So we took a week off work...

The whole team is made up of volunteers, all with full-time jobs elsewhere. After a few weeks of working late into the night / getting up incredibly early, the school holidays came. A few of the other team members also took the week off, so we thought we'd use the time to do some exploring of our own! Here's what we got up to:

We had a meeting to discuss our future plans for the project - while eating ice-cream and walking around this reservoir. The good news is, everyone is still very keen to keep working on the project.

Inspired by the hardware hackers at Space Apps, we began the first team efforts to reach space, using vitamin tablets, water and Sugru (grown-up plasticine). Perhaps we may help in the efforts to #LaunchJon!

 We discovered that the main engines of the Sugruz1 rocket weren't quite powerful enough...

 

 

...so we helped her gain 4000 ft in altitude using non-photoshop cheating!

Designs are being drawn up for Sugruz2, a lighter weight design with 4 booster rockets attached.

But for now, it's back to work. We'll be back working on the website in the evenings too!

Making connections

The whole project started as a way to get children to connect with science in a relevant, enjoyable and meaningful way. Then connections started to be made between adults, people joined the team in Exeter, followed by a few in India. It wasn't long before I was receiving emails from Canada and Mexico. As someone who's inner child has the vast majority of the brain, I found this all to be very, very exciting!

On the Sunday evening of Space Apps, the team were talking over Skype - still buzzing from the event and reluctant to get some much needed sleep. We were talking about the story and how it was interesting to see the different interpretations emerging in the different languages. Before the weekend, I had absolutely no idea that there was no word for unicorn in Greek! It wasn't long before the idea of using the beginning of the story as a starting point to compare different cultures came about. The great thing about the ending of the story is that no matter which culture a person is from, they are all united in the human exploration of space. We spend far too long on this planet, dividing and defining ourselves, we sometimes forget that we are all from one species.

Our website invites children (in our trial schools to begin with,) to read the story and interpret it in any way they wish. This could be a form of artwork, creative writing or even a piece of non-fiction work. We are hoping that by allowing children to explore each others' interpretations of the story, they will not only begin to learn about and understand some of the differences in the world, but they will also spot the many similarities between children globally. They all enjoy playing when they get the chance; not to mention they are all fascinated by and inquisitive about the world around them. When given the chance to think about things, they all have dreams - one day perhaps they will be able to help each other fulfil them.

If the trial is successful, we hope to develop the website further, taking note of feedback, to make it more accessible to a wider number of children, whilst being a safe environment for them to share and explore.

London trip

By Sophia, Tom and Oliver.

It was tiring getting up at half past 5 this morning, especially as I couldn't get to sleep last night. I had to get up so early so that I could get ready and drive to the train station ready for 7am. I was excited because I like London.

On the train we are writing a script for the animation and are thinking up a new story to make out of plasticine and are making very good progress and its about a walrus and his friend  the narwhal and he tells him all about a treasure chest and walrus  flies into space on a rocket to find the treasure. We are doing lots of work even when were not at school!

Hi Oliver talking, writing a script at the moment about Walrus the walrus, who is on a quest to find treasure. Sophia, Tom and I will use this script for the green screen. Walrus is going to meet the curiosity rover on Mars.

Meanwhile,  Sophia is writing  a script for the green screen, its about an interview with the girl who wants to find a unicorn and will never give up trying to find it. With the green screen we are going to interact with the backgrounds ( that Tom found ) and the plasticine models. For example we are going use the script for the news readers to ask the plasticine model questions.

Thank you for reading this blog we hoped you enjoyed it and have learnt more about what we are doing.

The website!

Since Space Apps, the team have continued the work and we have had time to refine our ideas slightly. The story is no longer just a story, it's now a gateway to exploration. In time, we'll be writing our own, child friendly, age appropriate pages of information about explorers, explorations and STEM, but for now we're busy finding links to existing sites and sorting them within the themes of exploration.

Andrew, our lead developer, has worked tirelessly on developing a website for schools to begin the project and to share their work with others. The site so far, includes links to the story in all available languages, a resources page linking to various external open source data, apps and websites for children to explore with more links and languages being added frequently.

