Explore Your Universe: Atoms to Astrophysics Handbook and School Activities

Explore Your Universe is a partnership between the UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The vision for the project is to inspire a new sense of excitement amongst young people and their families through telling the amazing stories and technologies of STFC.

To achieve this the project researched and developed a core set of equipment and supporting resources to enable science and discovery centres to deliver high quality, flexible activities for a range of audiences, including school groups, primarily for science centre and science museum staff, and researchers and staff working in the physical science, but will also be of use to other educators, and is free to use.

This resource lists a number of activities that can be carried out with a broad set of equipment and links each bit of equipment to real research or industry activities. The topic areas are focussed around the physical sciences and include light, space, materials, electricity, magnetism and particle physics. Additionally, scripts and resources for a workshop suitable for 10-13 year olds and a masterclass for 14-16 year olds are provided. Both are curriculum-linked.

The project resources were developed in collaboration with the National Space Centre and Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre. The Space Showcase booklet is intended to support awareness of current space activities that the UK and Europe are involved in, providing inspirational and intriguing research stories to link hands-on demonstrations to.