Detecting and Using Radio Waves from Earth and Space in the Classroom

There is a growing desire for technology to be used to approach subjects in a more innovative way, and therefore maximise opportunities for students in the classroom. For example, in April 2019, the United Kingdom (UK) Government launched its EdTech strategy so students can "take advantage of all of the opportunities available through Edtech" . The use of technology in classrooms can help inspire students to a STEM career , and to close the attainment gap between the most disadvantaged students versus those attending private schools. Schools spend £900m per year on educational technology, with a worldwide market size growing to £129bn in 2020, which has helped achieve 97% of 15-24 year olds with basic digital skills as of 2017.

Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology uses a generic hardware solution configurable by measured of software and commonly housed on a USB dongle, rather than conventional single purpose hardware, to process signals from radio sources detected by an antenna. It is cheap to implement, with a USB RTL-SDR dongle typically costing £20 , and with a wide bandwidth for data collection and transmission, from ~25MHz to ~1.75GHz depending on the SDR dongle. It has a wide range of applications, including radio and digital terrestrial television, radio astronomy including hydrogen line detection from the Milky Way , and NOAA weather data . It is now being implemented in communications for the next generation of cubesats.

RadEOT is a handheld, portable, low-cost, multi-purpose education tool that utilises software defined radio (SDR) technology. It comprises an SDR USB dongle, an antenna, a Raspberry Pi 3b module , a 7-inch touch screen and a long life battery pack. A graphic user interface (GUI) incorporates educational tasks with applications in several different subjects, e.g. in physics, mathematics and geography for students in years 7-13 (Key Stage (KS) 3-5). These are tailored to areas of the national curriculum, for example space physics, waves and motion, geometry, mechanics, geographic skills and fieldwork and computer science. A first, unfunded, version of RadEOT was developed in summer 2018 that allows students to acquire data from the 21cm Hydrogen Line, local and national radio stations, and from aircraft transponders, and be processed and used in the classroom to complement the existing curriculum.

In this project, we will develop RadEOT and deploy this in classes at Formby High School in Southport, Merseyside, and through the National Space Academy, based in Leicester. In the first, developmental, phase of the project, we will develop our proof of concept for RadEOT by improving the GUI, and packaging it into a multi-purpose, handheld tool for use in schools across a wide range of subjects to roll out to partner schools across the country. The second aim of this project is to provide training, accompanying worksheets and several engagement days with the school to maximise the educational potential of RadEOT.

As part of this project, we want to inspire the next generation of scientists by using new technology that complements there existing learning. There is a strong demand from teachers for new and reliable teaching resources, which can improve student attainment. We will evidence the benefits, successes and challenges of deploying RadEOT in the two partner institutions, and circulate our findings to the STFC public engagement community.

We will disseminate the learning outcomes and benefits of EdTech such as RadEOT to the wider STFC community. To achieve this:
- At the end of the project, Williams will seek to join and/or work with the PEER Forum. This will allow the outcomes and best practice from this project to be spread among peers in the STFC research community.
- We will write and publish a report on our findings and conclusions from this project, using outcomes arising from the evaluation plan. We will seek to raise publicity from the outcomes from this case, including with educational bodies and government for improved KS3-5 STEM spending.
- Through out project partnership with the National Space Academy and the National Space Centre, we will look to demonstrate RadEOT further in a programme of public events, e.g. Space Lates.
- At the end of the project, the National Space Academy will continue to work with trained teachers through their Lead Educator network across the region, which will further outline the opportunities of RadEOT to educators.
- Depending on the success of the project regarding the educational attainment of students in the partner school(s), we will seek further funding to continue the roll-out of RadEOT units, and/or consider a not-for-profit social enterprise developing RadEOT at UoL.