From school classes to UNESCO: IYL-enabled environments for tackling the STEM skills shortage through student-led outreach
From school classes to UNESCO: IYL-enabled environments for tackling the STEM skills shortage through student-led outreach
The accepted industrial skills shortage in the subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in the United Kingdom has led to an increasing drive for universities to work with a wider pool of potential students. One contributor to this drive is the Lightwave Roadshow, a photonics-focused outreach program run by postgraduate students from the University of Southampton. The program has benefitted from the unique platform of the International Year of Light (IYL) 2015 for the development and support of hands-on and interactive outreach activities. In this report we review Lightwave activities facilitated by IYL that focused on widening participation for students aged 6 to 18 years from a multitude of societal categories; the roadshow has directly benefitted from the significance and investment into the IYL in conjunction with university recruitment strategies, local schools and the support of international organizations such as SPIE and OSA. Lightwave has used the foundation of the IYL to provide a wide range of activities for over 1,200 UK students in 53 different schools; the assessment tools used to measure learning outcomes, reach and impact are also discussed. The program’s activities have been developed to make younger age groups the center of the outreach activity and create an environment which encourages youth pursuit of optics and science from a grassroots level upwards; to illustrate this we will outline a Lightwave project endorsed by the IYL steering committee to permit two 6th form students to attend the IYL opening ceremony in Paris.
Posner, Matthew
884b2318-83c1-4f8a-8d36-a2566b8766cb
John, Pearl
7e33c78a-14dd-4f15-8b5f-3de74b2b0eb9
Wong, Nicholas, Heng Loong
f9721f60-e45a-4f2b-9803-023d012fc743
Mittal, Vinita
fd5ee9dd-7770-416f-8f47-50ca158b39b0
Núñez-Velázquez, Martin
3c102956-ac51-4d02-9fe6-6628557cfbff
27 September 2016
Posner, Matthew
884b2318-83c1-4f8a-8d36-a2566b8766cb
John, Pearl
7e33c78a-14dd-4f15-8b5f-3de74b2b0eb9
Wong, Nicholas, Heng Loong
f9721f60-e45a-4f2b-9803-023d012fc743
Mittal, Vinita
fd5ee9dd-7770-416f-8f47-50ca158b39b0
Núñez-Velázquez, Martin
3c102956-ac51-4d02-9fe6-6628557cfbff
Posner, Matthew, John, Pearl, Wong, Nicholas, Heng Loong, Mittal, Vinita and Núñez-Velázquez, Martin
(2016)
From school classes to UNESCO: IYL-enabled environments for tackling the STEM skills shortage through student-led outreach.
In Optics Education and Outreach IV.
vol. 9946,
SPIE.
10 pp
.
(doi:10.1117/12.2238222).
Record type:
Conference or Workshop Item
(Paper)
Abstract
The accepted industrial skills shortage in the subjects of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in the United Kingdom has led to an increasing drive for universities to work with a wider pool of potential students. One contributor to this drive is the Lightwave Roadshow, a photonics-focused outreach program run by postgraduate students from the University of Southampton. The program has benefitted from the unique platform of the International Year of Light (IYL) 2015 for the development and support of hands-on and interactive outreach activities. In this report we review Lightwave activities facilitated by IYL that focused on widening participation for students aged 6 to 18 years from a multitude of societal categories; the roadshow has directly benefitted from the significance and investment into the IYL in conjunction with university recruitment strategies, local schools and the support of international organizations such as SPIE and OSA. Lightwave has used the foundation of the IYL to provide a wide range of activities for over 1,200 UK students in 53 different schools; the assessment tools used to measure learning outcomes, reach and impact are also discussed. The program’s activities have been developed to make younger age groups the center of the outreach activity and create an environment which encourages youth pursuit of optics and science from a grassroots level upwards; to illustrate this we will outline a Lightwave project endorsed by the IYL steering committee to permit two 6th form students to attend the IYL opening ceremony in Paris.
Text
OE IV 9946-6 From school classes to UNESCO Manuscript
- Accepted Manuscript
Text
994607 (1)
- Version of Record
More information
Accepted/In Press date: 27 April 2016
Published date: 27 September 2016
Venue - Dates:
SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications Symposium, , San Diego, United States, 2016-08-28 - 2016-09-01
Organisations:
Optoelectronics Research Centre, Support Staff
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 397147
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/397147
ISSN: 0277-786X
PURE UUID: daf01846-900a-434e-9ca5-ac941a03879e
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 29 Jun 2016 10:45
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 22:00
Export record
Altmetrics
Contributors
Author:
Matthew Posner
Author:
Nicholas, Heng Loong Wong
Author:
Vinita Mittal
Author:
Martin Núñez-Velázquez
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics