Building space skills with The BIG Project
Dynamic Earth partnered with The BIG Project who work children from areas of highest child poverty in Edinburgh
Inclusive Outcome Areas: Possible selves, Developing skills, Relevance
Dynamic Earth chose to develop their existing partnership with The BIG Project. The BIG Project work with children and young people aged 7-17yrs in the Sighthill ward of Edinburgh which has one of the highest percentages of child poverty in the city (>30%) and rates in the worst 5% for employment, health, housing and income on the Scottish SIMD.
Using a unique programme of mobile planetarium content, specialist kit and hands-on crafts, they explored topical and current STFC science. The partners/team co-created and delivered multiple engagement sessions with The BIG Project’s Roots Club and Tuesday Club, which provide targeted community work with children between the ages of 7-12 yrs. During the programme time period, they delivered 6 in-person events, which have been co-created with community group leaders, the young people who access services, and Dynamic Earth.
Theming the clubs on space skills and space careers the outcome areas Dynamic Earth chose to focus on were possible selves, skills and relevance. With a thriving local space industry they were able to connect with researchers at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, sharing the UK’s involvement with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) with their groups as well as some work on UK spaceports. They also took their mobile planetarium out to the schools showing their “Whats Up?” show to the children which is all about observing the night sky. This was particularly special for the young people having the possibility of a planetarium show in their sports hall, which they didn’t know could exist before “they didn’t know that was a thing”. The project lead at Dynamic Earth added “it was wonderful for them to be able to stargaze in their own space”. The team brought infrared cameras to include in the sessions on JWST where they explained how infrared cameras work and got the children to investigate using the IR cameras which worked well and really connected with a lot of them, especially as it was tactile and hands on making it good for the children with additional social support needs.
Feedback from the community partner shared that the children wanted to know “when are they coming back?” and they noted that there was a definite increase in interest in space science since taking part in the programme. The community leader commented “They're showing more of an interest in the concept of space and how we fit into it.”
Please see below the Explore Your Universe: Valuing Inclusion report by Jen DeWitt and Sophie Bartlett. This report delves into the findings from the grant programme and how effective the 6 inclusive outcome areas were.