An outline of reasons why Outreach should be undertaken, followed by examples of Outreach that the British Crystallographic Association have performed and finally indicating the direction that this work will take in the future.

1. BCA Education and Outreach
Why, What, How…
Simon Coles
BCA Young Crystallographers Group meeting, April 10th 2017

2. Why bother?

3. Outreach - my personal ‘drivers’…
• Its my job – an element of education
• I learn fundamentally about my own subject
• I develop communication skills
• ‘Teaching’ with a very high level of engagement
• Its incredibly satisfying!
3

4. Science Outreach – Wikipedia definition
• Public talks/lectures/discussions
• Visiting primary and secondary
schools
• Workshops/schools for teachers
and/or students
• Supporting science fairs and
similar events
4

5. /aʊtˈriːtʃ/
• An organization's involvement with or influence in the
community, especially in the context of religion or social
welfare Oxford English Dictionary
• An effort to bring services or information to people where
they live or spend time Cambridge English Dictionary
• Programmes and schemes that try to find people who need
help or advice rather than waiting for those people to come
and ask for help Collins Dictionary
5

6. Public Engagement
• a term used, particularly in the UK, to describe "the
involvement of specialists listening to, developing their
understanding of, and interacting with, non-specialists"
(as defined by HEFCE)
6

7. Are we addressing all audiences?
• People who are already
informed benefit from
traditional outreach efforts
e.g. museum exhibits
• People needing outreach
and education the most, i.e.
those with little or no
formal education, are being
left behind
7

8. Are we really listening to audiences??
8

9. 9

10. 10

11. Its about politics too…
11
• Policy making
• Both sides of
the fence –
public and
politicians

12. What do they really know?!
12

13. Parliamentary visibility?
13

14. What have we done?

15. The 2013-4 ‘catalyst’
15

16. (Big) Science Fairs…
16
• Big Bang Fair
• Cheltenham Science
Festival
• Gravity Fields

17. Molymod, sweetie lattices & Lego beamline
17

18. http://learn.crystallography.org.uk/
18

19. @Whatsinacrystal
@britishcrystallography
19

20. How could we go in new
directions…?

21. Outreach – Wikipedia revisited
• Public talks/lectures/discussions
• Visiting primary and secondary
schools
• Workshops/schools for teachers
and/or students
• Supporting science fairs and
similar events
21

22. Outreach – Wikipedia revisited
• Public talks/lectures/discussions
• Visiting primary and secondary
schools
• Workshops/schools for teachers
and/or students
• Supporting science fairs and
similar events
• Online aggregation of science
activities, resources, and programs
22

23. Public areas as arenas for public learning
and scientific debate
23

24. @pintofscience
24

25. Visiting schools
25

26. Engaging with schools at scale!
26

27. Local community
27

28. Developing regions
28

29. Workshops for schools (teachers)
29

30. Turns into workshops for students…
30

31. Education and Outreach Bursary Fund…
• Development of resources to support Outreach activities.
• Physical materials available via the BCA
• Or electronic resources eg
– downloadable activity packs,
– guidance materials for conducting an exercise or
– software applications
• Applicable to any age group or audience e.g. teachers,
scouts, academics
• Openly available resources, reusable by anyone 31

32. Education and Outreach Bursary Fund…
• “Funding is available at two levels”
– 8 week internships to fund undergraduate students to
develop resources (up to £2500 for stipend and
materials).
– Funds of the order of £300 to purchase materials
required to develop an activity.
• Consider these to be upper and lower limits of a range!
• “Applications from Early Career Researchers are
encouraged, either to perform the work or to supervise an
intern.”
32

33. Education and Outreach Bursary Fund…
33
Applicants Affiliation Title Audience
age range
Resources
Natalie
Johnson &
Paul
Waddell
Newcastle
University
From Crystal to
Model: An
interactive structure
determination
GCSE –
Higher
degree
Guidance sheet; Presentation;
Printable Beevers-Lipson
strips
Sarah
Milsted
University of
Southampton
Primary science
outreach activity
packs
KS 1&2 Poster; Participants handout;
Teachers guide;
Demonstrators instructions;
Risk Assessments
James
Wright &
Thomas
Roseveare
University of
Sheffield
The Molecular Boat
Race: photo-
switchable
“molecular motor”
crystals
A-level +
(with
flexibility for
lower ages)
3D printing files & boats; How-
to guide; stock of chemical; UV
lamps

34. Lending library
34

35. Think outside the box…
35

36. 36
Engages kids!

