1.  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  1.1  While the V&A Museum of Childhood is not technically classified as a science or discovery centre, we do support the science and design & technology curricula through a programme of exhibitions, teaching sessions, hands-on interactives, online resources and events.

  1.2  From our experience, many primary school teachers feel ill-prepared at teaching science and design & technology due to a lack of training and/or familiarity with the subject. Visits to science museums and discovery centres are useful in supporting the introduction of science to younger audiences.

  1.3  The informal learning environments that science museums and discovery centres offer schools, families and young people can play a significant role in improving the public's attitude towards and interest in science. The playful nature of hands-on learning has the potential of demystifying science.

  1.4  The "hands-on" interpretative approach embraced by science and discovery centres supports the kinesthetic learning needs of younger children, particularly children for whom English is a second language and those with special learning needs.

  1.5  One challenge science museums and discovery centres face is converting "hands-on" activity into a "minds-on" learning experience. This often requires the intervention of a scientist or educator to ensure information is being grasped properly, which has budget implications.

  1.6  Secondary school teachers feel less threatened by science and design & technology as they tend to be subject specialists themselves. Science centres may be more valuable to them by providing research opportunities, access to specialists, and opportunities for project work.

  1.7  There is a growing need for experienced, freelance "science educators".

  1.8  Funding bodies like PPARC, the Institute of Physics and Copus are very open to proposals from non-traditional science venues with regard to promoting the public understanding of science. The application process is straightforward and the response time is reasonably quick.

  1.9  From our experience, private sector companies are not as forthcoming with sponsorship support for science education projects.

2.  INTRODUCTION

  2.1  The V&A Museum of Childhood is a branch of the Victoria & Albert Museum and opened to the public in 1872 under the jurisdiction of the Department of Science and Art. Today, the Museum holds the nation's finest public childhood collections, comprising: toys; games; dolls; dolls' houses; puppets; and children's clothing and furniture. It is housed in a Grade II listed building in Tower Hamlets, which borders Hackney and Newham. These three London boroughs are three of the UK's six most ethnically-diverse boroughs and also three of its poorest. The Museum is seen as an important contributor to the economic and social regeneration of its area and is named in Tower Hamlets' Regeneration Strategy as a "Key Destination Gateway".

  2.2  The Museum is free and has over 300,000 visitors each year. 60% of visitors are under 16 years old and almost one third of visitors come in school parties, the majority of these at Key Stage 1 age (5-7 years old). Alongside the permanent collections, the Museum presents a series of temporary exhibitions each year, and a number of smaller displays which focus primarily on the design and development of commercially-made childhood products.

3.  THE MUSEUM OF CHILDHOOD'S ROLE IN THE PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

  3.1  To support the learning needs of our young audience, we combine the "hands-on" learning approach used in science and discovery centres with traditional, object-focused displays favoured by museums and galleries. In this sense, we embrace a "hybrid" approach to our gallery interpretation which is evident in our abundant use of interactives, trails and staff-led activities. In this, we share many of the same concerns as science and discovery centres (eg health and safety, maintenance, sustainability, etc).

  3.2  As the Museum's core audience is made up of young families and primary school children, we feel the best way we can support science education is by focusing on the introduction the basic scientific concepts (eg forces, movement, materials and mechanisms) in our displays, events and educational programmes.

  3.3  With no permanent scientist on staff, we must rely on science consultants when developing resources. While this works well for short term, or one-off projects (eg temporary exhibition), it does not permit for the development of in-house expertise, or long-term research within the Museum. We see fully-fledged science centres as being more "in-depth".

  3.4  In 2003, the Museum embarked on a re-development programme which included the re-display of our moving and optical toys collection. Consultation with local teachers (Reception, KS1, KS2 and special needs) indicated that many primary school teachers feel ill-equipped to teach science or design & technology subjects (as opposed to secondary school teachers who specialise in these subjects). Increasingly, primary school teachers rely on visits to science museums and discovery centres to enhance and (at times) replace their classroom teaching. The informal learning environment that museums and science and discovery centres offer can make learning fun while removing the fear or stigma of certain subjects (eg science). The hands-on approach used by these institutions support the kinesthetic learning needs of younger pupils, especially those for whom English is a second language.

