Eyes to the Sky

The primary aims of the Eyes to the Sky project are:

1. To understand the views and needs of young people from socio-economically deprived areas, in relation to what will inspire their engagement with STEM interests.

2. To apply this learning and further develop existing 4FC high-quality resources to extend knowledge and impact, and ensure the students engage with and inspire a wider cohort of young people from socio-economically deprived areas.

3. To develop a framework with STFC partners that will guide how STFC's Incredible Science, Inspirational People and Stories and Astounding Place can be incorporated into these project resources . 4wardFutures will work with 240 young people aged between 8 to 12 from four secondary and four primary schools.

The Eyes to the Sky project will initially use the project model and virtual platform that 4FC have developed in collaboration with prominent experts in STEM engagement and research to introduce young people from socio-economically deprived areas, who could be considered to have low science capital to the work STFC researchers are undertaking to answer the questions of "What's in outer space?" and "How did the universe begin? See supporting document for project details.

A key element of the project will be to follow the STFC Wonder Initiative model of public engagement. We will work collaboratively with the young people and their key influencers, such as teachers and parents by listening to, understanding and working with them to find out what they want to know and how they want to learn about the science and technology that, for example, underpins the exploration of space and how the Universe was formed; we will then use this information gained to revise and further develop our resources to help improve opportunities to increase science capital.

The figure of 240 young people refer to those who will take part in the fixed plan of funded work with schools. Following this phase of work the resources will be made publicly available on the Eyes to the Sky online platform and therefore engage a much wider cohort of young people, their key influencers, and the general public. The availably of the resources will be promoted as part of the project promotional campaign.