1.  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  Snibston Discovery Park aims to fulfil the following key roles in terms of its engagement with the public on themes of science and technology by:

—  Encouraging visitors of all ages to think about the role that science and technology plays in their every day lives.

—  Stimulating discussions about the importance of science, innovation and technologies whilst highlighting both the benefits and threats science and technology can bring.

—  Supporting science and technology learning among schools and young people in general, and developing links with further and higher education institutions and industries to encourage career take up and research and development.

2.  BACKGROUND

  27 June 2007 marks the 15th anniversary of the opening of Snibston Discovery Park. Built on the site of a former colliery, Snibston encompasses a museum of science, technology and design, a scheduled ancient monument embodied in the colliery buildings, a restored historic railway and a country park on part of the reclaimed site.

  Snibston colliery was created by the famous engineers George and Robert Stephenson, and produced coal continuously between 1833 and 1983. The Discovery Park continues the tradition of innovative technology and engagement with people started by the Stephensons, through the galleries, collections and interpretative techniques.

  We are embarking on a major programme of redevelopment that will focus on the theme "Technologies changes lives" and explore global stories such as renewable energies, innovation, food and farming, health and medicine etc and making the links to every day lives as a means of engaging our diverse audiences.

3.  PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

  Visitors choose to visit Snibston Discovery Park and other science and technology centres and museums. The reason they choose Snibston over, for example, a theme park, is the perception that a visit to Snibston will provide an educational, as well as entertaining experience. This perception is often vague and ill defined, but is almost always present as a motivating factor. They expect an experience they cannot easily replicate elsewhere, for example, by reading or watching television.

  The key desires that motivate a visit can be summarised as follows:

—  A desire for a participatory experience.

—  A desire to experience a type of environment that is different to their everyday lives but which has relevance.

—  A social experience which can be shared across generations.

—  An inspirational experience—"the wow factor".

—  A desire to gain new insights and knowledge that they can take away with them.

—  An experience that is genuinely fun and memorable.

—  An experience they can control.

  Snibston, along with most other such centres, is exceptionally good at providing visits that fully meet such motivations. Our galleries are characterised by:

—  Extensive use of interactive exhibits.

—  Building and exhibition areas that are both inspiring and media rich.

—  Design features that appeal to both young and old visitors.

—  Non-linear lay out that encourages exploration.

—  Themed play areas.

  Engaging the public through science and technology centres/ museums is not new, but the nature of that engagement is changing. Such centres are moving towards a targeted form of engagement that focuses on specific and measurable outcomes. At Snibston we consciously aim to deliver experiences that have particular significance and demonstrable benefits to visitors and society. We aim to show:

—  The role of science and technology in everyday life.

—  Our increasing reliance and dependence on science and technology.

—  How individuals and groups can influence the development of science and technology.

—  The role of creativity and innovation in the development of science and technology.

—  How technologies interact with one another.

—  The global nature of scientific discovery and technological development.

—  The complex interplay between science, technology and environment.

—  The role of individual creativity in advancing science and technology.

  Our approach draws on our collections and historical artefacts to demonstrate how technology has shaped the lives of people in the past and how past societies have, in turn, shaped scientific and technological advancement. Historic analogies help visitors in their understanding of these processes in relation to contemporary society.

  The emphasis is firmly on promoting insight, inspiration, a desire to learn in our visitors and encouraging visitors to apply these insights to their understanding of their own lives and place in society.

  Centres such as Snibston have a major, unique and growing role in engaging visitors to think seriously about the impact of science and technology on the world around them; inspiring individuals to become involved in science learning and to realise the breadth of careers and opportunities related to science and technology. Examples of this are related in the two cases studies below.

Snibston Case Study—Extra Ordinary!

  The new Extra Ordinary! gallery looks at various aspects of technology present in our daily lives and some of the technologies that also lie behind our day to day existence. The general thrust is to awaken visitors to the level and sophistication of everyday technology. It challenges visitors to think about an area of their lives they often take for granted and seldom question. The gallery is predominately interactive based with supporting common artefacts to reinforce the main messages. In developing the gallery we very consciously looked to include eye-catching interactives in order to promote a high level of engagement and visitor participation. In essence the gallery uses interactives to convey the impact of the technologies examined rather than to overtly explain those technologies in great depth. Finally a facility for visitors to comment on the importance of technology was included as were feedback cards based on specific scientific and technological issues. The gallery was funded through the Rediscover funding stream.

Snibston Case Study—Science Clubs

  Snibston has successfully run Saturday Science Clubs for a number of years attracting a great many youngsters in the 8-13 age bracket. When we offer the clubs they are almost always heavily oversubscribed. In 2004 in preparation for the Extra Ordinary! gallery we conducted an extended series of conversations with a small group of the children. We discovered that the reason most attended was partly the social element and partly the hands-on nature of the activities offered. In a real sense, as a motivating factor, the `science' was secondary although there was with most of them an underlying but very generalised interest in things scientific. For instance, they were not particularly interested in how their bikes worked but did want to know how you could devise ways of making it faster. Firstly, we found that to get them to look at the science the method of engagement was absolutely crucial and secondly this engagement really had to be through their own interests, which often on the face of it had little to do with science.

4.  SUPPORT FOR FORMAL LEARNING

  Around a quarter of visits to Snibston are from school children. The formal educational goal of Snibston is twofold:

—  To complement and support the teaching of science in schools.

—  To inspire and spark an interest in science among visiting students.

  We offer a unique resource that extends and builds on the teaching in the classroom and which can reinforce, in an often spectacular way, the teaching points made at school. We are clear in our objective not to replicate the classroom.

