Curiosity Clusters
Lead Research Organisation:
We The Curious Limited
Department Name: Development
Abstract
- To inspire and empower young people from diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds to collaborate with university researchers and participate in creative science learning activities and research. By promoting wellbeing, knowledge, skills and agency in the development of co-created content, we can overcome barriers of educational inequity in STEM and encourage more young people to pursue interests and careers in STFC research areas.
We The Curious has a track record in delivering participative programming activities with diverse and disadvantaged audiences and with university researchers. In this project we will bring these two groups together, to co-create educational STEM resources, strengthen our existing public engagement programme, engage young people with STFC achievements and make our science centre programme more inclusive.
This project will provide new creative learning experiences for young people, unlocking the excitement of STFC research and reframing STEM as an imaginative, collaborative, rewarding career choice. By handing over decision making to audiences themselves, they will learn new skills in science communication, content development and collaborative working whilst STFC researchers will gain an opportunity to see their work from an audience-driven perspective.
- To broaden the impact and reach of our existing public engagement in research programme, highlighting STFC achievements and the value of STEM to the UK. A particular focus on astronomy, cosmology, astrophysics and solar and planetary science responds to audience feedback that they would like to see more space-themed content in our online and in-venue offer.
Our existing public engagement programme - Open Source Science - seeks to go further than simply providing a platform for researchers to tell the public about their research. We create unique opportunities for people of all ages to contribute to active research. By establishing things that researchers have in common with young people - particularly their shared ability to ask powerful questions - the research process becomes demystified. When young people find role models in STEM who they can identify with, they are far more likely to pro-actively seek out the ways in which science learning is relevant to them. Interactions with researchers can also change perceptions of science - we have seen how children have changed the language they use to describe science after working with a researcher, from using nouns like 'lab' and 'test tube' to using more behavioral adjectives like 'creative' and 'curious'.
We have over 10,000 questions asked of us by the public, the majority from children and young people. We would like to use these as a starting point for our future programme development. Our initial assessment has shown that questions about space are by far the most frequently asked. We have also made a concerted effort in the collection of these curious questions, to ensure proportionate representation of the bottom 10% of the indices of multiple deprivation, in addition to question gathering activities with other underrepresented groups (BAME, disabled people, young people aged 13-25), making this a resource for the city that is representative and inclusive.
The social and economic landscape has rapidly shifted in the past few months and is only likely to continue to change in the future. We The Curious must digitise more of its outputs than it does currently if it is to continue to pursue its diverse participation strategy and reach new audiences. It is more important now than ever that science centres consult with audiences every step of the way and involve them in decision making and evaluation processes, to ensure they are keeping ahead of audiences' educational and social needs.
We The Curious has a track record in delivering participative programming activities with diverse and disadvantaged audiences and with university researchers. In this project we will bring these two groups together, to co-create educational STEM resources, strengthen our existing public engagement programme, engage young people with STFC achievements and make our science centre programme more inclusive.
This project will provide new creative learning experiences for young people, unlocking the excitement of STFC research and reframing STEM as an imaginative, collaborative, rewarding career choice. By handing over decision making to audiences themselves, they will learn new skills in science communication, content development and collaborative working whilst STFC researchers will gain an opportunity to see their work from an audience-driven perspective.
- To broaden the impact and reach of our existing public engagement in research programme, highlighting STFC achievements and the value of STEM to the UK. A particular focus on astronomy, cosmology, astrophysics and solar and planetary science responds to audience feedback that they would like to see more space-themed content in our online and in-venue offer.
Our existing public engagement programme - Open Source Science - seeks to go further than simply providing a platform for researchers to tell the public about their research. We create unique opportunities for people of all ages to contribute to active research. By establishing things that researchers have in common with young people - particularly their shared ability to ask powerful questions - the research process becomes demystified. When young people find role models in STEM who they can identify with, they are far more likely to pro-actively seek out the ways in which science learning is relevant to them. Interactions with researchers can also change perceptions of science - we have seen how children have changed the language they use to describe science after working with a researcher, from using nouns like 'lab' and 'test tube' to using more behavioral adjectives like 'creative' and 'curious'.
