Ready to don a white coat?

What better way to learn than to try yourself? That’s the idea of S'Cool LAB, a new teaching laboratory: it offers school-children visiting CERN the chance to take part in a half-day practical workshop in a purpose-equipped lab.

S’Cool LAB’s first pupils testing the new laboratory. Photo: Jeff Wiener.

S’Cool LAB, which originated from an idea first suggested about 15 years ago, was launched on 3 July and will start to welcome pupils by early 2015. "This new lab is housed in the lower part of Microcosm, where the UA1* experiment detector was previously on display," explains Jeff Wiener, who led the project to set up S'Cool LAB at the same time as completing his thesis in the field of education. “It’s now known as Building 143-R-003. For more than a year now, we’ve been putting up dividing walls to separate the lab from the rest of Microcosm, and we've fitted it with a smart floor (with electrical and internet sockets in several places), numerous storage units, a giant screen, a bookshelf and 12 adaptable work-stations.” With a surface area of almost 200 m², S’Cool LAB is now ready to host up to 36 young people and their teachers.

A fine beam tube, one of the many experiments featured in S’Cool LAB. Photo: Jeff Wiener.

“We started testing the S’Cool LAB concept as early as 2010,” says Sascha Schmeling, who came up with the idea for the project. “But without a dedicated lab, the conditions weren’t ideal for receiving pupils visiting CERN.” With around 15 experiments already, covering three areas of experimental physics (basic principles, acceleration and detection), S’Cool LAB takes practical workshops up a gear. Some of the more notable experimental devices on offer include electron tubes, Paul ion traps, X-ray machines, Rutherford experiments, MediPix detection systems and even a modern cloud chamber… enough to satisfy even the biggest appetites! “We have three of each of these experiments,” says Julia Woithe, who’s writing her thesis on the S’Cool LAB project. “This will allow several work groups – each made up of three or four people – to carry out the same investigations at the same time. We’re hoping to introduce even more experiments in the years to come."

The first experiments using the X-ray machine… Photo: Jeff Wiener.

Funded by CERN and, having grabbed its attention, the Loterie Romande, S’Cool LAB gives young people access to equipment that they would never have had the chance to use elsewhere. It will enable them to test out some of CERN’s discoveries on the very site where they were made.

*The UA1 experiment, a souvenir of the discovery of the W and Z bosons, has since been installed in the Microcosm gallery.
 

by Anaïs Schaeffer