Back Down to Earth - Expanding D2E to Scotland and Northern Ireland

D2E项目是一个由STFC资助的非常成功的方案，以陨石借用箱、在线教案和在线小行星/彗星撞击模拟器(提供8种语言)的形式提供高质量的天文学教育资源。该贷款计划目前由加的夫的Amgueddfa Cymru-威尔士国家博物馆(AC-NMW)运营，从那里通过外展接触到约5,000名学生(10-16岁)和约3,000名公众/年-自2007年年中D2E计划开始以来，数字一直相当稳定。针对难以接触到的观众的特定活动，每年吸引大量观众(例如，贝德格勒特陨石节，北威尔士，9月1日。2009年，纪念秋季60周年)。我们还充分利用了国家倡议，如2011年1月、2012年和2013年的BBC星空直播，当时D2E借款箱被广泛使用，通过AC-NMW(加的夫国家博物馆)和威尔士各地的外展活动支持星空直播计划，在那一周接触到约5000人。我们希望推广这一成功的模式，并将我们的经验级联到新的合作伙伴。通过提供额外的贷款箱以及教学和管理资源，我们将促进在苏格兰和北爱尔兰创建两个新的D2E资源贷款中心，为这些国家提供该计划的国家中心。这两个中心之所以被选中，是因为它们具有与威尔士类似的国家身份和组织，由各自的Esero-UK太空大使(Tom Mason，Dan Hillier)运营。我们在一个小国提供国家服务的经验具有特别重要的意义，就像接触到地理上与世隔绝和难以到达的社区一样。我们难以实现的计划的一部分包括以双语形式提供教育材料，这是其他科学公共意识项目通常不会提供的。对于苏格兰和NI，我们将与中心合作，制作关键教育资源材料的苏格兰/爱尔兰盖尔语版本。我们将与我们的合作伙伴分享我们获得的经验，使他们能够得到良好的装备和支持，以运行他们自己的计划，并与STFC研究人员有效合作。至关重要的是，它将把该项目的范围扩大到威尔士当前地区以外的学校/博物馆，这些学校/博物馆已经表示了兴趣(即AC-NMW在2012年向爱丁堡、埃克塞特、布里斯托尔和索尔兹伯里发送了借款箱)。ARMAH天文馆帮助传播关于STFC资助的在ARMAH天文台进行的研究的信息，例如新发现的围绕巨型行星运行的小卫星群，以及彗星衰变成流星流的过程，但目前没有处理收集工作。因此，该项目不仅将为天文馆的公众参与提供急需的资源，而且还将成为吸引北爱尔兰各地可能无法亲自参观天文馆的观众的一种方式。爱丁堡皇家天文台游客中心突出了一系列由STFC资助的研究，特别是天文技术中心(ATC)的工作。为ROE生产的新迷你陨石贷款套件也将支持苏格兰黑暗天空合作伙伴的工作。我们希望通过评估如何与威尔士儿童贫穷战略等国家议程相结合，进一步发展我们难以接触到的受众的方案。这将首先在威尔士进行试验，然后进行评估，以确定类似的方法是否适合这两个新的枢纽地区。我们已经评估并得出结论，在实际层面上，该项目的潜在风险很低。教材的制作是基于一套完善的课程分析、制定教案和确定合适的教师教材的过程。因此，有一个明确的机制，以确保在项目的头9个月内向各中心提供资源。

The D2E project is a highly successful, STFC-funded programme delivering high quality astronomy education resources in the form of meteorite loan boxes, online lesson plans and an online asteroid/comet impact simulator (available in 8 languages). The loan scheme is currently run from Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales (AC-NMW) in Cardiff, from where it reaches ~5,000 students/yr (ages 10-16) and ~3,000 general public/yr through outreach - figures have been fairly constant since the D2E scheme started in mid-2007. Specific events, targeted at hard-to-reach audiences engage significant numbers annually (e.g. Beddgelert meteorite festival, N. Wales, Sept. 2009 to mark the 60th anniversary of the fall). We also made good use of national initiatives such as the BBC Stargazing Live in January 2011, 2012 and again in 2013 when D2E loan boxes were used extensively to support Stargazing Live programmes via outreach events at AC-NMW (National Museum Cardiff) and across Wales reaching c. 5,000 people during that week. We would like to extend this successful formula, and cascade our experience to new partners. By providing additional loan boxes, and teaching and management resources, we will facilitate the creation of two new loan hubs for D2E resources in Scotland and Northern Ireland, providing these countries with national centres for the scheme. These two hubs were selected as they have comparable national identities and organisations to Wales, and are run by the respective ESERO-UK Space Ambassadors (Tom Mason, Dan Hillier). Our experience in providing a national service in a small nation is of particular relevance, as is that of reaching geographically isolated and hard-to-reach communities. Part of our hard-to-reach programme includes provision of educational materials in a bilingual format, something not typically delivered by other science pubic awareness projects. For Scotland and NI, we will work with the hubs to produce Scots/Irish Gaelic versions of the key educational resource materials. We will share our gained experience with our partners, enabling them to be well equipped and supported to run their own schemes, and work effectively with STFC researchers. Crucially, it will extend the reach of the project beyond the current regions of Wales to schools/museums who have expressed an interest (i.e. AC-NMW sent loan boxes to Edinburgh, Exeter, Bristol and Salisbury in 2012). Armagh Planetarium helps to disseminate information on STFC-funded research carried out at the Armagh Observatory, such as the newly discovered populations of small satellites orbiting the giant planets, and the processes by which comets decay into meteoroid streams, but do not currently hold handling collections. This project will therefore not only provide much needed resources for public engagement at the Planetarium, but also a way of engaging audiences throughout Northern Ireland who may not be able to visit the Planetarium themselves. The Royal Observatory Edinburgh visitor centre highlights a broad range of STFC-funded research, and in particular the work of the Astronomy Technology Centre (ATC). New mini meteorite loan kits produced for ROE will also support the work of Dark Skies partners in Scotland. We wish to develop further our programme of hard-to-reach audience by evaluating how we might interface with national agendas such as the Child Poverty Strategy for Wales. This will be trialed initially in Wales and then evaluated to establish if a similar approach is appropriate for the two new hub areas. We have evaluated and concluded that potential risks to the project on a practical level these are low. The production of the educational materials is based on a well developed process for curriculum analysis, developing lesson plans, and identifying appropriate teachers' materials. There is therefore a clear mechanism in place to ensure the delivery of resources to the centres within the first 9 months of the project.