Expanding the Reach of Harwell Open Week: Virus Factory in Schools

Harwell Open Week will take place from 2nd to 6th July 2024, with an anticipated 10,000 members of the public expected to visit the site over the full event, of which approximately 2,000 will attend activities as part of two school open days. Historically, the school open days have been oversubscribed, meaning some schools are turned away due to space and logistics constraints, and in some cases, schools have been unable to attend due to financial constraints. This project will address the unmet needs of primary schools unable to attend Harwell Open Week and deepen connections with those who do attend. To do this, we will supply every class with a tried and tested educational resource built around a STFC-enabled citizen science project ("Virus Factory in Schools"), host online Q&As between schools and researchers, and provide those schools who could not attend the open week with alternative in-person engagement at Harwell Campus. In doing so, this project will widen STFC reach beyond the capacity of the main campus event, highlight STFC-enabled and people-powered research, and give all students direct contact with researchers working at Harwell Campus.

Physical resource packs will be disseminated to schools that apply to Harwell Open Week. Further dissemination will be through established networks and existing school relationships with project partners. We will continue to promote this resource at local open days and events, and will make efforts to broaden our reach through use of educator platforms such as Tes teaching resources.

As this resource already forms the legacy phase of the Zooniverse in Schools project, tools for dissemination beyond the timescale of this project are already in place. Online resources are hosted through Franklin and Zooniverse project pages, and all teaching materials are hosted on Zenodo. The Franklin are committed to long-term provision of the online Q&A webinar with researchers, to allow schools to continue to have meaningful interactions with real-world scientists. Beyond the duration of this application, termly Q&A webinars will continue to be offered to participating classes. Teachers will be encouraged to deliver this resource to subsequent classes and return to participate in the online Q&As as needed. Additionally, teachers will be signposted to further resources for delivering online citizen science in the classroom, such as the Galaxy Zoo resources hosted on Zooniverse Classrooms.