We have over 10,000 questions asked of us by the public, the majority from children and young people. We would like to use these as a starting point for our future programme development. Our initial assessment has shown that questions about space are by far the most frequently asked. We have also made a concerted effort in the collection of these curious questions, to ensure proportionate representation of the bottom 10% of the indices of multiple deprivation, in addition to question gathering activities with other underrepresented groups (BAME, disabled people, young people aged 13-25), making this a resource for the city that is representative and inclusive.
The social and economic landscape has rapidly shifted in the past few months and is only likely to continue to change in the future. We The Curious must digitise more of its outputs than it does currently if it is to continue to pursue its diverse participation strategy and reach new audiences. It is more important now than ever that science centres consult with audiences every step of the way and involve them in decision making and evaluation processes, to ensure they are keeping ahead of audiences' educational and social needs.
Planned Impact
Dissemination will be built into the foundations of this project. Participants themselves will be encouraged to not only produce content but communicate it to the public, with the support of our content producers and marketing staff. We feel it is an important part of the process, for young people to present and celebrate the resources and in-venue activities that they have produced. All resources will be published through our site and social media channels, accompanied by blogs, social media posts and newsletter contributions co-written by the young people who produced them. The young people involved can then in turn role model this participation in science for younger audiences.
Our newsletters are sent out to over 14,000 members every month and we reach a further 100,000 people through our social media channels. Usually we welcome over 300,000 visitors to our venue each year including 70,000 school children on school trips. We anticipate a drop in these numbers of as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown, however one of the motivations for accelerating our plans to bring more digital content into our public engagement and diverse participation programmes is to overcome this challenge and improve the resilience of the organisation.
Staff across the organisation are also members of several professional networks and regularly present about our projects at their annual conferences. These include the European Network of Science Centres and Museums (ECSITE), the UK Association of Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC), the British Association of Planetaria, the Museums Association, MuseumNext and the South West Museums Development Group. We are also informal members of several local university networks whom we regularly update with news of our latest projects.
Our newsletters are sent out to over 14,000 members every month and we reach a further 100,000 people through our social media channels. Usually we welcome over 300,000 visitors to our venue each year including 70,000 school children on school trips. We anticipate a drop in these numbers of as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown, however one of the motivations for accelerating our plans to bring more digital content into our public engagement and diverse participation programmes is to overcome this challenge and improve the resilience of the organisation.
Staff across the organisation are also members of several professional networks and regularly present about our projects at their annual conferences. These include the European Network of Science Centres and Museums (ECSITE), the UK Association of Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC), the British Association of Planetaria, the Museums Association, MuseumNext and the South West Museums Development Group. We are also informal members of several local university networks whom we regularly update with news of our latest projects.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Jemima Jones (Principal Investigator) |
| Title | Are Black Holes Dangerous? - online article on the We The Curious website and video vox pops on social media |
| Description | Online article published on the Curious Stuff content hub about whether black holes are dangerous and if we should be worried about them. This was created in response to questions and interest in the topic from pupils at Hareclive Primary School. We also posted short vox pop videos featuring members of the public giving their verdict on whether black holes are dangerous, encouraging larger family audiences to get in touch via social media with their opinions after viewing the online content. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | Black holes became a particularly popular topic with the young people and we returned to it many times in workshop sessions. This topic also shows young people that scientists don't always have all the answers and that there is still plenty in the universe yet to be discovered, which could inspire them to consider a career in space science. This method of engagement pushes out the original evergreen content to a much wider audience and makes it more likely that they will stay engaged with the platform and come back for future learning content. |
| URL | https://www.wethecurious.org/curious-stuff/stargazing-night-sky/black-holes |
| Title | Autumn Stargazing 2021 Planetarium Show |