  3.5  Influenced by this consultation exercise and other evaluation, we themed the new Moving Toys gallery on the KS2 science and design & technology curricula. Objects are grouped together according to the "forces" and "mechanisms" and on-site learning is supported by the use of hand-on interactives, and the Copus-funded Interactive Moving Toys Project, which demonstrates the scientific principles of moving toys through four public touch screen computer terminals. This is also accessible via the Museum's website www.vam.ac.uk/moc/collections/toys/moving_toys/index.html

  3.6  The Museum also offers a Schools' Programme for Reception, KS1 and KS2 which services over 48,000 children annually. As part of the Schools' Programme, we offer three educator-led sessions which support the science and design & technology curricula—Pop Ups and Puppets (KS1); Moving Toys (KS1 and KS2) and Toys that Fool your Eyes (KS2).

  3.7  The Museum also hosts a changing programme of temporary exhibitions which cover a wide range of subjects including D&T and science. Temporary exhibitions include: "On Your Marks"—a sports-based exhibition which tested physical strength, skill and fitness developed by the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum; "Saving our Energy"— a display of children's artwork promoting energy efficiency organised by the East London Energy Efficiency Advice Centre; "Uncaged"—an interactive exhibition that linked computer animations and video images to automated sculpture by artist "Ralf Nuhn"; and "Feel the Force"—a hands-on, science-based display developed by Science Projects.

  3.8  In our role as a national museum, we develop touring exhibitions which travel to museums and galleries across the UK. The touring exhibition scheduled for 2007-09 is entitled "Space Age: Exploration, design and popular culture" which looks at people's fascination with space and its influence on design and popular culture. It will showcase a combination of objects including real artefacts from space exploration, space-inspired fashion, toys and items from popular culture. Assisting us with the development of the exhibition is a "Scientist-in-Residence" funded by PPARC. Online learning resources and a space-related teaching session are being organised to support the exhibition, along with a series of family events (eg planetarium shows, popular science talks, rocket making workshops, etc) supported by the Institute of Physics. After its launch at the Museum of Childhood, the exhibition travels to Weston Park Museum (Sheffield), the City Arts Centure (Edinburgh), City and Art Gallery (Plym0uth), the Bradford One Gallery and New Walk Museum (Leicester).

4.  FUNDING

  4.1  As a national Museum, the V&A Museum of Childhood receives most of its budget from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. These funds are used to support the Museum's "core" work (eg collections care, a basic public programme, operational costs, building maintenance). Additional projects are funded through income generation, sponsorship and grants from external trusts and businesses.

  4.2  When fundraising for smaller-scale science-related projects, the Museum has been successful at securing grants from PPARC, the Institute of Physics and COPUS. Unsuccessful applications have been made to Futurelab and ReDiscover. From our experience, these organisations have welcomed applications from "non-scientific" organisations for projects that focus on engaging children and young people in the public understanding of science.

  4.3  We have had less success in securing sponsorship from private companies owing to the competition for funds and the scale of the proposed projects.

5.  RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ACTION

  5.1  Science centres and science-related organisations should be seen as maintream educators and funded accordingly.

  5.2  More training opportunities are needed for primary school teachers and other educators.

  5.3  University students studying a science-related discipline should be encouraged to develop skills in science education.

  5.4  Programmes that encourage long-term partnerships between science organisations (universities, etc) and primary and secondary schools may help improve the quality of science education for younger children.

  5.5  Partnerships between science organisations and museums and galleries may uncover new ways to link science with arts and heritage.

  5.6  While there is ample funding from bodies like PPARC and COPUS to support smaller scale projects that promote the public understanding of science, private sector companies should be given more incentive to financially contribute towards science education.

June 2007