Here you will find a variety of useful resources such as websites, video clips, teaching guides and brochures that are suitable for a wide range of audiences.
If you have produced a resource about nuclear physics and think others could benefit from it, please send it to the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Public Engagement Team to look at.
Email: stfcpublicengagement@stfc.ac.uk
Websites
Binding Blocks is a nuclear physics outreach project that aims to get members of the public and schools to build an eight metre long, 3D nuclear chart of all isotopes made completely out of LEGO. Curriculum-linked workshops cover a range of topics from radiation to energy.
Teaching radioactivity is a collection of teaching resources developed by the Institute of Physics to:
- support the teaching of radioactivity
- give students a more authentic and engaging experience of ionising radiations and subatomic particles.
Physics resources, developed at Queen Mary University of London for students and teachers, use LEGO to illustrate physics concepts such as fission, fusion and the structure of nuclei. The lesson plans, activity sheets and booklets cover curriculum-linked topics in nuclear physics.
Nuclear Physics Experience (NUPEX) is a free database of knowledge, created and maintained by expert nuclear physicists from all over Europe.
The ABCs of Nuclear Science is a brief introduction to nuclear physics, covering a wide range of topics from basic nuclear structure to industrial applications of nuclear science.
Applications from UK Nuclear Physics Research showcases the applications of nuclear physics research by UK universities.
Films
Backstage Science takes you backstage at some of the UK’s most amazing science facilities. It includes the Rutherford Gold Foil Experiment, a film showing the recreation of Ernest Rutherford’s ‘discovery’ of the atomic nucleus in 1911.
100 Second Science are scientific questions answered simply by specialists in less than 100 seconds, including:
Animations
Just how small is an atom? This TED-Ed lesson uses spectacular metaphors (imagine a blueberry the size of a football stadium) to explore the questions ‘just how small are atoms, and what’s inside them?’
Radioactivity: expect the unexpected. This TED-Ed lesson nicely explains radioactivity and how it can be both dangerous and useful.
Publications
We offer a range of teaching resource publications to support physics education.
Visit nuclear physics research facilities
STFC’s Daresbury Laboratory in Warrington is home to the STFC Nuclear Physics Group.
Additionally the laboratory houses the:
Daresbury Laboratory runs lots of outreach events and has an active schools programme.
Contact the Daresbury Laboratory public engagement officer to find out more.
Email: wendy.cotterill@stfc.ac.uk
Newsletter
The UK Nuclear Activity Newsletter is a monthly newsletter detailing the research and outreach activities of the nuclear physics community in the UK.