| Description | We The Curious hosts the UK's first 3D Planetarium, which is a vital part of our visitor offer as a science centre and a key way in which we engage the public with space science themes. Each year we launch four seasonal stargazing shows about the night sky. In consultation with our participating scientists we introduced more complex and challenging concepts to the script-development stages but the subsequent feedback from pupils at Hareclive E-Act Academy, which will feed into our re-release of this show in 2022 also ensures they will be communicated in an age appropriate way that links back to real world solutions and everyday concepts. We included more up to date information in the 2021 show about exoplanets provided by Prof. Nathan Mayne and added in a whole new section informed by Dr. Hannah Wakeford's research, making the scientific content more robust, more accurate and more up to date. |
| Type Of Art | Artistic/Creative Exhibition |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | We wanted to go further this year and incorporate the specialist expertise of STFC researchers and scientists in an upcoming planetarium show. We know our audiences expect to learn about cutting edge scientific discoveries when they visit but this is often difficult for our in-house digital content team to accommodate without outside expertise. The team learned more about how to incorporate more challenging concepts into shows targeted at large family audiences and researchers also learned about how to communicate their research in creative and equitable ways and collaborate with young people to decide which content to focus on. This process was so successful we intend to reach out to relevant researchers and STFC contacts (as well as our schools and community contacts) when devising new planetarium content in the future. This show was released to public audiences in September 2021 with credit to the researchers and STFC but will be re-released again in September 2022 with input from Hareclive pupils, with credit to Hareclive, the researchers and STFC. |
| Title | Cities in Space - Aquila Magazine Article |
| Description | Bee Rich (Materials Engineer and ex-employee of the European Space Agency) was interviewed by We The Curious for a feature in Aquila Magazine, a print-only science and general knowledge magazine for ages 8+. Questions for the interview were sourced in part from the questions gathered at the first research and explore session with young people from Hareclive E-Act Academy but also Bee's work and experiences at ESA were explored and how she launched her career in space science. In addition to the print article, a short Instagram video interview was recorded. A re-edit of this video is still in production and will be published on the We The Curious website. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | This was an example of co-created science learning content, whereby the subject matter of the interview was determined by the real questions of children from disadvantaged backgrounds, rather than by We The Curious staff as may have been the case in the past. Our partnership with Aquila magazine ensured the content had a national reach and provides We The Curious with some material on which to base new evergreen space content for our website. |
| URL | https://www.aquila.co.uk/ |
| Title | Cooking in Space video |
| Description | Sam Frampton at Leicester University (Space Engineer) was due to participate in a video about cooking on the International Space Station but unfortunately filming was delayed due to a Covid outbreak within the team. This video will still be made but the timeframe is to be decided, depending on Sam's availability. We hope to have it finished within the next few months and plan to release it on our social media channels, on the Curious Stuff part of the We The Curious website and on our YouTube channel. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | The concept for this video was inspired by a question asked by one of the pupils at Hareclive E-Act Academy, about how to cook in space. Hareclive pupils also fed back on a pilot version to help shape the final video. This content represents co-creation between school children, science communicators at We The Curious and an STFC space engineer. We also hope that we will be able to use this delayed part of the project to check back in with the Hareclive pupils directly involved before they leave the school at the end of the academic year and maintain a relationship with Sam Frampton for future public engagement projects. |
| Title | Digital Content planned for after 17th March |
| Description | Unfortunately due to significant disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been unable to finish all of our digital outputs for the project before the end date. We will shortly be completing and publishing the following outputs and resources: - Re-edit of Aquila Bea Rich interview to celebrate women in STEM - to be featured on the We The Curious website and social media channels - A Question in Space - a short film made entirely by the young people at Hareclive Academy reflecting of their experiences during the project, under the guidance of our partners at Room 13. To be published on the We The Curious website and We The Curious' and Room 13's social media channels. - Cooking in Space video - to be published on the Curious Stuff part of the We The Curious website and Youtube - Flipbook animations by the public - finalists will be selected and their entries published on social media - Blackholes content promotional video - we are experimenting with a new format to help promote the online article about blackholes to a wider audience by releasing a short YouTube video about it. - Can we play music in space? - This will be the final piece of content created based on questions from pupils at Hareclive E-Act Academy. We have been able to very recently recruit a Video Content Creator as we've recovered from the pandemic who will take this on as one of their first projects. To be published on the Curious Stuff part of the We The Curious website and YouTube channel. - Was it made by space scientists? Quiz - Also based on the first research and explore workshop at Hareclive Primary, this quiz requires us to launch new functionality within our website before it can be published. - Autumn Stargazing 2022 - although the consultation and user testing by pupils at Hareclive has been completed, this show will not open to the public until later in the year. We also created a host of other resources which helped us to deliver the workshops and sessions with researchers including presentations and explainer videos. This included a project update video shown to pupils at Hareclive after they had move from Year 5 to Year 6, to refresh them of where the project had got to before the summer holidays. