In June 2021, LAAAMP and the Canadian Light Source (CLS) joined together to offer a virtual professional development workshop for teachers of member countries to facilitate connections between science curricula and inquiry-based learning with synchrotron research stories as a focus. The goal of the workshop was to introduce high school teachers to science research, STEM, inquiry, and Indigenous connections and how they could connect these concepts to their classroom. Synchrotrons, specifically CLS was introduced and provided the back drop for many of our talks, the goal was to share ideas on how to connect to common classroom science concepts. Sessions included lectures on several machine components and research applications, a virtual tour of the facility, a simple data collection experiment, and an overview of our education programs that strive to connect these things to the classroom. 

Speaker List

Tracy Walker, Education Programs Lead
Amanda Pfeiffer, Education Coordinator
Corey Gray, Detector Operator LIGO Hanford Observatory, USA
Janice Osecap, MentorSTEP Intern Science Education
Julia Doucette-Garr, MentorSTEP Intern Science Projects
Dr Rob Blyth, Science Projects Manager
Dr David Muir, Sr. Scientist & IDEAS Beamline Responsible
Dr Michel Fodje, Sr. Scientist & CMCF Beamline Responsible
Noah Dick, Education Summer Student

With welcomes at the first session from:

Sekazi Mtingwa, Manager LAAAMP & Training Programs
Dr. Gianluigi Botton, CLS Science Director

Programme

  Download the Programme in pdf format 
  Download Supplementary resources in pdf format

Monday, 21 June

09:30AM - 10:00AM (CST) Virtual Hangout *Optional*
10:00AM - 11:30AM (CST) Intro & Welcome [Welcome from CLS & LAAAMP; Welcome by the CLS Education Team; Intro to our Education Programs & the Facility]
01:00PM – 02:30PM (CST) Expert Panel with Guests Weaving Together Indigenous Knowledge and Western Science [Perspectives in Science; Q&A]

Tuesday, 22 June

10:00AM - 11:30AM (CST) Dr. Robert Blyth (Science Projects Manager) Virtual Tour of CLS [Looking at the facility; Q&A]
1:00PM - 2:30PM (CST) Education Team Connections to Physics [Machine & Optics Concepts; Classroom Connections; Discussions]

Wednesday, 23 June

10:00AM - 11:30AM (CST) Dr. David Muir (IDEAS Scientist) IDEAS in ACTION [Technique Discussion; Simulated Soil Experiment on IDEAS; Data Discussions]
01:00PM - 02:30PM (CST) Education Team Data Understanding [How to make sense of data and connect to the classroom; Breakout Rooms; Discussions]

Thursday, 24 June

10:00AM - 11:30AM (CST) Dr. Michel Fodje (CMCF Scientist) Research Story [Science Research at CLS; Discussions; Q&A]
01:00PM - 02:30PM (CST) Education Team Connection to Science Curricula [How science research connects to curriculum; Discussion]

Friday, 25 June

10:00AM - 11:30AM (CST) Education Team Education Program Stories [How you can explore inquiry and research possibilities; Discussions]
01:00PM – 02:30PM (CST) Education Team Q&A and Closing  

Organizing Committee

Tracy Walker, Educational Programs Lead
Sekazi Mtingwa, Manager LAAAMP & Training Programs
Amanda Pfeiffer, Education Coordinator
Noah Dick, Education Summer Student
Janice Osecap, Education Summer Student (MentorSTEP)
David Muir, Sr. Scientist & IDEAS Beamline Responsible
Robert Blyth, Science Projects Manager

Testimonials

The virtual tour of synchrotron was awesome, as well as, the remote experiments in the beamline IDEAS. The presentation of Canadian Macromolecular Crystallography Facility (CMCF) by Dr. Michel Fodje was incredible. An other hand, the share de educational resources as videos, stories and the interaction with the teams works will help us the preparation of our classes.

The most important aspect is the attention, patience and commitment of all the researchers and professors who presented a topic in the workshop. You are all very professional and kind. Thanks.

100% of those providing feedback said they would recommend the workshop to their colleagues.

Participant information

6 teachers & professors from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Turkey & Cyprus