1.  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

  Eureka! The Museum for Children is located in Halifax, West Yorkshire. The museum is based on the North American model of children's museums with a focus on play-based learning and providing inspirational informal learning experiences for children and young people. The Museum for Children was formally constituted as a registered charity—number 292758—in 1985 and opened to the public in July 1992 at a cost of £8.5 million, making it Britain's first "national children's museum".

  Eureka!'s mission statement is "to engage all children from birth to 10 years in a range of play-based learning experiences which facilitate their creative, intellectual, physical, social and emotional development". With this broad remit, Eureka! is able to deliver educational programmes covering a wide range of subjects, including the environment; sport and well-being; and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

  Eureka! is recognised around the world as one of the best examples of a "discovery centre" by peers in the sector. The museum Director Leigh-Anne Stradeski's roles as President of the European Association of Children's Museums, Hands-On! Europe, and a member of the Advisory Panel of the National Children's Museum in Washington DC reflects this status. On a more local level, a visit to Eureka! is regarded as a vital element of the academic year by many teachers across the North of England and beyond.

  Eureka! remains an independent charitable organisation and receives no regular financial support from either central or local government. It is self-financing through admissions, including Gift Aid, and a number of trading subsidiaries.

2.  BACKGROUND AND HISTORY

  Eureka! The Museum for Children opened its doors to the public in 1992 as the UK's first "national children's museum". In 2007 the museum will be celebrating 15 years of providing stimulating, thought-provoking and relevant educational experiences to over 4.5 million visitors from across the British Isles and beyond. While many regard Eureka! as relative newcomer to the sector, the concept is over 25 years old and was influenced by the US model of children's museums, which itself has a heritage dating back to the late 19th century.

—  Eureka! was opened by its then Patron, Prince Charles, in July 1992 and received over 400,000 visitors in its first year of business.

—  Eureka!'s audience falls into two groups; the first and largest segment is made up of people visiting as part of a family group. This represents approximately 75% of visitors. The remaining 25% are children and accompanying adults visiting the museum as part of a pre-booked group, primarily schools.

—  These different audiences use Eureka! in a variety of ways; families visit Eureka! as a day out, albeit one with a strong educational theme. These visits are largely unstructured and self-directed. Pre-booked groups generally receive a far more structured experience, often including an "Enabler" led workshop and related activities throughout the museum's hands-on galleries.

—  Eureka! has a over 3,000 family members who pay an annual fee for unlimited entrance to the museum throughout the duration of their membership. Members often use Eureka! as a community educational resource, making shorter but more frequent visits.

3.  CONTENT

(a)  Gallery-based learning

  Eureka! has developed its own unique approach to hands-on learning during its fifteen year lifespan. However, the foundations that lie at the basis of this model are those shared by many children's museums and discovery centres around the world:

(i)  children's museums are custodians of learning;

(ii)  the focus of a children's museum is to present information to its target audience so that they acquire pleasure in learning;

(iii)  galleries are created by adults for children using a creative process that involves children at every stage;

(iv)  a children's museum is non-elitist, providing learning experiences that are accessible to people with disabilities and from all backgrounds; and

(v)  children's museums provide a "hub" for all those concerned with children and their future, whether parents, teachers, carers, government and industrialists.

  Eureka!'s galleries are informed by the constructivist educational theories of Jean Piaget, Lev Vygotsky, Jerome Bruner, John Dewey and other developmental psychologists. These have at their core the principle that children are active learners; that children "acquire knowledge by actively exploring the world around them—choosing, exploring, manipulating, practising, transforming and experimenting".

  Eureka!'s content is underpinned by the philosophy that learning occurs as the result of direct interaction with the environment in which a child finds itself. For this reason, Eureka! has endeavoured to create a range of contextualised learning experiences that differ from traditional stand alone science centre exhibits. Eureka!'s galleries, therefore, are characterised by a theme and often contain a strong narrative and central character that guides the learner through the experience.

  Eureka! is made up of six large interactive galleries comprising over 400 exhibits, games and challenges. Two of these are galleries designed specifically for children under five years, enabling Eureka! to deliver a unique learning journey that supports young learners from birth, during primary school and through to the transition to secondary education. Our galleries are:

—  Me & My Body—children are welcomed by Scoot the Robot who encourages them to pick up a passport and find out more about themselves by using the exhibits to explore how the body works. Me & My Body is one of only two galleries dating from when the museum was created in 1992 and remains the most popular with children and teachers.

—  Living and Working Together—a gallery where the learning outcomes are realised through role play. Living and Working Together is based around a realistic Town Square environment where children can undertake tasks to help them understand the mysteries of everyday adult life. While elements have been updated—for example, the Marks and Spencer store has been refurbished in 2007—the concept of this gallery is unchanged since 1992.

—  Our Global Garden—Europe's first fully interactive environmental education gallery for children and Eureka!'s first new gallery for a decade. Gordon the Gnome invites children to follow a journey from the familiar backyard to amazing gardens around the world. The seven "gardens" —representing different eco-systems—tell their own unique stories whilst emphasising the inter-relationships between them. Our Global Garden was opened in 2002 to mark Eureka!'s tenth anniversary.