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | Although we have not completed all the content planned, it is all in progress and ongoing. The funding from STFC has kickstarted a method of engaging with disadvantaged audiences and using those interactions to generate user-led, co-created content that we fully intend to continue using long after the official end of the grant period. As much of the digital content is evergreen, it will continue to be referred back to in future activities, engaging with more people over time. This suite of content has also helped to make We The Curious more resilient by proving the concept of a digital hub that can successfully host content in the event of any future closures of our public venue and to reach national and international audiences who are unlikely to visit in person. |
| Title | How to make a flipbook - online article and short 'how to' video |
| Description | The prototype flipbook animations made by pupils at Hareclive E-Act Academy were used to create a short 'how to' video and article explaining how to make flipbook animations at home. Members of the public have been encouraged to send in their space themed animations as part of an online competition. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Impact | These resources were part of an online competition aimed at engaging a much larger public (largely family) audience with the project. We also wanted an activity that is interactive and that encourages active participation. We have found that creative activities like this have a high success rate in terms of engaging young people with science topics. Launched over February half term, this competition was delayed due to a Covid outbreak within the team and so is still open to entries. |
| URL | https://twitter.com/wethecurious_/status/1496837403038085122?s=20&t=GiQ3nvyDIjElv81oERANoQ |
| Title | Mission Transmission Recordings |
| Description | During a visit to We The Curious, pupils at Hareclive E-Act Academy recorded personal messages to be sent into deep space by Fun Kids Radio after a group discussion about the Voyager recordings and the search for extraterrestrial life. These recordings were broadcast to 160,000 people as part of Fun Kids Radio's national Mission Transmission project. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | This was an important opportunity for the young people at Hareclive to feel like they were 'doing' an activity that was directly linked to space exploration and that real space scientists have done before them with the Voyager recordings. This was enabled by our partnership with Fun Kids Radio which is a new collaboration for We The Curious. We hope to be able to build on it in the future to bring more of our public engagement work to a national audience. |
| URL | https://www.funkidslive.com/mission-transmission/listen-to-mission-transmission/ |
| Title | Telescope or Time Machine - online article |
| Description | Hattie Stewart at the Univeristy of Bristol (PhD Astrophysicist) was interviewed by We The Curious for a website article. This has contributed to a new digital platform called Curious Stuff, which includes a hub of new space content created as part of this funded project. Again this article was based on the questions of young people from Hareclive E-Act Academy and focused on the imminent launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, exploring how telescopes can help us look back in time to the dawn of the universe. |
| Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | This article was informed by questions asked by disadvantaged young people from Hareclive and responded to their interest in how telescopes help us see back in time. It also enabled us to hook into the interest of the general public around the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope as evergreen content such as this can be referred back to time and again, reaching larger audiences over time. It also helped us to develop a stronger relationship with a local researcher who we very much hope to work with again on our permanent public engagement with research programme. |
| URL | https://www.wethecurious.org/curious-stuff/stargazing-night-sky/telescope-or-time-machine |
| Description | Dr Hannah Wakeford |
| Organisation | University of Bristol |
| Department | School of Physics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This project provided an opportunity to showcase Hannah's research through our new Autumn Stargazing 2022 planetarium show. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Consultation with Hannah on the content of our new Autumn stargazing show has highlighted the work of local, female scientists exploring exoplanets. The show charts some elements of the history of science and it was important to the narrative to be challenging stereotypes around what a scientist looks like, particularly in the final section featuring Hannah and the future of research. Hannah was also hugely helpful in finding more space scientists to engage with pupil interactions. |
| Impact | The Autumn Stargazing 2021 planetarium show has been greatly improved by Hannah's input, bringing the science up to date and promoting progressive depictions of women in STEM. Although we have no immediate plans to work with Hannah again we very much hope to develop the partnership further and introduce her expertise into more of our public-facing astronomy content. As Hannah is local to Bristol, we expect there will be plenty of opportunities in the near future for her to participate in our permanent public engagement programme. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Hareclive E-Act Academy |
| Organisation | E-ACT |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | - Opportunities for the same group of children aged 9-11 (years 5 moving up into year 6) in an area within the bottom 5% of the indices of multiple deprivation to engage in space science topics collaboratively with scientists from STFC disciplines. - Workshops and activities that nurture the curiosity of young people and encourage them to discuss space science topics in relation to their everyday lives and communities. This is turn has supported them to think about space science as a creative, imaginative field and possibly encouraged them to consider it as a viable career option. - Visits to We The Curious, where young people can feel a sense of ownership, leading to more equitable science learning outcomes. - Participative co-creation activities that share authority with young people and take their creative ideas into account when designing new space-themed digital content and exhibitions. We intend to employ this practice in all our future programming and activities development due to the success of this project. |
| Collaborator Contribution | - The teachers and administrators at the school have been very welcoming and accommodating, especially given how challenging the past couple of years have been for them. They have been passionate about ensuring the children have learning opportunities outside the classroom that compliment and strengthen their curriculum-based learning. - The young people themselves have provided some remarkably challenging and complex questions and insights that would have been impossible for a member of staff to replicate. Their contribution has confirmed that young people are not only consumers of informal science content, they are and should be considered as equitable partners in developing this content that they find engaging, inspiring and motivating. - Originally we had intended this consultation and co-creation role to be taken on by a pre-existing group of young people from a secondary school, our Youth Development Board who unfortunately had moved into their GCSE years by the time the worst of the Covid disruption was over and so were unable to participate. Instead we have formed a fantastic new partnership with a younger cohort of children at a stage in their education when their choices about which subject they would like to study are still ahead of them, although this has meant moving at a slower pace than we may have done with a more established long-term partner. These young people have given us many valuable insights into the methods of engagement that work for this audience, as well as the topics that best capture the sustained interest of children and lead them on to deeper questioning around diverse STEM issues. There is a greater likelihood we will be able to follow up with some of the participating individuals to ascertain whether this experience has influenced their study or career options. |
| Impact | To ensure that this was a fully collaborative and co-created project, the young people at Hareclive Academy had the opportunity to be involved at multiple stages from initial ideas creation, to testing, refining and reflecting on developed content. Their influence is in each learning resource we have produced and in most cases, originates from a question asked by one of the young people. This collaboration has also improved staff at We The Curious' skills in science communication for this audience and given them valuable insights into authority sharing and equitable practice. When we have brought in other partners, these skills have also been passed on to them and so this approach will hopefully have positive impacts outside the scope of this project and be replicated by others within the STFC community. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Hattie Stewart (PhD) - University of Bristol |
| Organisation | University of Bristol |
| Department | School of Physics |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | - Online coaching session focusing on science communication, authority sharing and equitable practice. This was well received by all the scientists involved. - Opportunities to engage with young people in their own environment and discuss their own work and discipline. - Opportunities to explore elements of their own work through the content created based on the children's questions. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Informal pupil-led conversations with Hareclive Academy year 5 pupils. Pupils asked questions freely and Hattie had an opportunity to tell them about how she got interested in science. Hattie was also interviewed for the 'Telescope or Timemachine' article (which was based on Hareclive questions). The article was able to go into the topic of the James Webb Space Telescope and include Hattie's work on SKA radio telescopes. |
| Impact | - Hattie was trained in authority sharing and equitable practice in public engagement with young audiences and had the opportunity to put those skills into practice at the first research and explore workshop. - Young people and teachers alike commented that the contact with researchers changed their perceptions of science and gave them new specialist knowledge in certain topics, e.g. black holes. - Hattie was given opportunities to share her own work in person with the pupils at Hareclive but also with the general public via the Telescope or Time Machine article. - We The Curious has gained a new valuable contact at the University of Bristol and we hope to be able to work with Hattie again as part of our permanent public engagement programme to form a longer term legacy for this project. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Prof Nathan Mayne |
