These are further examples of the data feeds which are planned for 2025 or are currently under construction:
Scaling Up:
We are exploring several funding models at present.
Our preference is for this to be a free service for all schools and organisations to access.
A Pilot Study will be undertaken in early 2025 with the School Of Solutions in Swindon, Wilts.
A wider research project will follow, in partnership with The Park Academies Trust and with Oxford Brookes.
Resources will be made available online to provide open access. In combination with the video and data feeds from Space To Learn, we hope to empower many others to achieve beneficial outcomes which are both educational and therapeutic.
Outcomes:
Online: free resources for teachers and youth leaders to download which provide highly engaging STEM learning opportunities that are anchored in personal wellbeing and natural world-based therapeutics.
A new mental-health assessment tool developed in conjunction with Oxford Brookes University which provides a quick and effective insight into a young persons underlying wellness and readiness to engage.
Guidance for teachers towards the creation of their own STEM experiments, taking as a starting point experiments that are already in operation, and that can be recreated.
A set of ready-to-deploy activities which help young people to engage with the outdoors by involving remote sensing and innovative remote engagement systems.
The Booth
Design updates to follow. At the moment an inflatable cube is under active consideration, however a foldable wooden structure has merit too. It will need to be easily transportable and relatively inexpensive so that others could build a booth of their own, should they wish to.
Friends and Associates
Many people are in support of this endeavour. Their help and guidance is a vital part of delivering on the full potential of the concept and embedding collaboration into the project from the outset.
We will be creating a list of some key individuals and organisations on this page in due course.
If you would like to become involved, please contact us using the email address listed above.
Closing Thoughts
It is my sincere hope that the beauty and tranquillity of the Mourne Mountains can inspire young people nationwide to overcome every disadvantage, and to benefit from what can be found outside.
Although the woodland of Mourne Park is the first to feature in this way, any suitable woodland could offer the same.
My friendship with the Woodland Trust, as well as local wildlife agencies, has revealed to me a growing eagerness to provide resources and equipment to schools.
This project could be a focus for that kind of outreach, with shared expertise leading to portals up and down the land, all feeding into schools. We cannot realistically transport the people who need it most, to the places that would most benefit them.
This endeavour, with the associated monitoring of wellbeing and easily-delivered resources in place, could prove to be an ideal catalyst for opening up small taster areas of woodland from across the UK. Bonds could form between schools and places of natural beauty that exist despite the geographical distances involved.
As a concept, this inside-out approach could draw on both the natural world and the world of technology to engage and bring calmness to a generation for whom that harmony is needed now more than ever.