—  Desert Discovery—opened in 2004 as the UK's first hands on gallery designed specifically for children from birth to five years. Based in a fantastic desert setting, Desert Discovery complements Our Global Garden with opportunities for children to explore the natural world, learn about the concepts of day and night and engage in role play activities that help develop social and communication skills.

—  SoundSpace—a unique immersive learning experience which explores Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths through the media of music, light, sound and performance. Orby from the planet Zid—a planet where music does not exist—recruits Eureka!'s young visitors to help her learn more about this "alien concept". Children explore the physical properties of sound by feeling vibrations, investigating how other animals hear and by creating their own musical sequences. Throughout the gallery SoundSpace aims to enhance understanding of STEM by exploring the relationships that exist between music, creativity, science and the arts in an inspirational and accessible setting. SoundSpace opened in 2004 and was funded by Yorkshire's regional development agency and NESTA.

—  SoundGarden—a pioneering hands-on learning experience which provides a bright, colourful and stimulating introduction to the science of the natural world for under fives. STEM subjects are interwoven into the various exhibits to create an environment that supports curiosity, wonder and puzzlement for very young children. SoundGarden was opened in 2005 with support from the ReDiscover fund and Yorkshire Forward.

(b)  Workshops

  In addition to Eureka!'s six permanent galleries, the museum's team of education specialists delivers a programme of interactive workshops designed to provide more in depth learning focussing on a range of curriculum themes. These workshops are researched thoroughly to ensure that the educational outcomes support Foundation, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 learning. This makes Eureka! a very popular destination for primary and pre-school visits for schools across the north of England.

(i)  For schools and groups

  Eureka!'s education team provide teachers and group leaders with structured itineraries, staff support, teaching resources and worksheets, as well as running scheduled evening and weekend preview sessions which allow teachers to meet the team and prepare their group for the visit so it becomes a central feature of their study of a particular curriculum theme. Workshops for schools and groups fall broadly into two categories—drama-based interactive workshops and "Creative Journeys".

—  Creative Journeys—designed to extend learning within a Eureka! gallery by providing pre, on site and post visit activities which enable children to explore a subject in greater depth. Capturing children's natural skills of exploration, investigation and experimentation, these sessions help develop greater levels of understanding of key curriculum concepts. Teachers are able to book multiple visits for year groups 1 to 6 during the academic year which enhance and extend topic curriculum cycles and embed learning in a fun and memorable way.

—  Splash—designed to explore the science of the water cycle in a fun and stimulating way, participants learn how to create a tornado in a bottle, make a lava lamp and see a bubble big enough to fit a person inside. Splash was delivered as part of Eureka!'s contribution to National Science Week 2007.

—  Brownie Space Challenge—Eureka! has also devised and delivered specialist workshops for other groups. The Brownie Space Challenge was created to help Brownies gain their "Stargazer" badge and was delivered to over 1,000 participants.

(ii)  For Families

  Eureka! runs a programme of activities targeted at families, including specially adapted versions of workshops that are bookable on arrival at the museum, theatre-based sessions from visiting performers, and "Science Buskers"—mobile science shows teaching children simple experiments using everyday household items.

(c)  Outreach

  Eureka! has undertaken a number of projects that have taken the museum's play-based learning model to a wider audience.

(i)  Travelling Exhibitions

—  Explore The Eureka! Moment (2004)—a modular travelling exhibition about the science behind innovation and creativity. After residencies at museums and galleries in Yorkshire the exhibition was hosted by the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. Explore the Eureka! Moment was created as part of the Yorkshire region Creative Minds project.

—  Mission: Active Future (2006)—a full size mobile exhibition on board a customised articulated lorry designed to inspire children and young people about the importance of physical activity and explore issues surrounding the science of sport and wellbeing. Lead funding came from the Sport England Active England programme. In February 2006, Lord Sebastian Coe visited Mission: Active Future, describing it as "one of the most interesting and exciting projects that I have seen in the last 10 years ..."

(ii)  Outreach Workshops

—  First Steps—an innovative workshop exploring the environment, sustainability and citizenship that was developed to extend the curriculum themes explored in the Our Global Garden Gallery. The project was funded by Yorkshire Bank and was delivered at a range of school and community settings during 2002 and 2003.

—  Northern Outreach—Eureka! is part of a consortium, along with Centre for Life in Newcastle and the Museum of Science and Industry Manchester, assembled to deliver a programme of science education outreach targeting areas of rural isolation in the North of England. Between June 2007 and February 2008 each member of the consortium will take an interactive science show to 50 schools in the North of England that have difficulty in accessing STEM educational activities. Each show, besides covering an element of the curriculum, will aim to motivate audiences in seeing that science is a relevant and accessible subject to study. Northern Outreach is being supported by Ecsite.

