Addressing Educational Disadvantage through Virtual Reality
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
Our project aims to offer equality of opportunity for those who are often excluded from engaging with science. We are focusing on two audiences :
Disabled Children
Disabled children are behind the Covid recovery curve. Research by the Disabled Children's Partnership has revealed the devastating and ongoing impact of the pandemic on disabled children and their families, and as restrictions are lifted these vulnerable communities are being left behind. Our project can bring exciting science to them in a Covid-secure environment, using areas of science that will be most effective. The Lightyear Foundation Impact Report 2020/21 states: "For children with more complex disabilities, science offers a unique way to inspire and impart key life skills such as choice making or dealing with unexpected outcomes. Themes such as space and alien worlds have high appeal, particularly for harder to reach groups such as boys with challenging behaviour." (tinyurl.com/LYFImpact)
This project will empower disabled children to reach their potential and build their aspirations. Virtual reality (VR) headsets offer these children the chance to immerse themselves within the night sky and see facilities at the cutting edge of research in areas such as fusion and nuclear physics within a safe and controllable environment. The use of VR technologies will boost their confidence with STEM subjects by delivering exciting, inclusive and accessible activities that allow the young people to experience sites and facilities that would otherwise be out of reach.
Young People in Geographically Remote Areas
The Government has identified the North Yorkshire Coast as a disadvantaged region - a so-called 'opportunity area' - and are looking to improve outcomes on social mobility and raise educational standards. By targeting this opportunity area and rural communities within the Yorkshire Dales who do not have the same exposure to educational experiences as those close to city centres, this project will help to level the playing field for these students and open up science regardless of ability or social background.
Previous projects taking mobile outreach projects out to rural communities (such as the Institute of Physics' Lab in a Lorry programme in Wales, which was delivered by the PI) have demonstrated an overwhelmingly positive experience for both the teachers and the students. In addition to these short term outcomes, the Lab in a Lorry project prompted 20% of the teachers to seek out further opportunities to engage their students with STEM (tinyurl.com/LIALeval2017-18).
Thus, through using VR headsets to bring Science Centres, Laboratories, and Planetariums to these communities, as well as through University staff and students talking directly about their experiences, this project has the potential to not just have an impact on the aspirations of the students directly engaged, but also to have longer-term effects and greater reach by enhancing teacher awareness and inspiring them to enthuse their students with science.
Disabled Children
Disabled children are behind the Covid recovery curve. Research by the Disabled Children's Partnership has revealed the devastating and ongoing impact of the pandemic on disabled children and their families, and as restrictions are lifted these vulnerable communities are being left behind. Our project can bring exciting science to them in a Covid-secure environment, using areas of science that will be most effective. The Lightyear Foundation Impact Report 2020/21 states: "For children with more complex disabilities, science offers a unique way to inspire and impart key life skills such as choice making or dealing with unexpected outcomes. Themes such as space and alien worlds have high appeal, particularly for harder to reach groups such as boys with challenging behaviour." (tinyurl.com/LYFImpact)
This project will empower disabled children to reach their potential and build their aspirations. Virtual reality (VR) headsets offer these children the chance to immerse themselves within the night sky and see facilities at the cutting edge of research in areas such as fusion and nuclear physics within a safe and controllable environment. The use of VR technologies will boost their confidence with STEM subjects by delivering exciting, inclusive and accessible activities that allow the young people to experience sites and facilities that would otherwise be out of reach.
Young People in Geographically Remote Areas
The Government has identified the North Yorkshire Coast as a disadvantaged region - a so-called 'opportunity area' - and are looking to improve outcomes on social mobility and raise educational standards. By targeting this opportunity area and rural communities within the Yorkshire Dales who do not have the same exposure to educational experiences as those close to city centres, this project will help to level the playing field for these students and open up science regardless of ability or social background.
Previous projects taking mobile outreach projects out to rural communities (such as the Institute of Physics' Lab in a Lorry programme in Wales, which was delivered by the PI) have demonstrated an overwhelmingly positive experience for both the teachers and the students. In addition to these short term outcomes, the Lab in a Lorry project prompted 20% of the teachers to seek out further opportunities to engage their students with STEM (tinyurl.com/LIALeval2017-18).
Thus, through using VR headsets to bring Science Centres, Laboratories, and Planetariums to these communities, as well as through University staff and students talking directly about their experiences, this project has the potential to not just have an impact on the aspirations of the students directly engaged, but also to have longer-term effects and greater reach by enhancing teacher awareness and inspiring them to enthuse their students with science.
Planned Impact
The nature of the VR headsets we will purchase is such that any resources developed are also suitable for use with cardboard Google glasses (available for under £10). These only require the user to have a smart phone to access the content. We will host all resources, with workshop descriptors, on a dedicated webpage. This will allow groups or individuals that we are not able to engage with directly to access virtual tours and other bespoke resources.
The Lightyear Foundation founded the SEN in STEM network (Special Educational Needs in STEM), comprising 220 institutions across the UK with an interest in making their facilities and resources more accessible to disabled children. They host round-table events and workshops to provide a central forum to discuss inclusivity within the sector. Their recent meeting highlighted the lack of informal science experiences within schools and communities and hosted discussions centred on evaluation techniques within disabled communities. As part of this network, we will make use of their bespoke resources and be guided by their expertise to ensure that our program meets the individual needs of our audiences. Following the roll out of our program, the network also provides an excellent platform for us to share findings and disseminate best practice from our sessions. This will be done both through written reporting (sent to the mailing list) and through contributions within their facilitated discussion events.
The Ogden Trust Outreach Officer Network also provides a network of practitioners through which to disseminate best practice. Katherine Leech (Co-I) will present the project at the annual meeting of this group in 2023 or 2024, as most appropriate. The timescale of this project also would line up with the 2024 Interact Symposium, where we would be poised to disseminate learning from our workshops. The portability of the devices would make it easy to take the headsets along to the exhibition and showcase the resources and tools that we have developed. These conferences also provide an excellent opportunity to network with other public engagement projects that may complement or provide further opportunities for collaboration.
The Lightyear Foundation founded the SEN in STEM network (Special Educational Needs in STEM), comprising 220 institutions across the UK with an interest in making their facilities and resources more accessible to disabled children. They host round-table events and workshops to provide a central forum to discuss inclusivity within the sector. Their recent meeting highlighted the lack of informal science experiences within schools and communities and hosted discussions centred on evaluation techniques within disabled communities. As part of this network, we will make use of their bespoke resources and be guided by their expertise to ensure that our program meets the individual needs of our audiences. Following the roll out of our program, the network also provides an excellent platform for us to share findings and disseminate best practice from our sessions. This will be done both through written reporting (sent to the mailing list) and through contributions within their facilitated discussion events.
The Ogden Trust Outreach Officer Network also provides a network of practitioners through which to disseminate best practice. Katherine Leech (Co-I) will present the project at the annual meeting of this group in 2023 or 2024, as most appropriate. The timescale of this project also would line up with the 2024 Interact Symposium, where we would be poised to disseminate learning from our workshops. The portability of the devices would make it easy to take the headsets along to the exhibition and showcase the resources and tools that we have developed. These conferences also provide an excellent opportunity to network with other public engagement projects that may complement or provide further opportunities for collaboration.