Astronomy for Remote and Island Schools

Lead Research Organisation: Liverpool John Moores University
Department Name: Astrophysics Research Institute

Abstract

The Astronomy for Remote and Island Schools (AfRIS) proposal is a National Schools' Observatory (NSO) project to establish and manage a small mobile astronomy-outreach team, whose task will be to create, organise and deliver astronomy education workshops to schools based in remote and island locations. STFC funding will enable the outreach team to (i) put together a resource pack of educational tools and demonstration equipment, (ii) undertake a total of 40 outreach trips (each of 2 to 3 days) over two years, and (iii) engage with 80 schools and an estimated 4,000 hard-to-reach students and 1,000 members of the surrounding community. The team members will also work with 20 participating schools to establish an astronomy or science club for their pupils, and provide online support for the duration of the project and beyond.

The AfRIS team will be made up of experienced presenters and astronomy researchers, and location visits will be undertaken via car and ferry (where required) in order to transport the resource kit. The workshops and activities undertaken during each visit will be tailored to the needs and interests of the schools and students taking part, but in all cases, will seek to highlight the broad range of STFC science activities and aim to plant STEM seeds in the minds of students who may not previously have considered a career in science. In addition, the mobile team will work with NSO colleagues to create an online 'remote and island schools' community and portal to support teachers in their teaching of astronomy in the classroom, and to provide additional resources and advice for students interested in pursuing astronomy or other STEM subjects further. The dedicated portal will also be used to promote and manage the AfRIS project, and to share our experiences with interested parties.

A detailed evaluation will be conducted to assess the short-to-medium term impact of the visits, and to ensure that activities evolve to suit the needs of the communities we visit. The AfRIS team will provide regular updates, images and reports on all activities, which can be used for wider dissemination purposes.

Publications

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Description The key findings of the AfRIS project are as follows:

1. Project Achievements
In terms of our core mission to deliver astronomy workshops in remote and island schools, this part of our project was very successful. We originally planned to visit 80 schools, and work with 4000 students and 1000 members of the remote communities we visited. In the end, however, we visited 81 schools, and worked with 5236 students and 1053 community members, On average, we had around 3 hours contact time with each pupil, so were able to cover a lot of STFC science. As a team, we are delighted that school feedback for our visits was so favourable, with both teacher scores (average of 4.69 out of 5) and pupil scores (4.56) being well in excess of our target. We were also reassured that 81% of pupils felt that their interest in science had increased with our visit.

2. Demand for STFC Science Visits
I think the first thing we discovered was that there is a huge appetite for science within remote and island communities. Geographical realities meant that our target schools rarely had scientific visits and students were unable to visit central science facilities due to costs and excessive travel time. A survey of participating schools found that 46.5% of them NEVER visited a central science centre or museum, and a further 40% only did so every few years. For some, a simple visit to the science centre in Glasgow from a school on Tiree, for example, would involve two full days of travelling and two overnight hotel stays. As such, wherever we went during the two years of our project, we received a warm welcome from students, teachers and parents. In a few very remote places, we were the only scientists that schools had seen in years. Our project showed that an average of 3 hours of STFC science could be delivered to the 6289 participating individuals in remote/island communities for around £15 per head, which is far more cost effective, and less disruptive for schools, than having to travel to central facilities.

3. STEM Clubs in Remote Communities
Now, a smaller component of our outreach project was to encourage remote schools to start science clubs and support them along the way, however, this proved very challenging. Although teachers initially seemed keen about the idea, the realities of teacher workload, and staff feeling underconfident with science meant that schemes to not get off the ground. Some of our schools had just one principle teacher, who was also required to be lunchtime monitor, school secretary and cleaner in some cases. In others, pupils lived some distance from the school, so regular transport times meant it was difficult for pupils to stay after school to attend clubs. As such, this aspect of the project gave us a lot to think about, and may well be the focus of a legacy funding application to offer a more supported science club model.

4. Travel and Accommodation Costs
Our final discovery was that travel to remote communities takes much longer, and was around 20% more costly than first anticipated. The time aspect was not an issue, because the outreach team members were very flexible and understanding with the travel situation. It was sometimes difficult to make timely connections, and poor weather did have the occasional negative impact, but in the end, the project was achievable, In terms of cost, it was fortunate that we were able to redirect part of another budget into the travel pot. All told though, it would be good to pass on to future teams that for visiting remote communities, they should plan on travel costs of around £200 per person, per school visit.

