acceleratAR

We aim to bring some of the most positive aspects of the experience of visiting the Daresbury Laboratory to the pupils who don't attend out current public engagement events (incuding the Particle Phsics Masterclass, PPMC). In recent years there have been significant developments in virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR), with 2016 being labelled as a breakthrough year for the technology. We will use these developments to deliver an interactive and immersive experience of particle accelerators to classrooms and living rooms across the UK and beyond. By doing this, we hope to make our work accessible to pupils irrespective of geographical location or socioeconomic background, improving the understanding young people have of science and promoting the opportunity of a career in STEM subjects to all.

The annual Daresbury PPMC gives 250 A-level students the opportunity to explore particle accelerator facilities and gain hands on experience as they carry out short experiments. Importantly, they are given insight into the applications and societal benefits of the science they learn at school and meet scientists who may serve as role models, showing pupils the path to a career in science. We aim to offer similar opportunities to GCSE aged pupils through an AR/VR app.

Each year close to 50000 pupils take GCSE science exams (Department for Education). These pupils will be making decisions on further education that will determine their career path, decisions which are influenced by socioeconomic inequalities (www.suttontrust.com/newsarchive/supporting-stem/) and likely to be influenced by a shortage of teachers with specialist subject knowledge (www.nao.org.uk/report/training-new-teachers/). By producing educational, engaging and interactive AR and VR content that is differentiated for a range of abilities and accessible through Android and iOS handheld devices, we can provide a highly tech literate generation of pupils with the benefits of insight into a specialist subject, without requiring specialist knowledge from a teacher.

The app we produce as part of this project will be tested in 24 schools (25% of which should be classed as under-performing), engaging approximately 4000 pupils. We hope to show, by using before/after questionnaires, that pupils have a better understanding of the work of scientists at STFC's Daresbury Laboratory (as well as at key partner universities, including the Universities of Liverpool, Manchester, Lancaster and Strathclyde) and of the physics involved. Beyond this, the app will be free to download from the internet and from Android Play Store and iTunes, and will be promoted through public engagement events and teams; the potential for engaging with a much larger number of people is significant.

One of the main activities planned will allow pupils to build a particle accelerator (albeit a virtual one) in their classroom. Pupils will also be given insight into local accelerators including ALICE, VELA and CLARA as well the contribution of UK scientists to large collaborations such as the LHC. Simple modifications will allow materials to be tailored for use within school environments, at exhibitions and by anyone with a general interest in science.

Other key aims of the project include:
* providing early stage PhD students with the opportunity to develop skills in communicating their work to a range of audiences whilst also developing skills relevant to the scientific aspect of their studies.
* offering PhD students as role models, helping to showcase the diversity of the people who work in STFC funded science, and showing pupils potential pathways to a career in science.

The resources produced by this project will mainly be software that is free to download from the Cockcroft Institute website, Google Play Store and iTunes. A significant number of the pupils that we initially engage will be taught at the 24 initial partner schools. Beyond this, the number of people engaged by our project is dependent upon how effectively we raise awareness rather than a limitation on the availability of any resource.

Members of public engagement teams at Daresbury Laboratory, the Universities of Liverpool and within ASTeC have already expressed support for this project: Phill Day, public engagement manager at Daresbury, believes that the acceleratAR project would contribute to the national labs public engagement team objective of incorporating technology into the delivery of outreach; assistance in the testing of educational software has been offered by staff at the University of Liverpool's Central Teaching Laboratory; applicants Lee Jones and Rob Appleby are responsible for public engagement at the Cockcroft Institute (with Lee also being responsible for public engagement within ASTeC). We will work closely with these interested parties to ensure that awareness of the project is raised through their contacts within schools and other public engagement teams. The initial partner school will also be identified through these connections.

The Cockcroft Institute contributes to a number of public engagement events, including the Big Bang fair which welcomed 80000 visitors in 2015, we will use these events as a further opportunity to raise awareness of the project with members of the public and fellow scientists, educators and communicators.
Teaching others the skills necessary to produce AR and VR outreach materials is one of the main aims of this project. Initially, this teaching will be aimed at Cockcroft Institute members. However, if the project proves successful, then we would be very interested in extending the reach of teaching. Strong relationships exist between the Cockcroft Institute, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, John Adams Institute and Universities of Strathclyde and Huddersfield, amongst others, these connections could offer opportunities to further extend the scope of the project.

Since its release in 2011, the STFC funded Android app LHSee has been downloaded more than 50000 times from the Android Play Store. We estimate our initial target audience to be 8000 people; approximately 4000 pupils made up of year 10 and 11 pupils at the 20 partner schools and a further 4000 reached through other public engagement activities. We will look to the successful LHSee app as an example when marketing our own app.