENT AND OUTREACH AT FLEETFLEET has focused significant efforts on science outreach in its first year, with the aim of >Increasing the participation of students in science and physics >Increasing understanding of and passion for science in the general public >Improving the outreach skills of FLEET members >Supporting the public discussion of FLEET-specific researchUp to 75% of future jobs will require skills in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). Yet school participation in science has been declining for several years. FLEET shares the responsibility to support students and teachers to increase this participation rate, linking the science teaching curriculum to cutting-edge research. In addition to increasing the numbers studying and working in science, FLEET works towards increasing the number of girls and women participating in physics, chemistry and engineering.In addition to FLEET’s standalone efforts, such as Home Science (see p60), FLEET Geeks (see p62) and research seminars (see p96), some of FLEET’s most successful outreach activities in its first year were collaborations with other centres and groups.FLEET Education and Training Coordinator Dr Dianne Ruka demonstrates angular momentum to kindergarten teachers and students59FLEET 2017 ANNUAL REPORTAbove: Facilitator and panelists of Science Says!Below: Director Michael Fuhrer explains tying electrons into knotsMy 12-year-old son was entranced by Dianne’s onstage science demonstrations at the National Science Quiz in Adelaide. He shows a leaning towards science and is a questioner by nature. I was delighted he might head in a STEM direction that would bring him exposure to such excellent science role models.”Maura McInerney ParentWorking closely with university communications teams, FLEET gave relevant physics demonstrations and lab tours at university open days, to show prospective students where a physics or electrical engineering career could take them.FLEET worked with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical and Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS) to support the National Science Quiz, a panel of scientists and comedians answering questions about common scientific phenomena. FLEET Director Prof Michael Fuhrer was a panellist and FLEET Education and Training Coordinator Dr Dianne Ruka and Communications Coordinator Errol Hunt performed science demonstrations, pictured right. SCIENCE SAYS! FLEET supported the first Melbourne show of Science Says!, a science entertainment event run by The Science Nation, with FLEET’s A/Prof Meera Parish and Prof Chris Vale appearing on the panel. FLEET collaborated with Swinburne University of Technology, Monash University School of Physics and Astronomy, and the Australian Institute of Physics to capitalise on Prof Wolfgang Ketterle’s presence in Melbourne. This included presenting both a public talk to a physics-oriented audience at Swinburne University of Technology (see p64), and an event for secondary school students at Monash University (see p65).In 2018, FLEET will create a bank of activities and experiments for students to complete when visiting a FLEET node. These activities will be designed in accordance with AI Educational Liaison Dr Eroia Barone-Nugent’s framework for the Growing Tall Poppies program, designed to increase girls’ participation in physics.60ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN FUTURE LOW-ENERGY ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGIESCASE STUDYHOME SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS: IT’S NOT MAGIC – IT’S SCIENCE!Simple, accessible science for school-age kids and their parentsFLEET’s Home Science and FLEET Geeks (see p62) programs provide science opportunities for young children and adults alike, making science easy, accessible and relevant. FLEET’s Home Science activities introduce younger students to easy, fun science experiments using accessible, everyday items. They are ground-tested and simple instructions are written for a non-science audience, including a description of the underlying scientific concepts. A new experiment is released every week on the website, and promoted through social media. Extension activities and links to the Australian teaching curriculum are provided where possible. MAGIC JUMPING BEANSTransform a marble, aluminium foil and a square container to apparently give the ‘bean’ a life of its own. In reality, it’s gravity. It’s not magic – it’s science!RUBBER EGGSUse an egg and vinegar to dissolve the shell, creating an egg with an expanded, rubbery texture. FLOATING WATERA deceptively simple experiment using hot and cold water dyed different colours to illustrate the effect of density and mixing.FLEET 2017 ANNUAL REPORT61CASE STUDYGlobal Challenges team with FLEET outreach kits. From left: Joshua Zail, Daniel Schultz, Clarissa Frizziero, Elle Phillips.MACRO-CHIPS AND ELECTRONIC CARD GAMES: CHALLENGING STUDENTSFresh minds develop hands-on learning methods for schoolsFLEET is developing innovative ways to communicate some key physics to school students.A collaboration with Monash University Science allowed the Centre to enlist fresh brains to this communications challenge.A team of maths and physics students from Monash Bachelor of Science–Global Challenges took on the task of developing hands-on games and resources to demonstrate FLEET-relevant science themes in the classroom.The student team designed a range of innovative games and physical demonstrations, including: >Electron tiggy, a physical ice-breaker activity to demonstrate electron scattering in conventional semiconductors >Wired, a card game to introduce electrical circuit components, including transistors >The Macrochip, a physical, water-based demonstration of binary computing via transistor