Classroom Hangouts with Spacelink Experts: to extend and develop outreach and communication between the space science and the education communities

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Classroom Hangouts with Spacelink Experts and STFC Scientists: to extend and develop outreach and communication between the space science and the education communities.Google Hangouts will be used as a digital vehicle to facilitate communication and contact between schools and scientists from different areas to achieve the following aims:1. Digital bridging of the Scientific and Education Communities: the Google+ platform offers the opportunity to broadcast webinars, or 'Hangouts on Air', to an unlimited online audience. Hangouts allow up to 9 active participants to interact through audio and video while anybody watching the Hangouts live on the Google+ page can submit questions via a chat SMS interface. 'Hangouts on Air' live broadcasts are also archived automatically as a video on YouTube. 2. Bringing school and scientific communities together and enabling the exchange of ideas and information between and amongst them. As well as facilitating the sharing of learning amongst schools, Hangouts will be used as a digital vehicle to facilitate communication and contact between scientists from different areas. These will include the Rosetta Mission (with input from the UK scientists involved in the mission's instruments and the ground based observing campaign), Gaia (with support from ESERO), space & climate physics including sun activity (with support from Dr Lucie Green and MSSL), planetary studies (with input from Dr Sheila Kanani), life in space (with input from Dr Helen Sharman).3. Enthusing and educating young people about space and science by enabling them to talk directly to scientists in a wide range of space-related activities and question them about the mysteries they are exploring and their emerging discoveries.4. Inspiring them to take STEM subjects throughout school and beyond, and to aspire to STEM-related careers: the range of expert speakers and topics covered will demonstrate how space studies can relate to life on earth and the importance of science and engineering to everything we depend on for the lives we wish to live.5. Inspiring girls in particular to take STEM subjects and go into science and engineering careers, using female scientists as role models. Spacelink's own team includes Dr Helen Sharman, a chemist and the first British astronaut to go into space; Dr Lucie Green, a space and climate physicist specialising in sun activity; and Dr Sheila Kanani, a planetary scientist and inspiring "space comedian" presenter. 6. Targeting primary schools as well as secondary schools to capture and embed interest during Key Stage 2. Research has shown that whereas student interest in science has been high and with little gender difference at age 10, interest drops, particularly amongst girls, by age 14, and students who have not already formed an expectation of pursuing higher level science studies are very unlikely to develop science-related aspirations after age 14. The majority of primary school teachers are not science specialists, so supportive resources and opportunities to draw on the experience of others will provide a particularly welcome stimulus for them in preparing STEM lessons. The pilot and initial rollout year will allow us to gather experience and knowledge about how to run Hangout sessions to bring Space Experts into UK classrooms. We very much hope to be able to develop and mainstream the project further in future years, and may wish to apply for further funding from STFC to this end.