ACTIVITY

Particles 4U

Competition for primary and secondary schools

Create an educational, fun, and inspiring tool showcasing how elementary particles are present in our everyday lives.

Particles 4U

“Art is based on very clear, mathematical principles like proportion and harmony. At the same time, physicists need to be inventive, to have ideas, to have some fantasy.” Fabiola Gianotti, DG CERN


The IPPOG Particles4U Competition is a challenge for secondary students and teachers to use their creativity to help IPPOG bring the thrill of Particle Physics to the world.

Particles4U

Particles4U is a competition for young students and teachers, sponsored by the European Physical Society (EPS), and organised by the International Particle Physics Outreach Group (IPPOG). We at IPPOG are scientists, communicators, and educators engaged in particle physics outreach around the world. 

The Challenge

If you are a student or teacher in primary or secondary school, then we have a challenge for you. Create an educational, fun, and inspiring tool showcasing how elementary particles are present in our everyday lives. This could be an object, prototype, lesson plan, activity, game, experiment, or even a work of art. Use your creativity! Just make sure to include an educational aspect — something that will get the message across that science and with it the elementary particles are a fundamental part of our lives.

Eligible Participants

There are two categories: one for primary level students (age 12 and under) and their teachers, and one for secondary level students (age 13 and up) and their teachers. Individuals, groups, classrooms, and even groups of classrooms from anywhere in the world are welcome to participate. This includes aspiring artists, musicians, and writers, as well as math and science wizards. Your goal is to teach the rest of the world how particle physics is everywhere and how it affects our lives in many ways.

The Awards

The top two contributions in each category will be awarded with:

  • A visit from an IPPOG particle physicist, who will give an adequate level introduction presenting the big picture of the field and who will answer your questions (in your local language whenever possible);
  • A special gift from CERN and an award certificate for each individual team member, in recognition of their achievement;
  • For the school teachers of the top two secondary-level student teams or individuals, a genuine working particle detector  will be given. Connecting a laptop running a web browser to this detector, and measure the cosmic ray muons directly in class.

How to Apply

Please complete the registration form by 7 January 2018 including the following:

  • A written description of your creative contribution, including its goals and intended audience;
  • Images and/or Video which can help us to better understand its usage and capabilities;
  • Any other supporting material that you think is relevant.

Contact

We are looking forward to seeing your creative ideas!
Contact Us
For any questions or help with your project, please contact the IPPOG team at ippog.info@cern.ch.

Find final report here and link to the file.