Astronomy and Cosmology Content Development for Mobile Planetarium
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Surrey
Department Name: Physics
Abstract
The project will produce a range of short, high quality clips for mobile planetariums based on current astrophysics research which will:
- Engage and inspire a wide range of audiences. Particularly, to inspire KS3 and 4 students, to keep them engaged with science at key age when they can become switched off from science.
- Targeting the new content we develop at mobile domes allows us to engage with audiences which are traditionally harder to engage with current research, such as audiences in isolated locations and regions of lower socio-economic status.
- Help planetarium professionals tackle some of the 'big questions' in astronomy.
- Raising science capital, mobile planetarium are very popular with schools and other local groups or in use at fairs. By providing them with cutting edge research we hope to raise science capital of the audience who attend these.
- Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects as a Career Path. Some of these clips will include personal stories of our astronomers to inspire audiences, particularly school students to show STEM as a viable and enjoyable career path. We are especially interested in making these appealing to female students (see more details in the summary).
These resources will all be available for free.
- Engage and inspire a wide range of audiences. Particularly, to inspire KS3 and 4 students, to keep them engaged with science at key age when they can become switched off from science.
- Targeting the new content we develop at mobile domes allows us to engage with audiences which are traditionally harder to engage with current research, such as audiences in isolated locations and regions of lower socio-economic status.
- Help planetarium professionals tackle some of the 'big questions' in astronomy.
- Raising science capital, mobile planetarium are very popular with schools and other local groups or in use at fairs. By providing them with cutting edge research we hope to raise science capital of the audience who attend these.
- Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects as a Career Path. Some of these clips will include personal stories of our astronomers to inspire audiences, particularly school students to show STEM as a viable and enjoyable career path. We are especially interested in making these appealing to female students (see more details in the summary).
These resources will all be available for free.
Planned Impact
The content will be freely available. It will be hosted on a website which requires a login so that we can capture information about how it will be used. We will require all users to predict the number and audience type they will be presenting this to and then after a year we will ask them to feedback to us on the confirmed audiences they reached. As well as and feedback they have on the content. See more in the evaluation plan.
We are working with many existing organisations who are highly experienced in distributing free shows through different methods. These organisations include:
- The British Association of Planetarium (BAP). We have already started working with Sharron Leverment (FRAS) past President and current Project Manager at BAP. They will advertise our new clips to all their members, which includes most of the mobile planetaria community.
- We are part of SEPnet and the Ogden trust, this provides mechanisms for dissemination in the new content to universities with mobile domes through these networks. Particularly, presenting these new resources at bi-yearly conferences.
- The RoG. We are collaborating with Edward Bloomer and Tom Kerss. They have extensive expertise in disseminating previous content, which they are keen to replicate for this new content. This has included distributing through ESO, or through word-of-mouth and direct community engagement.
- The Winchester Science Centre. One of our PhD students, Janet Preston is a board member of the Winchester Science Centre.
We have been invited to present our first clips at the BAP annual conference, Glasgow September 2017.
The advertising will take place when all the clips are completed (see timeline below) and available for the community to download.
We are working with many existing organisations who are highly experienced in distributing free shows through different methods. These organisations include:
- The British Association of Planetarium (BAP). We have already started working with Sharron Leverment (FRAS) past President and current Project Manager at BAP. They will advertise our new clips to all their members, which includes most of the mobile planetaria community.
- We are part of SEPnet and the Ogden trust, this provides mechanisms for dissemination in the new content to universities with mobile domes through these networks. Particularly, presenting these new resources at bi-yearly conferences.
- The RoG. We are collaborating with Edward Bloomer and Tom Kerss. They have extensive expertise in disseminating previous content, which they are keen to replicate for this new content. This has included distributing through ESO, or through word-of-mouth and direct community engagement.
- The Winchester Science Centre. One of our PhD students, Janet Preston is a board member of the Winchester Science Centre.
We have been invited to present our first clips at the BAP annual conference, Glasgow September 2017.
The advertising will take place when all the clips are completed (see timeline below) and available for the community to download.
| Description | BRITISH ASSOCIATION OF PLANETARIA |
| Organisation | British Association of Planetaria |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | A colleague and I attended collaboration meeting in Glasgow. We presented our project to the collaboration. We talked about what research content we were working on and what technical products we plan to deliver to them. As well as the resources which will be available alongside the planetarium content - e.g. presenters guides for different level audiences. |
| Collaborator Contribution | At the collaboration meeting we had discussions with many members about what they would be looking for with this planetarium clips to inform the development. This covered the format of the clips, the science content and the flow of the material. |
| Impact | This collaboration has lead to a partnership with a company called SCISS who develop software for planetarium - which we will discuss further in the next partnership. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | Royal Observatory Greenwich |
| Organisation | Royal Observatory Greenwich |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | We have visited them and discussed our plans for our planetarium clips. |
| Collaborator Contribution | We have had meetings to discuss the content of the planetarium clips, gain advice on movement speed and how much research content to include. How to make the clips available to the users. |
| Impact | There are not outputs yet. |
| Start Year | 2017 |
| Description | SCISS |
| Organisation | SCISS Ltd |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We have set up a contract with the company which allows them to provide our planetarium clips freely to their users once completed - we are providing it freely to everyone else as well on a website too. |
| Collaborator Contribution | SCISS have provided their Uniview planetarium software to us for free so that we can develop our planetarium clips to a high standard. |
| Impact | No outputs yet, the contract took ~6 months to set up so has set us back |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | British Association of Planetarium Collaboration meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | A collegue and I attended the BAP national collaboration meeting. ~80 members attended the meeting. We presented our project so far and future plans. This sparked many questions for the members and many break off discussions about the science content, technical aspects and how it will be shared. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |