Written evidence submitted by Aberdeen Science Centre (formerly Satrosphere Science Centre) (COM0008)

Executive Summary

Aberdeen Science Centre is Scotland’s first science and discovery centre and serves as a permanent hub for public engagement with science.  The Science Centre provides a welcoming informal environment that promotes curiosity and encourages exploration and discovery of the relevance and importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to our lives and the world in which we live. 

Audience Engagement

Aberdeen Science Centre aims to be an important and valuable educational resource for the whole community where people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities can come and engage with STEM and be enthused and inspired.  Throughout the period April 2015 – March 2016, Aberdeen Science Centre engaged with:

• 51,885 visitors in total (including 232 child and adult Aberdeen Science Centre STEM Passport holders);
• 7,921 school children (nursery, primary and secondary level);
• 1717 teachers and research scientists participating in professional development days;
• 1,405 visitors through community projects;
• approximately 8,000 people through outreach activities.

Programmes and Activities

Aberdeen Science Centre provides stimulating and inspiring STEM learning opportunities and experiences for education and community groups and public audiences that encourage active involvement in learning with hands-on exhibits, investigative workshops, exciting shows and demonstrations, topical discussion sessions and interactive Meet the Expert events.  Highlights from the period April 2015 – March 2016 include:

• Facilitating a varied, relevant and engaging programme of activities and events for a range of audiences;
• Hosting a range of temporary exhibitions, including the CERN Large Hadron Collider exhibition, Fossils and Funny Bones and the Wellcome Image Awards, and facilitating complementary activities and events; 
• Participation in projects such as Energy4Me, Explore Your Universe (coordinated by ASDC), Destination Space (coordinated by ASDC), International Year of Light 2015, European Researchers’ Night, Aberdeen Schools Hydrogen Challenge and the S6 Science Ambassador and P7 Science Champions schemes in Aberdeen;
• Facilitating professional development opportunities for teachers including twilight and inservice day sessions and a STEM summer school for primary teachers plus delivering sessions at Offshore Europe 2015, Aberdeen Learning Festival 2016 and the Association for Science Education annual conference 2016;
• Hosting a range of public Meet the Expert events with partners from industry, academia and other agencies and organisations such as the Aberdeen Astronomical Society and NHS Grampian.

Supporting Local and National Initiatives and Priorities

By (i) inspiring learners and encouraging life-long learning and enthusiasm for STEM, (ii) enhancing STEM learning and teaching in schools and providing teachers with practical support and development opportunities and (iii) showcasing contemporary STEM and helping researchers to engage with the public, the opportunities and experiences available at Aberdeen Science Centre are supporting:

• The Scottish Government’s strategic objectives for science engagement;
• The Scottish Government to deliver selected relevant key messages and top level outcomes as outlined in the National Performance Framework;
• The report “Supporting Scotland’s STEM Education and Culture” produced by the Science and Engineering Education Advisory Group (SEEAG, 28th February 2012);
• The Curriculum for Excellence Experiences, Outcomes, Capacities and Principles;
• Aberdeen City schools participating in the Primary Science Quality Mark Scheme.

Aberdeen Science Centre – Encouraging and Facilitating Public Awareness of and Engagement in Science

1.              Aberdeen Science Centre is a not-for-profit organisation whose ambitious and dedicated Team aims to provide:

• An important and valuable educational resource for the whole community where people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities can come and engage with STEM and be enthused and inspired.
• STEM learning experiences that encourage active involvement in learning with hands-on exhibits, investigative workshops, exciting shows and demonstrations, topical discussion sessions and interactive Meet the Expert events.
• An environment that promotes curiosity and life-long learning.

2.              Aberdeen Science Centre provides a welcoming, safe and informal environment with hands-on exhibits, investigative workshops and exciting shows and demonstrations for families to explore and learn together.  Science on the Spot demonstrations and planetarium shows are delivered daily for both school groups and public audiences. The Aberdeen Science Centre Team facilitate interactive science shows every weekend for general public audiences, with the show currently changing every one - two months, plus special programmes of activities daily during all school holiday periods.  In addition, event weekends or evenings are held throughout the year in a variety of formats, often with the opportunity for visitors to meet scientists and explore the relevance and importance of their work. 

3.              To ensure the exhibition floor is regularly refreshed and provide a changing experience for repeat visitors and attract new visitors, Aberdeen Science Centre hosts high quality temporary exhibitions in addition to the permanent hands-on interactives.  Programmes of activities and events are developed to complement the exhibitions to enhance the experience for visitors.

