AstroMakers: Exploring astronomy through making
Lead Research Organisation:
Cheltenham Festivals
Department Name: Science Festival
Abstract
We are seeking STFC funding to help us enhance the range and impact of free activities in our MakeSpace, Cheltenham Science Festival's first interactive zone dedicated to the material world and the joy of making. Linked to this, it will also enable us to expand and improve our 'Around Town' programme of free making activities around the streets of Cheltenham.
Our goal is to bring together scientists, artists and makers to engage the public in exploring the material world, while highlighting the role of engineering, technology, creativity and collaboration in exploring our universe. STFC funding will enable us to build on the success and popularity of our free 2016 SpaceZone, by embedding astronomy and astrophysics into these interactive activities and enabling us to train and work with early-career researchers within STFC-funded fields.
We aim to inspire the next generation of scientists and makers by enabling children, young people and their families to meet and interact with scientists who are working in the fields of astronomy and astrophysics research. Both the MakeSpace and Around Town support Cheltenham Science Festival's strategic goal to expand and improve its provision of free, on-site interactive experiences and free activities in Cheltenham town centre. They will ensure we achieve our goal of reaching new audiences, both within the Festival grounds (Imperial Gardens) but also those who do not visit the Science Festival site. We were encouraged to see that the STFC aims to reach audiences with low 'science capital' and we believe this project complements this aim.
Another aim is to support the development of early-career researchers' engagement and communication skills through training and ongoing support. Using our network of science communication experts, we will work with scientists in STFC-funded fields to upskill participating scientists, to make sure the delivery of activities is of the very high standard expected at Cheltenham. We want participating scientists to have a fantastic learning opportunity and a chance to improve their own confidence and skills. Equally, this process will ensure that we also learn from them: that their knowledge of contemporary research is thoroughly embedded in the development and delivery of the activities.
The impacts of this project can therefore be summarised as:
- Through participation and dialogue with 'real life' experts, Gloucestershire's children, young people and their families are inspired by astronomy and astrophysics and inspired to make, invent, hack or tinker in their own time
- Audiences gain an understanding of the synergy between scientists, technologists, engineers, artists and makers in contemporary research into our material universe
- Audiences gain a better understanding of science as a creative, fun and exciting discipline and profession - breaking down the barriers between the arts and science/engineering
- Cheltenham Science Festival reaches new audiences, on site and throughout the town
- Greater number of early-career scientists in the fields of astrophysics and astronomy are involved in developing and delivering interactives at Cheltenham Science Festival
- Early-career scientists working in STFC-funded areas of research have improved communication skills and are confident talking about their fields of expertise
In terms of a practical legacy, the workshops, activities and interactive demonstrations that are developed as part of this project will become a resource which can be used by participating scientists in schools, events and other festivals around the UK. The cohort of trained scientists (and engineers) with whom we work will be able to deliver high quality, interactive experiences in the future.
Our goal is to bring together scientists, artists and makers to engage the public in exploring the material world, while highlighting the role of engineering, technology, creativity and collaboration in exploring our universe. STFC funding will enable us to build on the success and popularity of our free 2016 SpaceZone, by embedding astronomy and astrophysics into these interactive activities and enabling us to train and work with early-career researchers within STFC-funded fields.
We aim to inspire the next generation of scientists and makers by enabling children, young people and their families to meet and interact with scientists who are working in the fields of astronomy and astrophysics research. Both the MakeSpace and Around Town support Cheltenham Science Festival's strategic goal to expand and improve its provision of free, on-site interactive experiences and free activities in Cheltenham town centre. They will ensure we achieve our goal of reaching new audiences, both within the Festival grounds (Imperial Gardens) but also those who do not visit the Science Festival site. We were encouraged to see that the STFC aims to reach audiences with low 'science capital' and we believe this project complements this aim.
Another aim is to support the development of early-career researchers' engagement and communication skills through training and ongoing support. Using our network of science communication experts, we will work with scientists in STFC-funded fields to upskill participating scientists, to make sure the delivery of activities is of the very high standard expected at Cheltenham. We want participating scientists to have a fantastic learning opportunity and a chance to improve their own confidence and skills. Equally, this process will ensure that we also learn from them: that their knowledge of contemporary research is thoroughly embedded in the development and delivery of the activities.
The impacts of this project can therefore be summarised as:
- Through participation and dialogue with 'real life' experts, Gloucestershire's children, young people and their families are inspired by astronomy and astrophysics and inspired to make, invent, hack or tinker in their own time
- Audiences gain an understanding of the synergy between scientists, technologists, engineers, artists and makers in contemporary research into our material universe
- Audiences gain a better understanding of science as a creative, fun and exciting discipline and profession - breaking down the barriers between the arts and science/engineering
- Cheltenham Science Festival reaches new audiences, on site and throughout the town
- Greater number of early-career scientists in the fields of astrophysics and astronomy are involved in developing and delivering interactives at Cheltenham Science Festival
- Early-career scientists working in STFC-funded areas of research have improved communication skills and are confident talking about their fields of expertise
In terms of a practical legacy, the workshops, activities and interactive demonstrations that are developed as part of this project will become a resource which can be used by participating scientists in schools, events and other festivals around the UK. The cohort of trained scientists (and engineers) with whom we work will be able to deliver high quality, interactive experiences in the future.