| Organisation | University of Exeter |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | An opportunity to showcase Nathan's research on exoplanets through the new Autumn Stargazing 2022 planetarium show. |
| Collaborator Contribution | - Nathan brought valuable expertise and guidance to the project via consultation on the Autumn Stargazing show, highlighting Nathan and his team's work in exoplanet climatology and bringing their contributed visualisation up to date with the latest science. - Nathan was also of great assistance in finding other space scientists to engage with pupil interactions. |
| Impact | The Autumn Stargazing 2021 planetarium show has been greatly improved by Nathan's input, bringing the science up to date and bringing in new visualisations to pre-existing content about exoplanets. This is the second funded project we have worked on with Nathan and his team and we very much hope to develop the partnership further and introduce his expertise into more of our public-facing astronomy content. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Room 13 Studio |
| Organisation | Room 13 Hareclive |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Our staff were able to take on some of the administrative and logistical practicalities of a session for such a large group of children and supported the studio during a difficult period where access to the children and other potential projects were limited. We were able to provide a range of new activities that kept the children engaged with science learning both in and out of the classroom. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Room 13 Studio provides an alternative space and engagement route with children outside of formal curriculum learning. It is an independent charity and artist studio run by the children at Hareclive E-Act Academy, although two artists in residence assist the children in delivering the activities/sessions and digital outputs whilst ensuring the children's ideas remain central. They continued conversations and support of activity beyond the delivered sessions, sometimes without We The Curious staff present and supported relationships with the school and children. They supported the initial children's question process and evaluation throughout. |
| Impact | A critical output were the children's questions, inspired by meeting space scientists and related activities to inform the design of digital outputs. A short film, 'A Question in Space' (see Artistic and Creative Outputs) was also designed and created by participating children documenting their experiences during the project. All of the activities with the children were also heavily supported by the artists in residence and their knowledge alongside the teachers' of individual's learning needs were essential to the planning and success of the project. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Samuel (Sam) Frampton (PhD) |
| Organisation | University of Leicester |
| Department | Department of Physics & Astronomy |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | - Sam participated in an online coaching session focusing on science communication, authority sharing and equitable practice. This was well received by all the scientists involved. - Sam also had an opportunity to engage with young people in their own environment and discuss his own work. - There was also an opportunity to explore elements of Sam's work through the content created based on the children's questions. [Note: Sam was due to film a video about cooking in space with us in January. We had to cancel due to COVID related staff shortages but we hope to reschedule this shortly.] |
| Collaborator Contribution | - Sam participated in informal pupil-led conversations with year 5 pupils at Hareclive Academy. - Sam was due to participate in a Cooking in Space video (which was based on Hareclive questions) but filming was postponed until April at the earliest. We chose Sam for this role as the children were particularly engaged when he said he'd previously applied to be an astronaut. |
| Impact | - Sam was trained in authority sharing and equitable practice in public engagement with young audiences and had the opportunity to put those skills into practice at the first research and explore workshop. - Young people and teachers alike commented that the contact with researchers changed their perceptions of science and gave them new specialist knowledge in certain topics, e.g. black holes - Sam was given opportunities to share his own work in person with the pupils at Hareclive but also with the general public via the Cooking in Space video (yet to be published). - We The Curious has gained a new valuable contact at the University of Leicester - a university we did not previously have any partnerships with - and we hope to be able to work with Sam again as part of our permanent public engagement programme to form a longer term legacy for this project. |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Title | Curious Staff - content hub hosted on the We The Curious website |
| Description | Curious Stuff (originally named Curiosity Clusters) is a dedicated area of the We The Curious website that houses 'evergreen' (i.e. long lasting) content targeted at a public audience and largely generated or co-created with audiences. The content is grouped around specific themes in 'content hubs'. This funded project helped us to launch this site and pilot content with a space science theme. |
| Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Impact | Objectives of the Curious Stuff site which have been achieved but which we will continue to build upon in the future as more diverse content is uploaded: - Digital content for those unable to visit that focuses on STFC subject areas - specifically astronomy, cosmology, astrophysics and solar and planetary science. - Provide a digital platform for different voices, both from within WTC staffing and external researchers and industry practitioners, which supports our open-source science and inclusion pledges. - Reason to return to the website for those that do visit in person. - A new way to provide learning resources for schools and young people that compliments their visit and is relevant to current affairs. - Mitigates against any future venue closures by remaining digitally connected with audiences. - Create a new way into our website and in doing so improve diversity of audience reach. Although we have already seen some impressive view and download figures for much of this content, we expect to see these numbers rise significantly the more we refer back to evergreen content in future activities, extending the legacy of this funded project. |
| URL | https://www.wethecurious.org/curious-stuff |
| Description | Consultation on Autumn Stargazing 2021 Planetarium Show |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | We sought input into our new Autumn Stargazing planetarium show from two space scientists, Prof. Nathan Mayne from the School of Physics at the University of Exeter (Astrophysics and Planetary Climates) and Dr. Hannah Wakeford from the School of Physics at the University of Bristol (Planetary Science). Via phone consultation and email exchanges they reviewed the script for the show and checked it for scientific accuracy. We ended up reworking an existing section about detention of exoplanets and created a brand new section around the atmospheres of exoplanets. This not only ensured accuracy and that cutting-edge science featured in the show but also gave Prof Mayne and Dr Wakeford opportunities to engage a large public audience with their work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.wethecurious.org/event/autumn-stargazing-3d |
| Description | First development workshop at Hareclive E-Act Academy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | Now in Year 6, the same group of 53 pupils from Hareclive were introduced to the concept of flipbooks and beginners animation techniques through an opening presentation about the animation process. The purpose of this was to encourage young people to communicate their ideas about space through the medium of storytelling. This had come from a discussion with the young people at the prototyping session at We The Curious who had developed an interest in how animation works (likely inspired by our Aardman Animations exhibition in the venue). They started off by animating a bouncing ball in a Zoetrope which facilitated an in-depth group discussion about Newton's first law, the concept of gravity and Voyager, highlighting the powerful accessibility and inclusivity of creative activities in STEM learning. The young people created storyboards for their space stories and were given blank flipbooks, pencils and rubbers to take home with them, extending the learning opportunity outside of school hours for those who wanted to pro-actively pursue their ideas. Video animations were then later created from the young people's flipbooks to form the basis of a public competition to open up this opportunity to members of the general public. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Online Scientist Coaching Session |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Scientists participating in the first research and explore session at Hareclive were invited to attend an online coaching session before the workshop to learn more about engaging with primary school children, with a focus on authority sharing and equitable practice in informal science learning. Hattie Stewart from the University of Bristol (PhD Astrophysicist), Sam Frampton at the University of Leicester (PhD Space Engineer) and Bee Rich, an ex-employee of the European Space Agency (Materials Engineer) were chosen from a range of scientists across STFC disciplines who responded to our call for collaborators. Researchers expressed an interest in continuing their relationship with We The Curious after this project as they found the interactions with the children eye-opening and different to the ways they had approached public engagement activities before. Our Open Source Science network of researchers across the South West is the ideal pathway for them to continue to work with us and participate in similar public engagement activities in the future, perhaps led by their own STFC research which will diversify our public engagement output as we have a lack of space scientists in this group. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Prototyping Session at We The Curious |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | 53 year 5 pupils from Hareclive E-Act Academy came on a free, exclusive access visit to We The Curious on a day when we were closed to the public to inspire them and prepare them for a workshop later in the day. They were given access to everything a public visitor would normally experience but with an emphasis on space science, including all of our exhibits, some staffed busking activities and a planetarium show. Young people were then invited to junk-model 'rapid prototypes' of their space-themed ideas having been shown a presentation and played a game on how We The Curious staff normally go about creating new ideas for exhibits and activities. Young people built their prototype inventions out of cardboard before We The Curious staff collected notes and photographs of them. An important element of this session was to share authority with the young people and encourage them to think of themselves as content creators. They were accompanied by two artists from Room 13 and eight staff/volunteers from the school. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Research and Explore Workshop at Hareclive E-Act Academy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | An initial workshop was held with 53 year 5 pupils at Hareclive E_Act Academy to introduce them to concepts within space science and introduce them to three STFC space science researchers - Hattie Stewart at the University of Bristol (PhD Astrophysicist), Sam Frampton at the University of Leicester (PhD Space Engineer) and Bee Rich, an ex-employee at the European Space Agency (Materials Engineer). An opening presentation was followed by a rocket demonstration highlighting the collaborative effort required to launch a rocket and all the different scientific and engineering specialists involved in making it happen. A collection of everyday items (such as trainers, freeze dried ice cream, etc) were then passed around to encourage the young people to think about the ways space science (including materials science) impacts their daily lives. We then opened up the session to enable informal conversations and question-asking between the young people and the space scientists (including an opportunity for the scientists to talk about their disciplines and how they got interested in science) before a reflection session led by Room 13 where young people provided the key output for the session - 180 space related questions asked by the young people, which we would go on to use as the basis for future co-created sessions. Another important outcome of this session was to launch the project in a way that sought to 'de-mystify' science and encourage the young people to contribute creatively and freely. The session was held in a reflective arts space within Room 13's part of the school campus. Two artists from Room 13 assisted four We The Curious staff to facilitate the session and four school staff/volunteers were also in attendance. Bee Rich, one of the scientists involved in the workshop, gave the following feedback: 'I think the authority sharing idea really helped me approach conversations with the children from a learning perspective rather than a teaching perspective. In turn I think this helped the children's engagement by allowing them to explain things to each other with confidence, and they often arrived at the concepts I was hoping to share with them with only a little input from my side.... I was amazed at how much the children knew! Also I found the exercise with Room 13 super valuable, of coming up with questions without necessarily needing answers. It prompted a lot of conversation and it's great to know what children care about - often they were bringing surprisingly sophisticated ideas to the table.' |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Second development workshop at Hareclive E-Act Academy |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | The Room 13 Management Team ran a content co-creation workshop with 16 year 6 pupils without the We The Curious team present. Using the questions generated during the first research and explore session, young people planned and created content for the 'Curious Stuff' part of the We The Curious website, a brand new platform funded by this project that showcases co-created science learning content made in partnerships with schools and community partners. Examples include articles on black holes and how space telescopes enable us to look back in time - these articles were also written with the expertise of space scientists involved in the project (more information in the Creative and Artistic Outputs section). These activities led to a a much wider and deeper level of engagement with the subject matter, with teachers reporting that young people began independently pursuing space related threads of inquiry in other subject areas (such as literacy classes) and in personal projects. Generation of video content from this session is still ongoing and will continue beyond the funded timeframe (please see Artistic and Creative Outputs for more information). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.wethecurious.org/curious-stuff/stargazing-night-sky/black-holes |
| Description | Testing workshop at We The Curious |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | 53 year 6 pupils from Hareclive E-Act Academy attended We The Curious again to give their feedback on our new Autumn Stargazing Planetarium Show screened in our 3D planetarium which will be re-released to the public in 2022. This show had been developed in collaboration with space scientists (please see other Engagement Activities). The young people also responded to a pilot video about cooking in space based on a question from the first research and explore session. Again these were valuable opportunities to involve young people fully in content creation, develop new skills in science communication and support them to feel they have lots to contribute alongside space scientists. It also gave us some critical insights into the information that children of this age group find engaging and how best to retain their attention and interest in developing digital content. At the request of the young people, more time was also given for free exploration of the exhibits and two busking activities - one about meteorites and one about telescopes. We 'gamified' the experience by creating stamp cards so they could earn a stamp at each activity they engaged with - this was very popular and resulted in a high level of engagement across multiple activities. Also in attendance were two representatives from Fun Kids Radio. As part of their 'Mission Transmission' project the young people talked to the radio team about the Voyager golden record and then recorded their own messages to be sent into space on radio waves, which they found very exciting and inspired them to engage further with the final stages of the project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://www.funkidslive.com/mission-transmission/listen-to-mission-transmission/ |