switches.ELECTRON TIGGY is a fun, physical demonstration of electron scattering in semiconductors – a key concept in discussing topological transistors that do not allow scattering. Based on British bullrush, Electron tiggy uses stationary players as ‘impurities’ who slow running players (‘electrons’) as they cross the field.WIRED is a card game that introduces students to electrical components and circuit diagrams. Cards display circuit components (matched to the school curriculum) and players ‘build’ a circuit by playing the right cards in order.THE MACROCHIP builds on a common ‘water analogy’ used in teaching circuits, in which the pressure pushing water through pipes represents voltage, and the amount of water that flows represents current. In the ‘macrochip’ (that is, a ‘macro’-scale microchip) the flow of water shows how transistor switching is used in computing. Vinyl tubing joins tap valves that represent switchable transistors, with four end points representing the binary (0/1, or on/off) digits in a four-digit number. Students open and close taps to build any binary number from 0000 to 1111.All exercises involve a hands-on element, which has been shown to be very effective in learning and recall. This helps address a particular challenge of teaching FLEET’s areas of science, which is that atomic-scale phenomena aren’t very physically accessible. The team developed instructions for manufacture and play that can be used by classroom teachers or by scientists visiting the class. Feedback from teachers has been extremely positive. The project represented a successful collaboration with FLEET educational liaison Dr Toby Bell at Monash University Science.CASE STUDY62ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN FUTURE LOW-ENERGY ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGIESIt’s not magic, it’s science. Dr Dianne Ruka demonstrates induction by dropping a magnet through a pipeFLEET GEEKS: TAKING SCIENCE TO SCHOOLSReaching schoolkids, and setting scientists up for outreach successBringing practising scientists to schools brings enormous benefits.The FLEET Geeks program sees FLEET members performing science shows at primary schools and kindergartens, demonstrating physics with equipment not typically available to students.The program brings scientists to the students, allowing them to ask questions about scientific phenomena seen in the show, everyday science, a career in science or whatever burning questions they have.Hands-on learning is extremely effective in getting students to recall science lessons, so FLEET Geek programs involve the students in fun, easy exercises such as investigating static electricity (using a van de Graaff machine), thermal conductivity (the heat of coins) and induction (a magnet dropped down a copper tube).Students also engaged with gravity and forces using a Newton’s cradle and weights, and angular momentum using a spinning stool. Students are pushed to ask ‘why’, and to offer possible explanations for the phenomena observed. As well as asking about physics in the show or in their lives, students are also encouraged to talk about scientists, and about studying or working in science.The experiments inspire even young students with a sense of joy and magic, as well as the knowledge that they too can be scientists, and right now – all they have to do is look around them and ask ‘why?’FLEET Geeks exposes students to science role models, and helps challenges preconceived notions about scientists.Before one primary school visit, students were asked what a scientist does, and what a scientist looks like. CASE STUDY63FLEET 2017 ANNUAL REPORTMany students didn’t know what a scientist does, or responded that scientists ‘make potions’. Drawings of a scientist were almost exclusively male, in particular men with crazy, white hair. Challenged with the question “Why aren’t you wearing a lab coat?”, FLEET outreach coordinator Dr Dianne Ruka responded by describing different types of scientist. Her message was: “We don’t all wear lab coats, we don’t all work in a lab and not all scientists are men with crazy white hair!”In 2017, FLEET Geeks was trialled at primary schools and kindergarten, reaching students up to year 6. In 2018 FLEET will train more Centre members to deliver these activities, and expand the program to public places such as shopping centres.Home Science (see p60) and FLEET Geeks are designed to make science more accessible for students, and to spark interest and curiosity in STEM for Australians at a young age. FLEET Geeks is a key component of FLEET’s developing ‘toolkit’ of science outreach that Centre members can dip into, ensuring that their science outreach is achievable and effective. All our experiments are trialled before being taken into schools, to ensure student engagement and successful delivery. The FLEET Geeks program connects practising scientists to schools, and sets Centre members up for success in delivering science outreach.FLEET members are expected to perform at least 20 hours of science outreach per year.FLEET Geeks had lots of surprises and I learned a lot of things I didn’t know.Xavier S Year 2, Hughesdale Primary SchoolPrimary school students learning about electrical conductivity using simple propsARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN FUTURE LOW-ENERGY ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGIESCASE STUDY642001 Nobel Prize in Physics for realising BECs in the lab, is a key FLEET adviser. Ketterle was in Australia for the inaugural annual FLEET workshop in Torquay, at which he gave one of the workshop’s most popular talks. He described the BECs that form an integral part of research in FLEET’s Research theme 2 (in A/Prof Elena Ostrovskaya‘s labs at ANU) and Research theme 3 (Prof Kris Helmerson‘s