Planned Impact
The promotion of the AstroMakers project will benefit greatly by being part of the wider Cheltenham Science Festival marketing and communications plan. We intend to mail out c.10,000 brochures to previous bookers, our Members, Patrons and sponsors. We will also produce and circulate a Festival guide with a map of the site (including the MakeSpace), a postcard about the Festival and a dedicated Around Town flyer to promote the free activities, including the AstroMaker interactives.
From the date we reveal the programme (early April) until the end of the Festival (mid-June), we anticipate c.65,000 views of the 'Science' sections of cheltenhamfestivals.com and we will increase the reach of activities by sharing live videos through Periscope and other social media avenues.
We will send regular emails to over 450,000 subscribers and have an average open rate of 26%. We also have over 4,000 SMS subscribers and in 2016 our total Twitter reach was 5.8million.
The schools' programme is promoted by our Education team through their school networks, an online brochure and through face-to-face meetings with target schools' headteachers and science teachers. We expect to attract over 6,000 school children from approximately 75 schools from across the region. In 2016, schools travelled from as far away as Hounslow and Bournemouth to join us.
We will share our evaluation results with other team members at Cheltenham Festivals. This 'internal' dissemination will ensure that any learning can be fed into future planning of Festival events.
Externally, we will disseminate our learning with our peers via our Science Festival Advisory Group, which is chaired by Prof. Mark Lythgoe and whose members include leading scientists and engineers deeply engaged in science communication activity. We will also share learning through the Festival team's well-established network of contacts including organisations such as NCCPE, UKSFN, BIG and the BSA.
From the date we reveal the programme (early April) until the end of the Festival (mid-June), we anticipate c.65,000 views of the 'Science' sections of cheltenhamfestivals.com and we will increase the reach of activities by sharing live videos through Periscope and other social media avenues.
We will send regular emails to over 450,000 subscribers and have an average open rate of 26%. We also have over 4,000 SMS subscribers and in 2016 our total Twitter reach was 5.8million.
The schools' programme is promoted by our Education team through their school networks, an online brochure and through face-to-face meetings with target schools' headteachers and science teachers. We expect to attract over 6,000 school children from approximately 75 schools from across the region. In 2016, schools travelled from as far away as Hounslow and Bournemouth to join us.
We will share our evaluation results with other team members at Cheltenham Festivals. This 'internal' dissemination will ensure that any learning can be fed into future planning of Festival events.
Externally, we will disseminate our learning with our peers via our Science Festival Advisory Group, which is chaired by Prof. Mark Lythgoe and whose members include leading scientists and engineers deeply engaged in science communication activity. We will also share learning through the Festival team's well-established network of contacts including organisations such as NCCPE, UKSFN, BIG and the BSA.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Hollie Smith-Charles (Principal Investigator) |
| Description | Ingenious Public Engagement Grant |
| Amount | £30,000 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | Ing161711137 |
| Organisation | Royal Academy of Engineering |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2017 |
| End | 10/2017 |
| Description | Cheltenham Science Festival MakerShack interactive zone |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Each year the Cheltenham Science Festival hosts a free and interactive space for visitors on its Science Festival site. In 2017, we hosted the MakerShack, a space dedicated to materials and engineering and including various Astromaker astronomy activities. We aimed to welcome over 6,000 visitors to the MakerShack, including school groups, adults and families across the five days of the festival. To facilitate this space we needed to create a variety of stands to have inside. We were determined to showcase the variety and creativity that isn't always recognized in the field of engineering and other technical areas, these included AstroMaker astronomy stands. The stands inside of the MakerShack ranged from designing and making comets, creating 'earthquake proof' structures to playing with non-Newtonian materials like corn flour to understand their uses, understanding the aerodynamics of paper airplanes, electroplating, laser cutting, 3D printing, and exploring the solar system. It was important that all of the stands' science content could be scaled for both young and old audiences and the engineers and scientists had to tailor the delivery of their public engagement to accommodate both audiences. We aimed to recruit 20 engineers and scientists from industry and academia (50:50 ratio) with at least 30% female participants. In reality we recruited 15 engineers and scientists in total who we rotated across stations throughout the week. Of our volunteers, 11 were from academia (73%), 4 were from industry (27%), 9 were male (60%) and 6 were female (40%). Only one (7%) of the 15 volunteers we recruited was from a BAME background. Four of the volunteers were funded by the STFC grant towards the project. The MakerShack was a huge success, welcoming over 9,000 visitors through its doors during the course of the week. The recruitment of the volunteers was unexpectedly tricky and in hindsight we would have started this earlier as many of the volunteers we recruited were travelling considerable distances to work with us. We aimed to change the audience's perceptions of STEM as a result of visiting the MakerShack. Our feedback indicated that 88% of visitors agreed or strongly agreed that the MakerShack had inspired them to go and make things in the future. 90% of visitors agreed or strongly agreed that the MakerShack made them aware of how creative science could be. 87% of visitors became more aware of how science, technology and engineering improves our lives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/science/science-in-the-square/get-involved-in-the-makershack/mak... |