VirtualSpace

- Engage and educate school students and the general public in STFC science and technology. We will highlight the science supported by STFC, the STFC facilities/equipment, and the people who work at the facilities.

- Showcase the different career opportunities available to school students in STEM subjects. We will outline the education and qualifications needed, possible career paths and the day-to-day work of the highlighted careers, to give a insightful look at STEM careers for young people.

- Develop high quality, innovative educational resources that highlight STFC's science & technology to the public and schools. We will use innovative new technologies, such as virtual reality, to better engage with students and the general public. This will also users to see and explore STFC science facilities and locations in a completely new and better way that ever before.

- Test the effectiveness of using new technologies, such as Virtual Reality and 360 degree tours, in school education.

- Reach diverse audiences, both school students and the general public, especially those who do not have easy access to STEM activities. This pilot project will target both English and Welsh medium schools in South Wales, ensuring that speakers of both langauges in Wales have access to these innovative and engaging resources.

The impact on school children will be through improved science knowledge, knowledge of science facilities and information on STEM-related careers. The virtual tours (VTs), along with the curriculum-linked accompanying resources, will focus on educating users about the science, technology and engineering associated with each facility. These VTs will be run both in the classroom, and in the Oriel Science Exhibition Centre in Swansea as part of organised school visits to that venue. We will measure how much the students have learnt through the evaluation of the project using pre- and post-questionnaires. Secondly, the students will learn about the possible careers linked to each facility, through short interviews and biographies of employees at each facility (embedded in the VTs and associated materials). The students will be required to watch/read/listen to each employee's personal story in order to answer questions that are posed as part of the tour.

The VTs that will be produced as part of this project are an engaging and innovative way of capturing the imagination of members of the public. At public events, a 'wow' factor is needed to draw people in to learn more about scientific facilities, and we see VTs as a great way of doing this. Public visitors to Oriel Science and attendees at public events that this project team attends will be able to engage with the VTs, promoting STFC science and facilities.

The impact on the STFC will be through an increase in awareness of STFC as a whole, and of the science done/funded by STFC, and the existence of the facilities that are associated with STFC. By delivering the VTs in schools, public science centres and festivals, we will help to raise awareness of STFC and its facilities. Through information in the VTs, 3D models, interviews with staff at the sites and classroom exercises, we will run through the different STEM areas that are associated with each facility (see additional document for related curriculum links). The careers, roles and personal stories which are part of STFC will also be promoted in the VTs, showcasing STFC as a key employer in STEM areas.

The VTs, both in smartphone and web app formats, will be disseminated, promoted and delivered through several key people and organisations:

- Matthew Allen will deliver ~15 school workshops as part of his staff costings in the project. These 1 hour long workshops will highlight each of the 4 VTs produced. This will directly allow people to use the VTs, with instruction and support from Allen, whilst also allowing him to gather evaluation and feedback from users. This will reach ~450 students and 15 teachers.

- Chris North will deliver ~5 school workshops as part of his current STFC Spark Award and fellowship. He will primarily demonstrate the LIGO facility VT, combining it with other resources and classroom activities that he is undertaking. This will reach ~150 students and 5 teachers.

- 5 workshops will be undertaken at the Oriel science centre, Swansea. Schools will be able to use the VT's whilst at Oriel, alongside the other resources available, to provide a more complete learning experience. This will reach ~150 students and 5 teachers.

- At all schools, a flyer will be handed out which will give information on how to download the VR apps, and where to access the web versions of the VT's. This will allow teachers and schools to use both versions of the VTs with their students, or other classes, beyond the school workshop visits.

- The VTs will be demonstrated at a number of public events by all the people associated with the project (SR, MA, CA, CN, PR). Using a number of Virtual Reality headsets which have been purchased on a previous STFC grant (SpMS), the general public will be able to explore STFC facilities, associated science and careers. Other engagement grants held by or worked on by investigators of this project have reach tens of thousands of people at public events, making a large and significant impact.

- STFC attend many events throughout the year, engaging with members of the public and schools. We would hope and encourage the VTs to be demonstrated at these events, either on a VR headset, tablet or computer screen. We will produce "user guides" for each VT, so they can be used by other science communicators and teachers. To support STFC in doing this, Matthew Allen will offer to attend several events with STFC, and/or provide a one-off training event for STFC public engagers, the costs of which will be covered by this grant.

- IoP have expressed serious interest in using newly created VTs in schools, in the same way they are doing with the pilot VT of Diamond Light Source. We have no solid number of people that this will reach, but it is likely to be >10 workshops (nationwide) in the first year.

- The Virtual Reality version of the app will be made available to download, for free, on the Google Play Store and Apple App store. The web app version can be put online and made available to use using a normal computer, tablet or phone. The VT's will hence be disseminated across the UK and the world as people can use them at home for free. As mentioned above, a number of flyers will be printed to promote the VTs at public events and in schools.

- The VTs themselves will be promoted globally by various organisations. Cardiff Uni, Swansea Uni, the LIGO collaboration, STFC and Faulkes Telescope Project will be able to promote them through social media and on their respective websites. We will also look to promote the VTs through national educational partners and bodies, including ESERO-UK, ASE and IoP.

- Evaluation and the results of our research into using VTs will be presented at conferences (e.g. NAM, ASE, IoP events) and published in relevant academic journals.

- Finally, this project will offer a great opportunity for Cardiff Uni, Swansea Uni, the Faulkes Telescope Project and STFC to collaborate and network together. This will lead to future collaborations and projects, strengthening science engagement within and between each of these organisations.