Asking and Exploring Big Questions in Astronomy

这个为期18个月的项目将与北爱尔兰和英格兰两个国家的六所小学进行持续接触。学生们将在学校与四个创新的研讨会互动，以加强学校与STFC科学和科学家之间的联系。他们的活动将以一个展示活动结束，来自“奇迹观众”的学生将向我们的合作伙伴和STEM网络展示一个科学项目。600名五年级和六年级的学生将进行一系列可操作的科学调查，以建立他们对天文学的理解。讲习班调查从一个包含动手科学活动和资源的发现袋开始，这些活动和资源已被证明可以消除参与科学的障碍，并激励社会经济贫困地区的小学生感到被包容并参与其中。与STEM网络、当地慈善机构和我们已建立的学校合作伙伴合作，我们将招募英格兰和北爱尔兰贫困地区的学校，并与这些地区建立关系，这些地区的社会流动性低，教育、就业、健康和住房水平低。为了开发和测试我们的方法，我们将与贝尔法斯特、萨尼特和坎特伯雷的学校合作。Thanet地区的一所学校将成为同行的领导者和导师，支持其他学校发展他们的教学方法，目的是让所有学生，无论他们的能力和背景如何，都能感受到被纳入其中，并建立他们对STFC科学的理解。我们采用的方法始于动手科学，通过创新的科学和大问题调查的“发现袋”提供资源。这样的学生直接参与科学活动和思维方式是好奇心驱动的和能动的，而不需要事先学习。例如，让学生在塑料盖上制造水滴，观察水的性质和行为，同时提出他们自己的后续问题，如“水从哪里来？”以及“太空中有水吗？”

This 18-month project will enable sustained engagement with six primary schools in two nations: Northern Ireland and England. Students will interact with a series of four innovative workshop interventions in school to strengthen connections between schools and STFC science and scientists. Their activity will end with a showcase event where students from the 'wonder audience' present a science project to our partner and STEM networks. 600 students in Years 5 and 6 will carry out a series of accessible hands-on science investigations that build their understanding of Astronomy. The workshop investigations begin with a Discovery Bag of hands-on science activities and resources which have been shown to remove barriers of participation to science and inspire students from primary schools in socioeconomic deprived areas to feel included and get involved.Collaborating with STEM networks, local charities and our established school partners, we will recruit and build relationships with schools in deprived areas of England and Northern Ireland where there is documented low social mobility and with low levels of education, employment, health, and housing. To develop and test our approach we will work with schools in Belfast, Thanet and Canterbury. One school in the Thanet area will be a peer lead and mentor, supporting other schools with developing their pedagogical approaches, with the aim that all students whatever their ability and background feel included and build their understanding of STFC science.The methodology we employ begins with hands-on science, resourced via an innovative 'Discovery Bag' of science and Big Questions investigations. As such students engage directly with science activities and ways of thinking that are curiosity-driven and agentic, without the necessity for prior learning. For example, students experiment with making water droplets on a plastic lid to observe the properties and behaviour of water while generating their own follow-up questions such as 'Where does water come from?' and 'Is there water in space?'.