4.  CURRICULUM LINKS

  All of Eureka!'s galleries and educational programmes are developed to provide both a fun and stimulating experience and to support measurable curriculum-based learning goals. Teachers are provided with gallery "topic trails" containing activities that can be used to directly contribute to children's learning of key curriculum themes. For example:

"Me and My Body" Topic Trails—elements support Key Stage 2 science curriculum:

—  QCA unit 3a—teeth and eating.

—  QCA unit 4a—moving and growing.

"Our Global Garden" Topic Trails—elements support KS2 science curriculum:

—  QCA unit 4b—habitats.

—  QCA unit 6a—interdependence and adaptation.

"Living and Working Together" Topic Trails elements support:

—  Design and Technology QCA Unit 4—alarms.

—  Science QCA Unit 6b—micro-organisms.

"SoundSpace" Topic Trails—elements support Key Stage 2 science curriculum:

—  QCA Unit 5f—Changing Sounds.

  Direct curriculum links can be found throughout the museum and Eureka!'s education team constantly monitor curriculum developments and consult with teachers to ensure that a visit to Eureka! supports and enhances classroom-based learning.

5.  IMPACT

  The impact of learning in museums—and more specifically children's museums—is notoriously difficult to measure. However, while there is an absence of hard empirical evidence attesting to Eureka!'s impact, anecdotal evidence demonstrates that, since opening in 1992, the museum has had a profound effect on schools and family learning experiences. Indeed, the second generation of "Eureka! Children" is now having its learning enriched through visits to the museum, with some of the first wave of Eureka! visitors now bringing their own children. Eureka! is an established landmark in the educational landscape of the North of England, acting as a conduit between play-based learning and formal education.

  Eureka! has also had an impact at a strategic level through its contribution to regional and national governmental agendas, including the drive to increase participation in sport and physical activity, and the Regional Development Agency for Yorkshire's STEM agenda. These partnership projects demonstrate how Eureka!'s unique model of play-based learning can be adapted to support a wide range of social policy agendas and can make a real contribution to the long-term improvement of children's quality of life in the UK. While it is possible to determine the level of enjoyment and some of the short-term learning goals, the long-term effectiveness of this approach to social issues cannot yet be gauged. It is hoped that this knowledge gap will be closed when the outcomes of a number of major research projects carried out by northern universities in collaboration with Eureka! are published.

—  In 2002 Eureka! was designated as the lead partner in the £3.8 million "Creative Minds" project funded by Yorkshire Forward in partnership with Yorkshire Museums, Libraries and Archives Council. The short-term goal was to increase educational attainment in STEM throughout the region by equipping museum venues to deliver exciting hands-on science activities. The longer term objective was to address the shortage of students pursuing careers in science and technology by demonstrating to children and young people that science is fun and engaging.

—  Elements of "Creative Minds" have been used as a model for the development of national initiatives. Highlights included the SoundSpace and SoundGarden galleries and number of other services and initiatives including a science club pack used by over 2,000 children and a programme of training and support for museum and gallery venues.

—  In 2005, a report by Hoshin—a consultancy assessing the impact of the Creative Minds project on behalf of Yorkshire Forward—said "Both these galleries (SoundSpace and Explore the Eureka! Moment) promote creativity and enterprise through exploration of the STEM subjects, further serving to incite curiosity and imagination about the world amongst children who engage in the experience". The same report identified Eureka! as a Centre of Excellence in STEM and for the dissemination of good practice.

—  Impact has been made through partnerships with LEAs with Eureka! running projects to engage specific groups, eg Linking Schools Project for Education Bradford, supporting PE teacher's CPD for Education Bradford through Mission: Active Future.

—  In 2005 Eureka! was awarded a grant through Sport England's Active England programme—created to support the government's "Game Plan" agenda—with the objective to increase participation in sport and physical activity among children and young people living in the Yorkshire and Humber region. Eureka! created the Mission: Active Future touring exhibition as an innovative tool for engaging traditionally hard to reach groups.

—  Between January 2006 and July 2007, Mission: Active Future will have reached over 10,000 children across Yorkshire.

—  Eureka! is also developing a number of projects that will directly support the play agenda, Every Child Matters, Family Learning and Special Educational needs.

—  Eureka! consistently works with agendas drawn up by Museums Libraries and Archives' governing body, eg Inspiring Learning for All, the sector's vision for accessible and effective learning in museum venues.

CONCLUSION

  In the 15 years since its opening Eureka! has helped to create a culture of questioning within children who benefit from the museum's galleries or workshops. Feedback from teachers, parents and carers consistently shows how visits inspire curiosity, imagination and problem-solving skills, with children having the confidence to ask specific questions as well as the "what, why and how?" of every day life. By empowering children in this way the Eureka! experience has a vital role to play in improving educational attainment in the classroom and increasing children's expectations from learning. Simultaneously, Eureka! demonstrates that play-based learning can be a potent tool in tackling social issues which affect children's lives and that children's museums can be an effective partner in delivering a range of social and educational objectives.

June 2007