Education is considered one of the strategic tasks in CERIC’s corporate and science communications and outreach. An example of the activity carried out in this domain is that of the educational project PaGES (https://www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages/), which has been implemented yearly starting 2015, in collaboration with a number of scientific schools in the Italian region Friuli Venezia Giulia. Its main goal has been to acquaint young pupils with the basic tools to plan, manage, execute and evaluate a research project, and to disseminate its results. A mix of lectures, virtual tours and hands-on sessions in the research environment has been offered to empower pupils to make more conscious choices for their future studies and career, by enhancing the educational and training continuity between the various segments of the school, and developing lifelong guidance and collaboration with the business world. The proposed talk will showcase the example of the fruitful long-standing collaboration between research infrastructures, local institutions, private entities and public high-schools in the frame of the PaGES project, which may be of inspiration for similar initiatives carried out by research infrastructures across Europe.

1. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
Practices of empowerment of
high-school pupils at
Research Infrastructures
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022
The PaGES project

2. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
About PaGES
PaGES is an educational project targeting
high school pupils from the Italian region FVG.
By carrying out all the steps of a scientific
experiment, participants have acquired the
basics to plan, manage, execute, evaluate and
disseminate the results of a research project...
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022

3. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
About PaGES
…while also discovering new possibilities and
directions, and finding new inspirations for
continuing their learning and career path.
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022

4. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
PaGES in numbers
7
high-schools
partner
1
private
company
partner
1
credit
institute
partner
645
pupils
trained
50+
scientists
involved
4
editions co-
funded by
Italian region
FVG
10
trainers in
non-
scientific
fields
5 RIs
involved
7
editions
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022

5. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
Science theory & hands-on experiments
• Intro to photon science in the classroom
• Lectures & hands-on experiments in the labs
o Carbon Nanotubes
o Hybrid materials
o Metal nanoparticles & biotech
o Vibrational spectroscopy & Raman scattering
o DXRL technique for microfabrication
o X-ray imaging of biological tissues
o Histological analysis w infrared imaging technique
o Biomechanics of bio-optical tissues with Atomic
Force Microscope
From the theory of particle accelerators,
through to sample preparation, data
collection and data analysis
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022

6. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
The goal of the project goes beyond scientific
training, as it aims at showcasing a multitude
of career opportunities available in a RI.
Lectures included sessions on
• Writing a scientific (and press) article
• Science & corporate communication
• Elements of IL&TT
Beyond the science and all around it
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022

7. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
Scientists & entrepreneurs of tomorrow
Specific lectures on
• Project management
• Business planning
• Pitching / Public speaking
have provided basic elements to develop
pupils’ entrepreneurship.
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022

8. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
• Videos & interviews
• Presentations & brochures
• Magazines
• Synchrotron instruments’ 3D
models
• Public events
• Science fairs
Dissemination activity by the pupils
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022

9. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
On COVID-related research using different techniques
REMOTE EXPERIMENTS
And what during the pandemic?
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022

10. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1edyRdKvrI
CERN
https://youtu.be/F4JIWMXmVt8
REMOTE LECTURES &
VIRTUAL TOURS
CERIC Partner Facilities
And what during the pandemic?
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022

11. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
FOCUS on FAKE NEWS and HOW TO RECOGNISE THEM
And what during the pandemic?
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022

12. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
Training Materials
https://www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages/training-materials/
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022

13. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
Link to schools’ curricula
Make the science simple enough to ensure
interest and attention by the pupils
Do not interfere with activities of the
scientists in the labs
Plan project’s timeline for it to finish early
enough for pupils not to get stressed for
the preparation of their final exams
School teachers do necessarily know the
topics of the research carried out in our
infrastructure, thus need to be trained in
advance
Challenges
Fully virtual activities may be too difficult to
follow by the pupils
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022

14. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
Be inspirational! The main goal is to
stimulate curiosity and new ideas.
Remote experiments are too hard for pupils
to follow.
More general (and shorter) virtual tours
ended up being more interesting for
participants.
Be creative! You have the chance to be an
outsider in the classroom. Make the pupils
work in different ways from the ordinary.
Let them stand up, work, build & create
something together.
Let pupils speak up, talk about
themselves, their interests and hobbies.
Take inspiration from them to develop the
content of your talk.
Train both pupils and teachers.
Possibly collect feedback from pupils
already prior to the training, to include their
inputs in your activity.
Stimulate pupils to experiment all possible
means in the dissemination activity of their
experience, starting from their own
passions and hobbies: from music, to
theatre, design, video-making, 3D-
modelling, etc.
High-school pupils are young adults with a
lot of possibilities ahead. In addition to just
knowledge, transfer faith, courage,
curiosity, passion, being emphatic, while
listening to their desires and needs.
Lessons learnt
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022

15. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
…favours personal growth and increases
interest in science.
…helps understanding possible future
careers paths on the basis of one’s own
interests.
…provides an extra-ordinary experience,
which is very interesting as it allows to
directly act in the scientific environment.
…is one of a kind and is led by people who
are experts in their field.
…is a very interesting experience and may
be inspirational for our future academic or
career path.
…is a different activity from usual
lectures, with which you can discover
realities never heard before, and which
could help as an orientation to the post-
diploma study path.
…gives an idea of how a research
environment can be, thus it can help us
understand if we may be interested in it
and, on the basis of this, guide our future
choices, also regarding our future studies.
…is an out of the ordinary, very formative
experience.
…makes you live a real experience of the
work in the fields of science &
mathematics.
Quote by the pupils – PaGES…
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022

16. www.ceric-eric.eu/project/pages
Thank you
To exchange on similar projects, or citizens
science projects where you are looking for
partners, please contact me at
Nicoletta Carboni
CERIC-ERIC
nicoletta.carboni@ceric-eric.eu
Nicoletta Carboni
PARI 2022 – 19 July 2022