Magnetic to the Core – communicating palaeomagnetism with hands-on activities

Abstract. Palaeomagnetism is a relatively unknown part of Earth sciences that not well integrated into the school curriculum in UK. Throughout recent years, there has been decline number science students In 2018 and 2019, we developed outreach activities resources to introduce scientifically engaged general public palaeomagnetism raise awareness how geomagnetism affects society today, thus putting palaeomagnetism, sciences, spotlight. We tested our ideas at local events were visited mostly by families with small children, tens hundreds participants. Our project culminated Magnetic Core stand Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition which members public, teachers, scientists, policymakers media. At this event, communicated fundamentals through hands-on presented research advances fun family- friendly way. To test impact exhibit on knowledge Earth's magnetic field visitors, designed an interactive quiz collected results from 382 participants over 8 d. The show significant increase median score 22.2 % between those who had yet for more than 10 min. school-aged respondents alone larger 33.5 spent min stand. These findings demonstrate event was successful impacting visitors' learning. hope can serve as inspiration other laboratories looking engage wide audience measure success their activities.