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I went on a school visit this week to Springfield Technology College - a secondary school with a focus on science/technology just to the north of Portsmouth. Kudos to the teachers at the school for suggesting I speak with two groups one after another - thus giving me maximum outreach impact for my travel. The first group I spoke with was 60 YR7 pupils (11 and 12 yr olds). I chose to talk to them about "The Scale of the Universe" as it allows me to talk about planets and use my fun solar system model, but also link to cosmology and the types of science we focus on here in Portsmouth ICG. I started with the inflatable solar system model. As previously used at out BBC StargazingLIVE Event at the Spinnaker Tower, and already on their 3rd school visit. Inflatable planets decorate the Spinnaker Tower (in an approximation of the actual layout of the Solar System in Jan 2012).  To introduce this to children I start with the Earth. I ask them to think about distances they are familiar...

Someone else's blog roundup about Geologist Barbie . Sort of fun. A clear favourite in volcanologist Barbie. (Still all princesses in pink in my house - but they can do Math, and be a physicist that way too). 

On Wednesday this week I got to go help repair the storm damage to the LOFAR-UK station in Chilbolton. I blogged about this for LOFAR-UK: LOFAR-UK Repair Day a Big Success .

Thanks to everyone who responded to the question in my previous poll. Here's a collection of responses from Twitter . [<a href="http://storify.com/KarenLMasters/responses-to-this-is-a-scientist-picture-poll" target="_blank">View the story "Responses to \"This is a Scientist\" picture poll" on Storify</a>] So a pretty clear front runner in Image 3. Has been duly submitted to the website, and I'll post a link when it appears (they say it may take a few days due to the popularity of the site).

One of my favourite things about doing school visits, is just that by showing up I demonstrate that scientists don't all fit the usual stereotype. I try to always say "I am an astronomer." "An astronomer is a scientist" and "I am a scientist" (or some mixture) during my presentation. So I was interested in the below resources on a similar theme which have both appeared in my Twitter stream this week. To start with something I've seen before, but always fun. Images of scientists drawn by American 7th graders (12 and 13 year olds) before and after a visit to Fermilab. They also include written description of what they think a scientist is before and after. It's great. Who's the Scientist This one by Amy is my favourite: Images of scientists before and after a visit to Fermilab.  And then there is this fantastic idea to bring such images to the internet - an image stream of (self submitted) images of scientists. This is What a Scientist Looks...

I just blogged over at Galaxy Zoo about the below image of a beautiful barred spiral: Another Galactic Twin ? NGC 1073: A Galactic Twin? Credit: ESA/NASA