Bring Science to your Home with Armagh Observatory and Planetarium

科学从未如此重要。在一个受到公共卫生和环境危机挑战的世界，科学为应对这些和其他挑战提供了基础。政府和机构的决策需要以现有的最佳科学为依据，公众必须对此有信心。因此，在做出决定之前，有必要传播科学并解释它是如何工作的——证据是如何收集、分析和评估的。有必要传达问题的复杂性，理解很少是完整的，决策需要基于可用的最佳数据，并且随着更深入的见解的发展，选择可能会改变。最重要的是，尽管问题很复杂，但这些信息需要清晰地传达，并为不同的受众群体量身定制。我们的目标是展示科学对每个人的重要性，并通过一系列可以在学校或家中进行的科学实验激发人们对未来潜在科学家的兴趣，这些实验将激励社会参与并开始提出有关科学的问题。事实上，虽然冠状病毒大流行今天理应得到政府的充分关注，但除此之外，气候变化、其对环境的影响、对社会的后果以及人类如何应对的问题等都是更大的挑战。为应对COVID-19封锁，我们将开发一款基于当前在线家庭科学计划的应用程序，并附带一本印刷书籍，我们将对这些重要主题和STFC科学的其他领域进行实验。我们希望我们的产品是本地的，并反映在Armagh天文台和天文馆（AOP）也在做的科学，它与STFC科学联系在一起，也利用AOP作为一个了解天文学的研究信息中心的50年声誉。我们的教育团队和博士生将在书中展示50个科学实验，并将它们记录在应用程序中。我们的目标受众将学习科学知识，以及如何在他们的门口完成这一工作，以及如果他们选择STEM职业，他们将如何发挥作用，同时通过我们的研究学生的例子获得乐趣。这些实验将针对8-14岁的“惊奇”目标。我们的目标是通过应用程序的技术或实体书，通过两种媒介，我们的目标是接触到更多的受众，从而接触到科学资本较低的家庭。为了实现这一目标，我们将向北爱尔兰的每位小学七年级教师（约850名）提供免费书籍和应用程序链接，并在可下载的免费应用程序上为他们的家庭提供信息。此外，我们将通过在社区中心的外展访问来集中和瞄准社会贫困地区，在那里我们将分发免费书籍，推广应用程序，我们的外展移动圆顶将用于科学电影和展示精选的实验。我们理解，由于2019冠状病毒病，我们将面临困难时期，作为备选方案，我们可以与社区进行视频电话会议，以便在当时不建议举行大型聚会的情况下开展项目的外联工作。通过这本书和应用程序，我们希望确保该项目的遗产，这将通过教师在学校拥有实体副本以在未来几年使用来实现。它将促进AOP和STFC，并将成为创建围绕科学的对话的工具。通过完成这个项目，它将与当地建立联系并专注于STFC科学，从长远来看，我们的目标是增加学校和公众对我们设施的访问，增加我们的社交媒体关注，并与北爱尔兰的每一所小学建立联系。为了使我们能够实现向难以接触的受众提供科学的目标，并在8-14岁的孩子中产生火花，我们需要STFC的资助。没有这笔资金，我们的项目就无法进行。

Science has never been so important. In a world challenged by public health and environmental crises, science provides the basis for responding to these and other challenges. Decisions made by governments and agencies need to be informed by the best science available and the public must have confidence that it is. There is therefore an essential need to communicate science and to explain how it works - whereby evidence is gathered, analysed and assessed - before decisions are made. There is a need to convey the complexity of issues, that understanding is rarely complete, that decisions need to be made based on the best available data, and that choices may change as deeper insights develop. Above all, and despite the complexity of the issues, the messages need to be delivered with clarity, and be tailored for a diverse range of audiences. Our aim is to show how science matters to everyone and to spark an interest in the potential scientists of tomorrow through a range of science experiments that can be conducted at school or home that will inspire society to participate in and start asking questions about science. In fact, while the coronavirus pandemic rightfully has the full attention of government today, beyond it lies the even greater challenge of climate change, its impact on the environment, the consequences for society and the question of how humanity responds. Through an App that we will develop, that builds upon our current online science-at-home programme in response to the COVID-19 lockdown, accompanied by a printed book, we will have experiments looking at these important topics and other areas of STFC science. We want our product to be local and to reflect the science that is also being done at Armagh Observatory and Planetarium (AOP) which links in with STFC science, tapping also into the 50-years-reputation of AOP as a research-informed centre for the understanding of Astronomy. Our education team and PhD students will work on the 50 science experiments to showcase in the book and record them for the App. Our target audience will be learning about science but also how this is done locally on their doorstep and how they can make a difference should they choose a STEM career all whilst having fun through the example of our research students. The experiments will be aimed towards the "wonder" target of 8-14 year olds.Our goal is to reach families with low science capital either through the technology of the App or through a physical book and by giving two mediums we aim to reach a greater audience. To achieve this we will give a free book and link to the App to every Primary 7 teacher in Northern Ireland (Approx. 850) with information for their families on the downloadable free App. Furthermore, we will concentrate and target areas of social deprivation through outreach visits in community centres where free books will be distributed, the App promoted and our outreach mobile dome will be used for science movies and for showcasing a selection of the experiments. We understand that we have difficult times ahead due to COVID-19 and as a plan B we can conduct video conferencing calls with communities to develop the outreach aspect of the project should large gatherings not be advisable at that time. Through the book and App, we want to secure a legacy of the project and this will be achievable by teachers having the physical copy in schools to use in years to come. It will promote AOP and STFC and will be a tool to create conversations around science.By completing this project, which will have local links and focus on STFC science, in the longer term we aim to increase schools and public visits to our facility, increase our social media following and make links with every primary school in Northern Ireland. To enable us to reach our goals of providing science to hard-to-reach audiences and to create a spark in 8-14 year olds we require STFC funding. Without the funding our project could not go ahead.