4.              Aberdeen Science Centre’s expanding STEM learning programme of shows and workshops for nursery, primary and secondary level covers a range of areas of the science and technology curriculum and includes some cross-curricular activities.  The activities complement and support the Curriculum for Excellence Principles, Capacities, Experiences and Outcomes and are designed to encourage investigation and curiosity and provide inspiration and enjoyment.  Participation in a variety of different collaborative projects, including Explore Your Universe, Destination Space, Energy4Me and Aberdeen Schools Hydrogen Challenge also enables Aberdeen Science Centre to provide exciting and relevant STEM engagement opportunities for school audiences.  Aberdeen Science Centre also supports and enhances STEM learning and teaching in schools by providing rich professional development opportunities for teachers, including an annual STEM Summer School.

5.              Working in partnership is key to providing STEM learning and public engagement experiences that are exciting, inspiring, relevant and high quality. Throughout the development phase, the content of new shows, workshops and activities is regularly reviewed and support, advice, guidance and input from external STEM and education experts is sought from industry, academia and local authority contacts.  Programme and activity development, trial, review, delivery and evaluation phases benefit from the range of ideas and experiences of the different partners.  Through such collaborations and support networks, the STEM Learning Team of well qualified graduates with a range of science backgrounds and experiences works to ensure activities are scientifically accurate and contemporary.  Furthermore, the STEM Learning Team ensures activities align with the Curriculum for Excellence by seeking and participating in relevant training sessions and curriculum update sessions at conferences and through the support of the University of Aberdeen’s School of Education and Aberdeen City Council’s Education Support Officer (Science).  Aberdeen Science Centre sits on the committee of both the British Science Association Aberdeen branch and the Grampian Section of the Association for Science Education, the Aberlour Foundation Board and in September 2015 was elected to the ASDC Board.

6.              As a hub for public engagement with STEM, Aberdeen Science Centre continues to collaborate with industry, academia and other STEM related agencies, organisations and societies and incorporate STEM research and discoveries into learning experiences for school groups and public audiences.  This includes hosting exhibits showcasing research and providing regular opportunities for visitors to meet scientists actively engaged in research and participate in a range of hands-on activities and interactive discussion sessions.  Such events allow scientists to share the relevance and importance of their work and research and express their enthusiasm and enjoyment of science.  In this way, Aberdeen Science Centre is playing an important role in promoting local research and contributing towards raising the national and international profile of science in Scotland.  Aberdeen Science Centre facilitates training on science communication skills and public engagement strategies to support and encourage scientists’ public engagement aspirations, including University of Aberdeen researchers and SPE Young Professionals.  The Science Centre is also the venue for induction and training sessions for new STEM Ambassadors in Aberdeen. 

7.              Throughout the year April 2015 – March 2016, 51,885 people visited Aberdeen Science Centre.  This represents a 9.8% increase in visitors compared to the previous year (April 2014 – March 2015, 47,246 visitors).  Visits from nursery and school groups accounted for 15% of the total visitors during this year. 

8.              Outreach activities are facilitated in nurseries and schools to meet the demands and needs of audiences.  Aberdeen Science Centre also delivers outreach activities at a range of public and community events.  Facilitating STEM learning experiences beyond the Science Centre has enabled a wider and more diverse audience to be reached and engaged.  Throughout the period April 2015 – March 2016, Aberdeen Science Centre has engaged an additional (approximately) 8,000 people with outreach activities.

9.              Aberdeen Science Centre strives to ensure that visitors have an enjoyable and satisfying experience by offering a range of engaging exhibitions and high quality activities in different formats that are developed and delivered by appropriately trained and supported Team Members who are reflective and responsive to feedback and evaluation of visitor experience, reaction and impact.  Regularly refreshing the exhibition and programmes and activities helps to ensure retention of current audiences and provides a changing experience for repeat visitors whilst also encouraging new visitors to engage with the Science Centre.  In addition, working in partnership is key to providing new and unique STEM learning and public engagement experiences and opportunities that are exciting, inspiring, relevant and high quality and Aberdeen Science Centre continues to strengthen links and develop productive working relationships with a range of external partners. 

10.              Aberdeen Science Centre aims to be an important and valuable educational resource for the whole community where people of all ages, backgrounds and abilities can come and engage with STEM and be enthused and inspired.  Regarding the science topics covered in Aberdeen Science Centre, 74% of visitors who completed the online survey following their visit stated they had general knowledge while 13% felt they had little or no knowledge and 13% said they had specialist knowledge.  The online survey data showed that 26% of visitors had a professional link to science / work in science with a further 10% of visitors currently students of science subjects while 64% of visitors had no involvement in science.  This data is strongly comparable with the visitor profile in terms of science background/knowledge seen throughout the previous year.

