2011 Masterclasses Introduction Michael Hauschild - CERN, 28-Feb-2011, page 1

MasterclassesMasterclasses“Skills”“Skills”

Some general comments based on experience from previous Masterclasses

2011 Masterclasses Introduction Michael Hauschild - CERN, 28-Feb-2011, page 2

Start the conference Start the conference Check the communication with the participants one-by-one

say “Hello”, ask if they can hear us and can see us in ...ask if they could wave their hands...

Introduce yourselfe.g. “My name is Michael, I'm working at ..., one of the 4 large experiments at the LHC collider...”

Explain where we are (the moderators)e.g. “We are right now sitting at CERN. CERN is the largest centre for particle physics research in the world and a rather cool place...”

Say a few words on what's happening over the next houranswering ANY questions, can be related to physics, life at CERN, whateverdiscussion of the results of the exercisequiz where you can win T-shirts(?)

2011 Masterclasses Introduction Michael Hauschild - CERN, 28-Feb-2011, page 3

CommunicationCommunicationMost of the high school students don't understand and speak English very well

speak slowly and clearavoid to use complicated and long sentencesuse simple words (vocabulary of the students is limited)no acronyms, abbreviations, physics slang, avoid talking “CERNish”

Keep explanations shortdon't try to explain the LHC in 5-minutes...

shame on me, I tend to give rather long explanations...

Avoid talking too much to your co-moderatora long dialog between the moderators is decoupling the participantshanding over from one moderator to the other with a few words is fine

e.g. “Uta, this seems a perfect question to be answered by you...”

2011 Masterclasses Introduction Michael Hauschild - CERN, 28-Feb-2011, page 4

ModerationModerationThere are (mostly) two moderators running the show

both moderators should talk to about equal amountsin case of a (more) senior + (more) young moderator, the senior one should not, e.g. answer all questions

if you feel you've talked already too much, hand over to your co-moderator

At the quizread questions by alternating between the two moderatorssame when going through the quiz answers

2011 Masterclasses Introduction Michael Hauschild - CERN, 28-Feb-2011, page 5

QuestionsQuestionsMost difficult part: to encourage the students asking questions at all

they are shy, don't want to expose themselves in front of their fellow studentsit's a video conference with microphone + camera, they are not used tothey don't speak English well, sometimes cannot express what they want to ask, don't know the right words (e.g. in physics questions)

For them, we (at CERN) are considered as “super-experts”they are even more shy and hesitate to ask “stupid” questions

Try to encourage themgo through institute by institute and ask if the students have questions

give examples: “was the exercise difficult, what was the largest problem, how is life at CERN” e.tc.

sometimes teachers (very rarely) or local physicists are asking the questions on behalf of the students