5. Visit Planning and Logistics
Planning for each school visit, which involved both agreeing a workshop programme with schools and booking the associated travel and accommodation, was a far more intensive process than first envisaged for the following reasons:
(i) The bureaucratic nature of university travel processes does not provide the flexibility required for remote UK travel, or for reacting to weather/mechanical cancellations. After a couple of early instances of relying on travel agents to book accommodation, only to find hotels closed for the season, we had to take full control of our arrangements, which involved an additional time demand on the outreach team.
(ii) We occasionally found that some ferry connections weren't always timed right to allow an early arrival on the day of the visit, so had to incur the additional expense of arriving the previous day to ensure an early start.
(iii) Visiting schools in holiday season/destinations proved especially problematic when trying to book accommodation, especially within 3 months of intended travel, however, the nature of the project meant that some visits had to be planned at short notice. In one case the team ended up being accommodated 30 miles apart!
(iv) Teachers at remote schools, some of whom are single-handed, have many additional demands on their time than teachers in more urban areas, such as lunch monitor, playground monitor, transport co-ordinator, even janitor etc. This meant that it often took longer than expected to agree visit arrangements, complete evaluation etc.
Exploitation Route I would like to think that our experiences would be useful to others seeking to work with schools in remote and island communities. The following brief points would be good advice for other teams embarking on this path:

1. Be flexible ... issues with untimely connections between flights. ferries, trains, buses etc. mean that travelling to remote communities will be longer than you might anticipate. Treat it as an adventure and enjoy the journey. You will see some amazing sites, meet some amazing characters and be rewarded with some very eager pupils that rarely see a scientist. However, be prepared to be disrupted and have to rethink travel plans at short notice. Using a car or van will give you far more flexibility, and allow you to take take more equipment and demonstrations with you.

2. Don't underestimate travel costs ... when we submitted our funding application, we anticipated average travel costs of around £500 per trip, with each "trip" typically involving 2 staff and 2 school visits. In the end, it cost around £600 per trip, and that required some extensive effort in finding good value accommodation and travel costs. Thinking well ahead would reduce costs and ensure accommodation is available. In the end, we were fine, but there were sometimes issues with finding a place to stay in May/June in the more touristy parts of the country.

3. Be understanding of teachers ... rural and island teachers have more demands on their plates than urban teachers, so please be understanding. They may be the only adult in a small rural school, and have to cope with break monitoring, lunch provision and supervision, school admin etc. and all whilst trying to provide a full day of teaching. Try to help out and offer solutions as much as possible when approaching them for a visit. If you do go, you will receive a warm welcome. Main point, however, is that if you wish teachers in rural communities to undertake additional activities as part of a project, then make sure significant support is in place so that those activities do not place an undue burden on school staff and pupils.

4. Proposing after school clubs will be difficult ... we had intended to encourage and support teachers running science clubs, but it appears the several issues (workload, transportation and confidence in STEM) conspire to make this very difficult. If this is ever to be achieved, it will require significant input (online and visits) from the organisation proposing it.

5. Evaluation is very time consuming for both the team and school staff. The more simplified and automated the task, the more likely that feedback will be secured. We would recommend significant though about your strategy from the outset, and use all the online tools available to automate the process. This will save time in the long run.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education
URL http://www.afris.uk/visits/
 
Description One of the key challenges of the original AfRIS project was in encouraging remote and island schools to create and manage astronomy-based STEM Clubs for their pupils. In order to further investigate and address the barriers that dissuade schools from doing so, the AfRIS team has applied for, and was successful, in securing a 24-month STFC Legacy Award, namely ST/X000419/1 : Astronomy for Remote and Island Schools - STEM Clubs. The project, which started on the 11th November 2022, will involve the AfRIS/NSO team providing remote/island schools in the Scottish Highlands and Islands with extensive in-person and remote STEM Club support whilst they undertake pre-defined STEM Club sessions (in the form of a booklet) created by our colleagues at the National Schools' Observatory (NSO). In addition, the AfRIS team will evaluate four different support models in order to determine a best practice model for STEM Club support in remote communities. The legacy project will benefit an estimated 300-400 pupils in 15 to 20 schools, who will received regular astronomy-based interventions from the AfRIS team over the course of a few months. It is intended that the results of our evaluation study will be published in appropriate journals, and be available to guide future teams involved in creating and managing STEM Clubs in remote and island communities.
First Year Of Impact 2022
Sector Education
Impact Types Societal