  For example, at Snibston, students can lift an actual car with a manual hoist and a large electromagnet and drop it from a height. This interactive exhibit characterises our over arching approach to supporting learning, and can be summarised as follows:

—  Lifting the car reinforces the learning on levers, pulleys and electromagnetism delivered in school. It does not attempt to replace that learning.

—  The interactive offers the children a memorable experience that fixes the learning already provided by schools.

—  It is physical, fun and challenging to pupils in a way that is quite different from school, and which, can engage children who otherwise might be more reticent or circumspect in the classroom.

—  It is of a scale which is spectacular and inspirational.

—  It provides a resource that an individual school would be unable to.

  Through the use of interactive exhibits, Snibston and other centres provide relaxed and varied learning environments for a broad range of students with broad learning preferences. Science and technology centres/museums:

—  Offer a bank of expertise among their staff that can support teachers through investigation and enquiry.

—  Foster thinking skills and problem solving, integral to current guidelines.

—  Offer physical examples of individual ingenuity and innovation through collections and artefacts.

  All of the above contribute to the achievement of Snibston's goal of inspiring children as individuals to take an interest in science learning. By encouraging children to regard science as fun and memorable, science and technology centres actively assist children at all stages in their school careers to stay engaged with science. By making the themes and displays in these centres, and Snibston in particular, much more relevant to pupils' own lives, they can start to see how their own involvement in science and technology can contribute to improving the world around them.

Curriculum relevance and the view from schools

  Science centres have, more than ever, a key role to play in the engagement of students in learning. With the emphasis of the new Key Stage 4 curricula and the development of the Key Stage 3 curricula, teaching and learning demands that students have a much broader understanding of the role of science in society, and in particular the role that scientists play within this. The learning that they offer is audience driven and research with teachers shows that centres such as Snibston can:

—  Offer opportunities for debate and investigation into the moral and financial issues that surround science and technological innovation.

—  Use historical examples and interactive exhibits to allow students to develop a broad understanding of the role of scientists and the processes involved in innovation.

—  Offer collaboration with local organisations, both academic and industrial, allowing students to see "Science in Action", to interact with the innovators of the day and understand that they, themselves, can be the innovators of the future.

—  Offer all students including disaffected students a vision of their potential role in society, as Scientists and Technologists of the future.

—  Allow students to discover and learn at their own pace, a situation that is not always possible in a classroom.

—  Relieve budgetary and time constraints on teachers by providing alternative learning packages providing high impact—low time learning.

  We are often told by teachers that pupils who perform poorly in the classroom can become more focused and engaged when they come to Snibston. For these children such a visit can rekindle or develop an enthusiasm for learning that was previously lacking, essential in times of dwindling interest in science education post 16.

5.  EVOLVING PARTNERSHIPS

  As Snibston and other science centres are becoming more targeted and clear in their roles in terms of engagement and support for formal education, universities and industry in general are becoming more and more concerned about attracting young people into higher education and into careers in science and engineering. In part this is due to the perception of science as a difficult and distant subject by young people in particular. Many young people regard science and scientists as somewhat dry, uninspiring and removed from real life. As a consequence, they do not readily identify with science as a fulfilling and creative career choice.

  There is a growing understanding among university and industry bodies of the need to influence young people early enough in their school careers to choose paths that could lead to appropriate higher qualifications in science and engineering.

  Science and technology centres have an important role in assisting this process. By working with universities, schools and partners, they can offer an exciting environment to reach potential scientists of the future. These types of partnerships are being actively developed to provide activities for KS3 and KS4, linked to current research and development. Snibston is:

—  Collaborating with Loughborough University Science and Maths faculties to deliver workshops in-house. These sessions act as taster sessions to the university in the fun and exciting learning environment of the learning and science centre.

—  Embarking on a programme to forge ever closer links with selected schools and colleges in the catchment. The choice of schools will, in part, be based on priorities identified through School Improvement Teams.

—  Exploring opportunities for developing approaches for Gifted and Talented students.

  These relationships will ensure that Snibston Discovery Park continues to play a valued part in a co-ordinated approach to retaining students in science and science related subjects.

6.  INCREASING CONSULTATION AND INFORMED DEVELOPMENT

  Science centres are much more responsive to audience need than at any time in the past. Snibston is:

—  Developing stakeholder focus groups, including teacher groups, to inform all new developments.

—  Working toward systematically collecting information on the quality and extent of learning delivered to its users.

—  Applying the Generic Learning Outcome framework developed by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council.

  Science centres are therefore either in, or soon to be in, a much better position to measure the impact of their endeavours in delivering their engagement targets and agendas.

7.  FUNDING ISSUES

  There are a range of funding issues which in summary include:

—  Capital works—science centres are by their nature expensive to develop. The current estimate used by design teams in fitting out new galleries is around £2,000-£2,500 per square metre.

—  Refurbishment is a major undertaking and funding bids can be lengthy and involved.

—  There is a tendency to go for large funding bids to include a number of galleries within a single project as it is perceived to be labour and resource intensive.

—  There is an argument for an additional simple funding stream that provides for modest refurbishments of single galleries in the way that recent the "Rediscover" funding initiative demonstrated.

8.  REVENUE ISSUES

  There are many ongoing revenue costs, especially the maintenance of interactive exhibits:

—  The nature of science centres demands that they need to keep up with development within science and technology. Funding of new displays and interactive exhibits requires on-going funding.

—  Science centres require dedicated and long term Education Staff. Snibston's provision is funded through The Museums, Libraries and Archive Council's Renaissance in the Region funding stream.

—  Partnerships with schools, colleges and universities can result in imaginative and innovative and targeted activities that ensure student retention in science but they require development and operational funding.

—  Non-statutory services subsidised by local authorities are always vulnerable to budget cuts despite their local, regional and national reach.

June 2007