37. Second Life drug docking game
37

38. Dont forget about (formal/Uni) Education
• Durham School
• UG courses
38
Novel approaches to individual hands-on
crystallography learning for undergraduate students
Simon J. Coles, Lucy K. Mapp, Sarah J. Milsted, Peter N. Horton (pnh@soton.ac.uk)
Chemistry, Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences, University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, U.K.
Development
Launched in 2013, the glycine polymorphism advanced
practical[1] provided third year undergraduates with the ability
to collect and analyse their own single crystal diffraction data.
With the allocated time expanding from 2 to 3 weeks, the
practical was reviewed. It was decided to reframe the exercise
in order to provide students with an improved research
experience, changing from a formulaic to a problem-led
practical, whilst maintaining the excellent introduction to
diffraction techniques offered by the original.
Student Feedback
A survey probed the following aspects:
• Enjoyment
• Engagement
• Skills development
• Resemblance to workplace or research experience
Notable findings include:
• 52% of students would like to see more practicals
run like this (and a further 41% neither agreed nor
disagreed)
• 93% of students felt the practical helped teach skills
to become a better chemist
• 97% of students agreed that their understanding of
the theory had improved (of which 41% strongly
agreed).
• 80% of students felt this practical more closely
replicated work done by professionals than
previous practicals
The review identified the following aspects to be retained:
• Students growing their own crystals.
• Hands-on experience with multiple analytical techniques
(IR,HSM, PXRD, SCXRD).
• Analytical data workup and analysis.
• Crystal structure solution and refinement.
• Understanding the complete picture by bringing together
results from different techniques
• Assessment criteria and style (at the chemistry module level).
Expanding the practical allowed for new components to be
implemented and developed:
• A research exercise providing student choice and open
enquiry.
• Planning an approach to the problem.
• Time and resource management.
• Use of analytical data to inform next steps.
• Independent structure analysis.
Research Skill Development
The Research Skill Development (RSD) Framework [2] categorises six
aspects of research on a scale from 1 to 5. 1 equates to highly structured,
prescribed research, whilst 5 is unbounded research where the students
make all the decisions (and corresponds to what would be expected for a
final year PhD student).
Changing the practical has resulted in it evolving from a closed enquiry
into a scaffolded research project. As such, students are able to develop
higher level research skills than in previous ‘cookbook’ style practicals
they have undertaken, whilst still providing a hands-on introduction to
diffraction.
References
1. Coles, S.J. and Mapp, L.K., Conducting Reflective, Hands-On
Research with Advanced Characterization Instruments: A High-Level
Undergraduate Practical Exploring Solid-State Polymorphism, J.
Chem. Educ., 2016, 93, 131–140.
2. Willison, J., and O’Regan, K. Research Skill Development framework,
2013. (www.adelaide.edu.au/rsd/framework)
0
1
2
4
3
2015
2016
Best Product:
Glycinium hydrogen maleate
Comparative RSD scores
Evaluate Results
Research Problem
Students are told a pharmaceutical company
wants to modify the properties of a tablet
containing glycine by using co-formers to create
co-crystals (or salts). At the end of their
research, students will need to make a single
recommendation from the co-formers provided.
Eligible co-formers are a range of organic di-
acids, or simple inorganic salts (based on alkali
or alkaline earth metals).
Limited access to analytical instruments.
Criteria categories are:
• New pure, single product
• Melting point: 130-160 °C.
• Non-hydrate
• Block crystals
Plan Experiment
Prelab exercise to relate analytical technique to data
required to evaluate the desired product properties -
encourages students to think about the kind of
information they gain from each technique
Students select two co-formers from a list of eleven to
mix with glycine in a prescribed ratio - gives student
control over their own work, justification of selection
is marked as there is no “right” starting point
Co-former information included, structure, mass,
melting point and solubility in water at 20°C -
students have to apply chemical knowledge to
justify their selection and approach to solving
the problem
Plan out the order to run their analytical
techniques to best reach a conclusion -
encourages students to think about
time and “cost “of each technique
Workup Data
An Olex2 workshop provides an introduction
and familiarity with crystal structure analysis -
this enables the students to independently solve
their own structures
Collected raw data from instruments is processed
into interpretable results - students develop the
knowledge and understanding as to how to convert
raw data into scientifically useful information.
Assess product against desired criteria - students
gain insight not only into the results from individual
techniques, but how a bigger picture can be seen from
multiple techniques
After first products are analysed students can perform
a second round of crystallisations - students use the
first round of analytical data to inform their next
choices.
Recommendation
After evaluating all available data on their
products, students select the best possible
match to the criteria and justify their selection
- how they reach this recommendation is of
more importance than the result itself, since it
is unlikely they will obtain a sample that fulfils
all the criteria.
Conduct Experiment
Mix components together, wait a week for the
crystals to form - retains crystal growing element
Prelab videos show how the HSM, PXRD and SCXRD
instruments operate - helps combat worry about
using novel (and potentially expensive) equipment.
Students collect data on their own samples
with only minimal intervention from
demonstrators. Time on the instruments is
limited and must be scheduled by negotiation
with other students - students develop skills
in independent working and time
management. They also develop
confidence using the instruments
through repeated use.
Poster CCG07