11.              Enjoyment of science and learning goes hand in hand with ability and confidence for science learning and Aberdeen Science Centre has demonstrated positive impact in this area.  On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being very poor and 10 being very good, 84% of visitors who provided feedback via the online survey rated the overall enjoyment of their visit as 7 or above.  60% of visitors who completed the online survey stated that following their visit to Aberdeen Science Centre they find science more interesting, while 81% of visitors felt the experience encouraged their children’s interest in science and technology.  85% of visitors who completed the online survey felt that during their visit to Aberdeen Science Centre they learned something new and reported an improvement in their own knowledge and understanding.  In support of this, recent feedback from visitors to Aberdeen Science Centre has included “I loved seeing my daughter enjoying herself and learning at the same time.”, “The girls and I enjoyed the hands on aspect of it all and we learnt a lot as well as having lots of family time.”, “I enjoyed seeing my children playing independently and working out how things worked.”, ”My husband and I were very impressed by the standard and relevance of the exhibits and it refreshed our knowledge as science graduates.”, “As my granddaughter gets older she will learn more with every visit.”, “Very educational and interesting but in a fun way.”, “It was an enjoyable time and very interesting.” and “I have learned a lot from today.  A wonderful day.”.

12.              Aberdeen Science Centre continues to play an important role in complementing, supporting and enhancing STEM learning and teaching in schools.  Recent feedback from teachers has included “The children loved being able to explore the exhibition floor. They enjoyed the workshops and were able to build on their current knowledge.”, “It was a super visit, ideal mix of led and freestyle activity and enjoyed by all.”, “Children loved dinosaur area.  Fabulous visit, thank you very much! Satrosphere has a lovely atmosphere and such welcoming staff.”, “Children were really engaged and all of us thoroughly enjoyed the visit.” and “The staff, parents and children enjoyed the visit and were all impressed with the friendly enthusiastic staff and the interesting exhibits and demonstrations.”.

13.              Aberdeen Science Centre is playing an important role in making STEM more accessible to people through helping to make STEM easier to understand and more interesting.  64% of visitors stated on their online responses that their visit to the Science Centre made them want to find out more about science and 64% felt their visit had made them a little more confident about science in general.  Furthermore, 75% of visitors reported that their visit made them feel that science is relevant to their life, with one visitor commenting “My daughter and I love Satrosphere.  It makes science part of real life and not just something that happens in a lab and it is also great fun.".  81% of visitors felt their visit to Aberdeen Science Centre encouraged their children’s interest in science with specific comments including “It was great seeing my 5 year old boy get an insight into basic physics and chemistry”, “The best thing was seeing my children enjoying discovering science.”, “The children enjoyed the exhibition and sparked their interest in science.”, “I loved seeing how my grandson could interact with the exhibits and the enjoyment he got from them.”, “We visited to take part in science activities for our young children to raise their awareness and interest.”, “Its great seeing my children getting excited by science.”, “Could not believe how quickly the time passed or how much there was of interest for my grandson who is 12.”, “Kids very interested in digging to find the fossils.”, “I loved watching my daughter become captivated by everyday science presented by enthusiastic team.” and “The space workshop was excellent and my daughter now wants to work for the space program!!”.

14.              It is recognised that the STEM learning and public engagement opportunities and experiences available in the Science Centre exploring and raising awareness of key scientific issues could encourage self-reflection and informed decision making, and potentially lead to and influence practice and behaviour change.  Specific feedback in support of this includes "I enjoyed the special exhibition about climate change, which displayed accurately how we have to act as consumers to help our planet back to health." and “The sensory impairment goggles gave  the students a first-hand experience of being under the influence of intoxicating substances, and made the sessions hugely memorable.“. 

15.              Fostering a culture of science.

• Aberdeen Science Centre provides a welcoming, safe, informal and inclusive environment with exciting and inspiring STEM activities for friends and families to explore and learn together – “We enjoyed finding out about science issues with our Grandchildren.”, “As a family, we enjoyed it all being hands-on.  I loved helping my children to enjoy the exhibits” and “My primary purpose in visiting is to enable my grandchildren to enjoy the interactive exhibits and to participate in the special events.  The children enjoy the variety of subjects and activities and I like to participate in the quiz or interactive talk.  For my part, I too enjoy the exhibits and special events and I am relaxed as it is a safe environment for young children.”.
• Through exhibitions and programming, Aberdeen Science Centre aims to help make science accessible to general audiences and encourage curiosity, discussion and exploration of current and relevant science - "The interaction the presenter had with the various groups our family was in was fantastic.  It was great to see the enjoyment the children took from the day and the discussions we have had afterwards.".   Visitors are actively encouraged to continue their science exploration at home and at school – “The children responded well and asked further questions when we returned.  Well done for inspiring the class.”.
• Meet the Expert events allow people to engage with science and scientists in an informal setting where two way dialogue is encouraged and respected.
• By facilitating STEM learning experiences in the community, Aberdeen Science Centre is able to engage with a wider audience and increase people’s exposure to STEM as they go about their daily lives and in settings and locations that are familiar to them.

