Monday

Looking up at the beautiful night sky and viewing the exquisite astronomical images from professional telescopes captures the imagination of people around the world and can inspire children to pursue STEM careers. Furthermore, immersive astronomy shows are popular features in planetariums, utilising full-dome imagery and movies with stunning resolution can engager with wider public with astronomy. However, such wonderful experiences can be little-to-non-existent for people who are blind or vision impaired (BVI) and can contribute to the lack of visually impaired people working in astronomy, and in science in general. Here I will give an overview of a suite of new and in-development educational tools and outreach resources that aim to be accessible to BVI audiences by using sound, rather than visuals, that are being developed around the world. These include: a sound-based planetarium show (that I am leading); interactive learning Apps aimed at primary school children; and sound-based image analysis software aimed for older students. Along with tactile resources these can off a multi-sensory learning experience that have the potential to be engaging for all audiences. As part of this it would be extremely valuable to have feedback from educators and students on how these resources might be implemented in the classroom, whether they appear to be fit for purpose or whether they do not yet meet the necessary requirements.