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What made me participate:
I believe that it is important to show interested pupils the possible areas they can work in and try to interest them in our research. Especially since High-Energy Physics is not one of the most popular fields of research (such as Nanophysics, Biophysics or such, which the students can sometimes learn about in newspaper articles) it is of great value also to the research community to explain the sometimes seemingly difficult topics to possible future scientists. Additionally, I enjoy teaching and like talking to students about my work and related topics, and therefore I was very interested in this program from the moment I heard about it.
What did I pay most attention to:
Since for my research it is very difficult to find suitable experiments for high-school students to experience and the theory necessary to understand the details of our work is only very rudimentary provided, my main purpose of the talk was to give a peak into my work and introduce basic concepts as well as talk about the research environment. Therefore I spent most of my time trying to find good ways to bring these new concepts (of quarks and their interactions) closer to students. Also, I wanted to keep them interested and able to follow my talk, so I did not go into much detail and instead talked more about research and what is important to become a researcher and my way of becoming one. I introduced my country and the life in my family at the start to warm up the atmosphere and start with easy topics and easy english so the students would not get afraid or intimidated by the language.
Furthermore, I put strong emphasis on english as a necessity to do high-level research in any field. However I tried to assure the students, that this should not scare them away as they would learn the language hand in hand with their research and it is OK if they are not proficient in english at the start.
Difficulties and advice:
I did not find it difficult to talk to japanese students, however I am not sure if it was the same the other way around. Luckily I had the help of Higuchi-san, who translated several parts of my talk, so I think it was OK for the students as well. I tried to keep my english simple and avoid any big special terms (or if unavoidable give a simple explanation with it or make a short break to Higuchi-san time to translate it). As advice, I can only offer to keep your english simple and try to bring something the students can play with. It helps break the ice and gives them an experience that is easily remembered. Also, simple examples or analogies help in their understanding. If you can also bring a translator or japanese speaking coworker it helps to make sure the students understand everything on the slides. But practice the talk together ahead as it takes quite some time (more than you might expect) to explain and translate for the students. Make sure you don't prepare too many slides.
Impressions:
I am very happy that I participated and I would (will?) do it again. It is nice to see some students getting very interested in your work and trying to bring your work closer to them. For any science, a wide understanding in the society is necessary. However, as I mentioned before, I think the one hour framework is a bit too tight and it would be nice to have some more time. For some topics, I am sure a whole afternoon would easily be filled as well. Maybe there could be more exchange of ideas and possibilities with the participating school before such a talk is organized.
Was it meaningful?
It was meaningful to me to see local high-school students' life and interact with them, which would otherwise be difficult. Also, it was very interesting to see how this class (a special science class) was educated and how much they learned and will learn (I got to look at their schoolbooks in the teachers' lounge).
Benefit for the students:
I believe the students benefitted from the program. This special class had already listened to 14 other JSPS fellows, so the benefit from just me might not have been as big as for other classes, but the general program I think is very helpful to both sides. For the students it brings the opportunity to get into contact with present research and get a picture of what possibilities there are. With the amount of JSPS fellows talking to this class already, they also get many different views and aspects of science so they might be more prepared as to what they want to study later.
Additionally, frequent contact with foreign researchers in high school already can bring them the advantage of not feeling too shy to talk with foreign colleagues and facilitate their research later.
Advice for the future:
Contact the teacher at the school that is responsible for your talk. Get an idea of what level the students are at and what interests they might have (special science class already means they want to know about science, so it is easier to motivate them). If possible (and youßß have material for it) ask for more than one hour. Especially with japanese translations once in a while, my total reporting time was only roughly 30 minutes, which is not a lot to introduce an entirely new field to anybody. However, even in 30 minutes it is enough time to tickle their curiosity. Don't prepare too many slides, you will be slower than you expected in any case since some things might need extra explanations or more translations. Having a translator (or someone helping you a bit) is a good thing so students won't drift off when they feel they don't understand everything.
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