In the future, the site will use more geo-location to suggest explorations which are local to the individual user. We hope to have a language selection very soon for the whole site, not just the story links. There will be an age suggestion along with the links to make it easier for children to find information they are able to understand. We will also be adding graphics to make the site a little more child friendly!

There is still a huge amount of work to be done, but we hope to begin a trial of the project with a few schools in the UK, India and Canada before the end of this academic year. Keep visiting the gallery page to see what has been uploaded!

Take a look: explorablestory.org and tell us what you think! If you'd like to get involved in the project, let us know! contact@explorablestory.org

Digital Futures: Urban Open Space

Some of the team (those who could manage the commute,) will be at the V&A museum in London on Tuesday 21st and Wednesday 22nd May where some of the models and the story will be included in the Digital Futures: Urban Open Space exhibition.

During the exhibition, we will be inviting members of the public to create their own responses to the story using various media. If you can get to London, come along to meet us!

"Bonded By The Stars"

Looking up at the star studded sky has always left me spellbound ever since I was a kid. But little did I know that that magical and mysterious universe up there would be the reason for my friendship with some amazing people in another part of the world. Because basically, there was nothing common to us but the sky over our heads and our interest in it, and that was where our connection clicked! Through NASA’s International Space Apps Challenge, the biggest international competition ever with people from different parts of the planet taking part in it, I found myself as a member of an awesome team, whose idea was to share a story to the younger generation all over the world, telling them about the beauty and vastness of space and the need to look forward to explore it.

Keeping in mind the differences that arise due to languages and pace of development in different regions on our planet, we are translating the story to as many languages as possible and planning to reach out to children in all parts of the world. That way we will start a connection among every young person on Earth, uniting them with a unique goal, beyond every regional and cultural barriers, motivating them to come forward and get engaged together in opening the doors to a great era of space exploration. This, I believe, will not only just inspire a generation and the many others to come, into exploring the skies, but it will also teach them all the need to preserve and protect our beautiful planet and respect every living being on it.

And that’s the spirit in our team itself. Living in a planet where the current scenario is not so encouraging, with all those violence and hatred and what not, it is so nice to find team mates from across the boundaries, with good hearts and such good motives! Ending this write- up for now, I hope that like our team, one day, the whole world will be’ bonded by the stars’!!! 

Open Classroom; Open Data; Open World!

From time to time, often during a lesson where I've asked the children to respond to a question in a creative way, I find myself going to see a child with their hand up (the normal way to attract a teacher's attention here). When I reach them, expecting to help them with something to do with their work, I discover that they are handling the challenges they've been set and are answering questions showing an understanding of the concepts. I ask them what's wrong only to be greeted with:

"Miss, they're copying me!"

I start to think. Should the offending child be punished for plagiarism? Should they be made to rewrite the work? Should I move them to a seat with nobody to copy? 

The simple answer is no. As long as it isn't a test situation, I'm aware of the act and the child copying is gaining something from the process, I don't mind! I encourage the original writer or creator of the work to take pride in sharing their ideas - the other child clearly thinks they are worth copying! I ask the child who is borrowing the ideas to share why and to try to find a way to improve it. Often the work that is achieved by two children working together is far better, due to the varied skills and perspectives of multiple minds.

These moments are, I hope, the start of children learning the value of collaboration - one of the key parts of the Space Apps Challenge and, in my opinion, the true importance of open data. If we keep our thoughts, data and resources locked away, refusing to share them, we will never know their full potential for doing good.

Two weeks ago, I wrote a simple story to answer a question with one child in mind. By sharing that story, it has become so much more and the potential benefits are still something I can't quite get my head around! I was lucky enough to find myself as part of a team at the weekend, who provided fantastic ideas, created things (I was sure were going to be impossible; I'm clearly an IT novice,) and endless enthusiasm. They have pushed the story towards its limits, improving it no-end.

The simple story now exists in 12 languages with more being written, it is being made into an animated explorable digital picture book and there are plans to turn it into the starting point for a free-to-access global interactive website for schools. The website will encourage children to interpret or respond to the story in a way that makes sense to them. The different approaches could teach children about cultural differences while allowing them to connect with similar interests. More details will be posted soon as the idea is further refined. People may well be copying me, but I'm privileged that they are - the story is no longer mine, it's ours!

The story is released under a Creative Commons 3.0 BY-NC-SA license.