39. Dont forget about education
• Electronic/online resources
39

40. ‘Train the trainers’
• From Oct 2017 – new PG module ‘Science Communication’
• Communication skills workshops
• Devise an outreach event
• Deliver outreach event
• Partnership with
– RSC Local Section
– Winchester Science Centre
40

41. 41
Approaches to Modelling Disorder
Tuesday 23 May – 10:00am to 5:00pm
UK National Crystallography Service, Chemistry, University of Southampton, SO17 1BJ
This course will be delivered by experts in the field to provide an overview of the
types of disorder and ways to deal with these using Olex2. The topics covered will
include:
► Positional disorder
► Symmetry related disorder
► Rotational disorder
► Conformational flexibility
► Solvent disorder
The day will consist of lectures and worked problems, finishing with hands-on analysis
of your own disordered dataset (sent to us in advance).
Register online at: https://tinyurl.com/kf5mhn9
Registration deadline: 9th May 2017
For more information please contact
Peter Horton – p.n.horton@ncs.ac.uk
http://www.ncs.ac.uk/training

42. How to – tips and
examples

43. • The facts never speak for themselves, which is why
scientists need to "frame" their messages to the public
• remaining true to the underlying science, but drawing on
research to tailor messages in ways that make them
personally relevant and meaningful to different publics.
• "perception is reference-dependent.” (Nobel Prize
• So how does the public use the media to form opinions
about science-related topics and a strategy for moving
forward?
43

44. • Opponents of nanotechnology have called it the "asbestos of
tomorrow". [This evokes an underlying schema, largely
leftover from regulatory mishaps surrounding the cancer-
causing flame retardant]. [Also triggers Pandora's Box by
communicating unintended and unpredictable outcomes.
• Accordingly marketing has now become more proactive in
framing this emerging field. [frame new product releases
around "nano is nature," portraying innovation as being in
harmony with what already exists]. eg Henkel Deutschland
Nanit® Active dental sealant marketing likens to a layer of
grass that protects the underlying topsoil. [Catalogue
retailers market products with the slogan "high tech
inspired by nature."
44

45. PoS hints
• Have a storyline – eg pose a question and then proceed to
(attempt to) answer it
• Signpost (forward and backwards) – explain eventual goal
and then proceed towards it
• Make it timely (relate to something that has just happened
or is about to happen)
• Make it personal – people often want to learn about the
‘presenter’ as much as the topic!
• Provide opportunities for people to relate to the topic ie
referencing news stories, everyday items, etc
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46. • Avoid lists eg of discoveries – use anecdotes, mix up
timescales, levels of detail, etc
• Tables and graphs should be used with caution – they are
often mistrusted. They should add to the point being made,
not reinforce it.
• Demonstrate large/small numbers visually ie not 1.543Å
but 0.0000000001543m.
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47. Talk tips
• Minimise slide text (noone will want them afterwards!)
• Focus should be on what you say with your voice
• Slides should frame points (although sometimes a picture
does convey 1000 words and make a point better!)
• Talk slightly slower than your normal conversational pace
• Dont read slides verbatim!
• Address the audience directly
• Move around
• Be expressive with your hands
47