GCSE revision event

Last week, the University of Sussex hosted the Energy GCSE revision event, a travelling road-show put together by the South-East Physics Network. We had children visiting from Hailsham Community College, The Forest School and Cavendish School.

The event began with experienced school physics teacher Jennifer MacGregor giving an overview of how energy can appear in different forms, and talking about the various ways in which energy can be generated – from coal and nuclear powered stations, to the renewable sources of energy.

Then, it was time for the practical demonstrations! There were twelve demonstrations, covering everything from pumped-storage hydroelectric and harnessing the power of waves, to thermal cameras searching for inefficient buildings and the "disco bike" – two volunteers cycling to generate enough electricity to power a disco! All these activities were demonstrated to the school students by undergraduate and postgraduate members of the University of Sussex's Physics & Astronomy department.

If you want to know more about future SEPnet GCSE revision events, please see their website at www.sepnet.ac.uk.

Outreach Launch Party

On the 14th of July, 2009, over 50 teachers from around the region came to visit the University of Sussex, to see the launch of outreach offerings from the department of Physics & Astronomy.

Activities included:

• a tour of the research facilities
• demonstrations of hands-on workshops for schools kids
• watching radiation passing through cloud chambers
• GCSE revision experiments
• our new roof-top robotic observatory
• solar telescope demonstrations
• plus the chance to talk to members of the department, both staff and students

The event was a tremendous success, and everyone enjoyed themselves! We also got lots of valuable feedback from visitors, and ideas to put into our program for next year.

We'd like to thanks all those who made the effort to come and visit, and we really value your thoughts and ideas. And we look forward to seeing you all again at some point in the future, either here on campus, or at your school.

Under-graduate students Nick and Darren (left), and lecturer Jon Loveday (right), all from the Physics & Astronomy department of the University of Sussex, show off the selection of telescopes available for visiting schools to use.