Monash labs and Prof Chris Vale‘s Swinburne labs). Prof Ketterle advises FLEET as a member of the Centre’s International Scientific Advisory Committee.TEMPERATURES A MILLIONTH OF OUTER SPACE: NOBEL PHYSICS PUBLIC TALKWhy do physicists use temperatures a million times colder than outer space?Taking ‘strange states’ and ultra-cold atomic physics to the public At ultra-cold temperatures, only millionths of a degree above absolute zero, the quantum nature of individual atoms materialises in a phase known as a Bose-Einstein condensate.Such states are used by FLEET researchers in Research theme 2 (exciton superfluids) and Research theme 3 (light-transformed materials).Nobel physics laureate Prof Wolfgang Ketterle (pictured left) told a crowd of around 250 at Swinburne University of Technology about Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs), and other strange states of matter that exist at nano-Kelvin temperatures. These temperatures open a new door to the quantum world where particles behave as waves and ‘march in lockstep’. Ketterle expressed excitement at the discoveries that could remain to be made “if we can reach the pico-Kelvin scale”.The talk was co-presented by Swinburne, FLEET and the Victorian branch of the Australian Institute of Physics.Prof Wolfgang Ketterle, who was co-awarded the I have a new nerd crush! I was very impressed with Prof Ketterle’s communication skills and the way he talked to the kids. I am no physicist, but he made complex physics intelligible.Dr Linda McIver Teacher, John Monash Science School65FLEET 2017 ANNUAL REPORTMy students had a fantastic time meeting the academics and discovering their fields of physics. Prof Ketterle’s presentation was inspirational, with humour and a capacity to touch on deep science with young maturing scientific minds.Michele Linossier Teacher, Scotch CollegeCASE STUDYLUNCH WITH A LAUREATE: INSPIRING FUTURE PHYSICISTSA rare opportunity for schoolkids to meet a Nobel laureateSecondary-school physics students sometimes worry they need to map out a career in detail from the outset.But taking a slightly flexible approach to a career in physics can work out pretty well.FLEET advisor Prof Wolfgang Ketterle (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) spoke to 90 students and teachers about his own sometimes circuitous physics career, while describing his research into ultra-cold physics (pictured right).For any students (or researchers!) who were nervous about their future career path, Ketterle offered reassurance that changing research fields midstream had only increased his confidence and creativity. Describing his move into ultra-cold atomic research, Ketterle said “although the field was new and I didn’t know anything about it, I knew how to learn new information”.In retrospect, considering that the research won Ketterle a Nobel Prize in 2001, it worked out okay – and not only in “making better refrigerators,” at which Ketterle modestly claims some ability.66ARC CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE IN FUTURE LOW-ENERGY ELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGIES12 FLEET members from Monash and Swinburne meeting local students in “Speed-dating a scientist” sessionExposing young students to a scientist who has won the Nobel Prize in Physics was a rare chance to inspire their own aspirations for physics achievement.The talk at Monash University was followed by a casual ‘Lunch with a Laureate,‘ with teachers and students sharing personal, round-table chats with Ketterle and other physicists, including Monash and FLEET researchers and Monash University’s Dean of Science Prof Jordon Nash.A ‘speed-dating’ forum exposed students in small groups to six minutes with each academic, and the chance to quiz them with difficult questions about their fields of physics, chemistry and materials science. The talk was co-presented by Monash University School of Physics and Astronomy, FLEET and the Victorian branch of the Australian Institute of Physics.Ketterle was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2001 for his work in the creation of Bose-Einstein condensates in the laboratories at MIT.2,777,2222864451564,407Number ofTweets Number ofProfile visits Number ofFollowers Number ofTweet Impressions Number ofMentions @67COMMUNICATIONSSHARING FLEET NEWS AND SCIENCE: COMMUNICATIONFLEET’s communications functions include: >Internal communication to forge a cohesive andeffective Centre >Informing the public of the benefits to Australiaof FLEET’s ARC-funded research >Supporting FLEET’s outreach functions of buildinga more science-aware public >Effectively communicating FLEET’s researchoutputs to audiences that range in knowledge allthe way from completely non-scientific up to theresearch community and potential collaborators.In our first year FLEET has focused significant efforts on internal communications, working to build Centre cohesion via member induction, an internal newsletter to share news and tips, and an annual workshop (see p56) that was designed to forge inter-node links and build members’ knowledge of other research themes.Communication with external stakeholders is also underway, including involving affiliated researchers through the annual workshop and newsletter, engaging and building a social media audience to extend the reach of research and Centre communications, and sharing research achievements with journalists, online media and node communications teams.FACEBOOK @FLEETCENTRE22,6048832171085072412,365Number of people who engaged with our posts.Users engaged: 28 day averageNumber of people reached: 28 day averageFollowers FLEET Facebook pageNumber of times FLEET videos were watched at 95%Number ofposts Number of people whosaw our posts.TWITTER @FLEETCENTREFLEET 2017 ANNUAL REPORTNext >