16.              Encouraging more young people to pursue science study and careers.

• Increased confidence, enjoyment and interest in STEM are essential for increased uptake of STEM study and careers in STEM.  Aberdeen Science Centre continually strives to enthuse, motivate and inspire people from an early age to enjoy and engage with STEM and has demonstrated positive impact - “The space workshop was excellent and my daughter now wants to work for the space program!!”.
• Through facilitating, supporting and attending science clubs, science fayres and similar projects either in individual schools or larger city wide events, Aberdeen Science Centre is helping to encourage children’s interest in STEM.  Similarly, the S6 Science Ambassadors and P7 Science Champions schemes in Aberdeen which Aberdeen Science Centre supports are important initiatives to encourage enhanced uptake of STEM study and careers. 
• Through the provision of CPD, Aberdeen Science Centre is playing an important role in aiding the development of teachers capable of enthusing and inspiring their pupils with STEM. 
• Meet the Expert events allow visitors to gain insight into the work of scientists and engineers and raise awareness of the range of opportunities available.  Of particular note this year were the Meet the Researcher Showcase with Medical Research Scotland and Science is for Everyone, a biology themed careers night with Aberdeen Science Grrls.  It is hoped that events like this will in turn encourage more young people to pursue the study of science and science careers.
• Aberdeen Science Centre is the oldest Science Centre in Scotland and it is now possible and interesting to track the impact of visiting as a child to chosen career paths as adults.  Recent comments demonstrating positive impact have included the following from a molecular and cellular biology graduate and a mechanical engineering undergraduate student, respectively - “I remember visiting Satrosphere when it was based on Justice Mill Lane and being excited and amazed by the exhibitions and activities it had to offer when I was young.  It inspired me to question and understand how and why things worked.  It is certainly one of the many experiences within my life that inspired me to pursue my education and career within science.” and “When I was younger, I would often visit Satrosphere during holidays and weekends with family members and I always found it a fascinating place to learn new things.  I firmly believe that Satrosphere was one of the reasons I initially got interested in science.”

17.              Promoting the national and international profile of local science.

As a hub for public engagement with STEM, Aberdeen Science Centre continues to collaborate with industry and academia and incorporate STEM research and discoveries into learning experiences for school groups and public audiences including:

• Hosting exhibitions showcasing current research and developments in science and technology and its relevance and applications.
• Providing regular opportunities for visitors to meet scientists and engineers and participate in a range of hands-on activities and interactive discussion sessions.  Such events allow experts to directly engage with the community and share the relevance and importance of their work and express their enthusiasm and enjoyment of STEM - “Workshop given by the University of Aberdeen was excellent.”.
• Seeking valuable input, support and guidance from industry and academia when developing programmes and activities to highlight relevance and applications.

In this way, Aberdeen Science Centre is playing an important role in promoting and celebrating the exciting, cutting edge and high impact science and engineering research and discoveries happening locally and contributing towards raising the national and international profile of STEM in Scotland.

18.              Raising awareness of the relevance and importance of science and enabling informed decision-making and choices.

Aberdeen Science Centre plays an important role in raising awareness of the relevance and importance of science with the range of opportunities it provides for visitors including:

• High quality programmes and activities presented in a fun, exciting and accessible manner.  Demonstrations and interactivity are used to relate key scientific concepts and issues to the world in which we live and encourage curiosity and deeper exploration leading to informed decision making and choices.
• Hosting Meet the Expert events for audiences to explore and discuss current topics and issues and encourage reflection and enable informed decision making - “I feel more informed as to how science is being used practically in the ‘real world’.” and "Science is very important for life.".
• Hosting exhibitions which help to highlight the relevance and importance of science and the difference we can make through our knowledge, understanding and considering our behaviour.

19.              Supporting knowledge exchange between education, industry, research, communities and policy interests.

• Aberdeen Science Centre supports the public engagement aspirations of scientists through providing training on science communication skills and public engagement strategies and opportunities to reach both school and public audiences.
• The STEM Summer School promoted collaboration between the Science Centre, education, academia and learned societies such as the Institute of Physics and Royal Society of Chemistry. Furthermore, Alasdair Allen, Scottish Government Minister for Learning, Science and Scotland’s Languages, visited the STEM Summer School in 2015 and Education Scotland have participated on several occasions including this year.
• Aberdeen Science Centre continues to participate in a number of collaborative projects, such as Energy4Me, Destination Space, SCDI YESC and Not For Human Consumption, linking education, industry, research, communities and policy interests.  Such collaborations have led to the sharing of resources, knowledge, ideas, experiences and best practice leading to valuable, relevant and high quality experiences for participants. 
• Energy Challenge, Energy Future is an industry funded secondary school engagement project delivered by Aberdeen Science Centre.

April 2016