New educational projects addressed to students and enthusiasts

In the coming year, we plan to invite everyone to the Open Door Days in Świerk. This time, however, we will open the door virtually, thanks to which we will show more, more precisely and even to a wider audience. We will also extend the campaign of lending detectors to schools that enable them to conduct lessons on radiation. Both undertakings will be possible thanks to MEiN funds granted to NCBJ for carrying out projects under the Social Responsibility of Science competition.

The first project is called „Virtual Days of Open Doors NCBJ and OJ Świerk”. It involves the preparation and publication of 10 films, which are virtual tours of individual departments of NCBJ and OJ Świerk, conducted in the style of Open Doors Days. The motivation for proposing the project was the Open Days at NCBJ organized in previous years, during which you could see how various plants, including the MARIA research reactor, operate. Due to the current situation, the organization of such an event is difficult, therefore the virtual form seems to be a suitable alternative.

The second project implemented by DEiS is „Educational detectors for schools”. Currently, the Education Department enables schools to borrow educational detectors (Geiger-Müller counters and Cosmic Watch detectors) and conduct classes with their use. The project involves writing new software to read and visualize data from devices using a computer, as well as adding a Bluetooth module to the existing Geiger-Müller counters, thanks to which data reading and analysis can be performed using e. g. a smartphone. The improvements will not only make the use of detectors more accessible, but also broaden the scope of their use. Students will be able to test the detector in the field without taking their laptops with them. In conjunction with the educational activities planned as part of the project on the principle of operation of detectors, it will allow students, for example, to observe changes in the intensity of ionizing radiation in different places, or to compare these values in the NCBJ and beyond.

„The Ministry of Education and Science has concluded the competition for Social Responsibility of Science, out of 2 applications submitted by the Department of Education and Training, 2 projects received funding for a total amount of PLN 308,000.00 as part of the Popularization of science and sports promotion module” – describes PhD. Katarzyna Deja, Department Director Education and Training. – „Thanks to the received financial support, we will have the opportunity not only to popularize and disseminate research and scientific achievements of the employees of the National Center for Nuclear Research, but also to implement one of the key missions of the Department, popularizing and educating the public. The received funding will allow us to reach the community of this part of the country, which is far from the Center, and does not have the means to visit the Institute in person”.

Both projects have already started and will be implemented in the coming months, starting in December 2021 (for 10 months for Virtual Open Door Days and 22 months for „Educational Detectors”). The amounts received for the projects are respectively: PLN 198,000 and PLN 110,000.

We invite you to familiarize yourself with the offer of the Education and Training Department:

https://old.ncbj.gov.pl/deis