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Using the wider science curriculum to investigate fusion energy

Fusion energy research is ‘mission oriented’ big-science. It has both rapid progress and a reputation for being forever distant that excites many with a curiosity for science. However, it is difficult to give time to in lesson plans given both its lack of associated learning objectives and complexity. Outreach at the Fusion Centre for Doctoral Training (FCDT) tries to make fusion accessible. We describe here a set of questions, which we use in workshops, that build a picture of fusion research. Each question integrates one or more aspects of the core science curriculum. We further share our experience of engagement with these questions and the rewarding experience pupils get on realising they can apply their knowledge to cutting-edge science. There is broad scope for using the worksheets. The available materials are a self-contained set of numerical questions that explore physics and fusion, providing all necessary equations and constants. The themes and physics of each sheet can be a springboard, though, for further exploration. Prompts for such discussion are suggested in this article for the first time, as they are not included in the available question set. Our questions, then, can be used to revise physics lessons in an interesting, unseen context; to explore the exciting world of fusion energy itself or as a workshop for the physics of energy. The full set of worksheets (one per question) is available upon request from outreach@fusion-cdt.ac.uk.