Written evidence submitted by the Cambridge Science Centre (COM0024)

I am writing to you as Chair of the Cambridge Science Centre (registered charity number 1146349) in response to the Science and Technology Committee’s science communication inquiry.

We welcome this inquiry, and are grateful for an opportunity to share our views on these important issues.

We are an award-winning science and discovery centre, working intergenerationally offering children, young people, schools, families and communities hands-on adventures in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). We aim to enhance education in these crucial subjects, inspiring a love of STEM and enabling children to understand the wealth of rewarding careers they can aim for.

We are changing the way that science centres work. As a small format and mobile science centre we offer exhibitions, shows and workshops that transform the interaction between informal science and traditional classroom teaching, and engage families and schools. We focus on disadvantaged and underserved areas (based on educational outcomes, socio-economic disadvantage or geographical isolation) and we can go directly to heart of these communities.

I would like to take this opportunity to extend an invitation to you, or any of your colleagues on the Committee, to visit us and witness this great British success story in action.

1. About Cambridge Science Centre

1.1 Since our foundation in 2013, we have reached over 130,000 people, through a combination of:

• Activities in our central Cambridge centre;
• Our compelling regional outreach programme (see www.cambridgesciencecentre.org for a video of our outreach in action);
• Work in schools across the country.

1.2 We have pioneered the development of a small format community science centre. This enables us to:

• Refresh our hub centre through a new annual exhibition, with content informed by Cambridge research;
• Replicate our full science centre experience in community locations, such as bank branches, shops and churches, and schools for disadvantaged and underserved audiences which otherwise have no access to fun, innovative science;
• Work efficiently; our cost per serve is £7.85 against an industry average of c. £15.

1.3 Our audiences include:

• Cambridge residents – our Centre publicises and promotes brilliant research from the University of Cambridge and important parts of the knowledge economy to local children (primarily aged 7-12) and families;
• Tourists – visitors to the city who want to discover Cambridge’s scientific heritage and its ground-breaking modern contributions;
• Disadvantaged and underserved communities across England – through outreach, we work in areas with poor socio-economic outcomes to spark children and young people’s curiosity and give them, their families and communities information about the rewarding careers STEM offers.

1.4 Since 2013 our audiences have risen significantly, driven by outreach to disadvantaged and underserved communities:

• 2013 – 20,031 (on site) / 265 (outreach);
• 2014 – 25,957 (on site) / 2,903 (outreach);
• 2015 – 31,580 (on site) / 38,196 (outreach).

1.5 Through our innovative model we aim to help remake how science centres work by transforming the interaction between formal and informal science learning using:

• Hands-on exhibitions – our prototyped exhibits are all hands-on, enabling children to learn about scientific concepts and apply them through play;
• Shows and workshops – typically facilitated by our trained science communicators, these interactive events help children and their families and teachers to learn together;
• Contact with experts – we work with expert researchers to bring their work to life through special events and activities. For example our Easter 2016 programme included a talk by Dr Ian Wilson from the University of Cambridge about the science of chocolate.

1.6 We are a novel and highly ambitious centre and will realise our ambition to roll out our work regionally, nationally and across the world through:

• Community outreach – taking our work and the brilliant scientific heritage and expertise of Cambridge into disadvantaged and underserved areas;
• Satellite centres – having successfully proven our small-format science centre model, we will help communities across the UK and beyond to develop their own centres;
• Research and best practice – we will underpin this work by working with thought-leading researchers from Cambridge and across the UK to test and disseminate best practice in engaging disadvantaged and underserved communities in STEM.

1.7 We are a resourceful organisation and have generated significant private funding to support our activities from:

• Founders – private philanthropists who generously seed funded our first centre and who continue to support us financially and with their expertise;
• Corporate partners – our Executive Council includes businesses with a stake in Cambridge and international scope, such as ARM, Horizon Discovery and AstraZeneca MedImmune;
• Trusts and Foundations – such as the Amgen Foundation, which has supported us with grants to support our outreach in disadvantaged and underserved communities.

1.8 We have established a relationship with the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Local Enterprise Partnership (GCGP LEP). This has provided us with seed funding for the roll out of our COSMOS programme in the region and we are in discussions with the New Anglia LEP about a similar partnership to work with disadvantaged and underserved audiences across communities in Norfolk and Suffolk.[1]

2. How you inspire students with STEM

2.1 We have been hugely successful in inspiring children and schools nationwide, from East Anglia to Blackburn to Hackney, working from our Cambridge hub.

2.2 Inspiration is facilitated by our team of science communicators with in-depth scientific expertise who make advanced concepts and ideas readily accessible to children and young people. Thanks to their contribution, we regularly receive great feedback from children, parents and teachers:

• “I’ve never experienced anything so amazing in my life” – girl, aged 10 after our Spectrum Science show;
• “This is now my favourite small museum – small, but perfect” – a parent after a visit;
• “I would recommend this to other teachers because the staff are knowledgeable and enthusiastic, it allows independent enquiry and inspires motivation in science” – year 5 teacher after our visit.

2.3 We place a particular emphasis on the importance of hands-on activities. We design and build our prototype exhibits to ensure that each one is as engaging as possible. With falling opportunities for children to enjoy hands-on science in school, science centres are becoming increasingly important resources for children, families and teachers.

2.4 Lord Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and one of our patrons, says “young people’s natural curiosity about science, machines and the environment is all too often extinguished at the secondary school stage. Visits to an excellent Science Centre can be transformative in sustaining enthusiasm and deepening understanding. Cambridge, with its academic and high-tech expertise, should surely be a leader in this regard. That’s why I’m enthusiastic about Cambridge Science Centre”.  

2.5 Dr Darrin Disley, CEO of Horizon Discovery – a genomics company based in Cambridge, agrees, saying “I was an East End kid aspiring to be a footballer. Only footballers and criminals seemed to make any money and have respect where I grew up. I think my route into science and enterprise would have been much quicker and easier if I’d understood it was a possibility, through initiatives like the Cambridge Science Centre, to change not only my world but make a difference to sufferers of genetic-based diseases and society”.

2.4 Through our revolutionary model, we bring tools and techniques into schools they could never otherwise access such as:

•                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     A cosmic collisions simulator;
•                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     A hands-on spectroscope;
•                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     A wind tunnel.

In disadvantaged communities, or those without their own science centre provision, our work is the only chance to inspire children with resources like this.

2.5 We support teachers to provide long-lasting inspiration for children and young people. Where we work in schools we leave behind resources for teachers to sustain hands-on STEM learning. These are:

• Project based – providing activities for up to eight weeks;
• Real world – linked to genuine challenges faced by industry, such as the need to design more user-friendly cutlery for arthritis sufferers;
• Linked to businesses – solutions are made available to companies for prototyping.

2.6 We create awareness of STEM careers. Through activities such as our workshops children explore careers linked to our exhibitions. Current workshops in our hub centre, which will be available through outreach from September 2016, focus on careers linked to space exploration.

2.7 We are proud to use these resources strategically to encourage children and young people, particularly those in disadvantaged and underserved communities, to consider studying STEM subjects in higher and further education and to pursue STEM careers.

3. Increasing family learning capital and working in informal contexts

3.1 We are successful in engaging families and increasing learning capital. We do this by:

• Providing the only year-round hands-on science centre for the 2.5 million residents of East Anglia;[2]
• Taking our activities to communities without a science and discovery centre of their own;
• Targeting communities in non-traditional contexts. To reach out to new audiences, we can replicate our full science centre experience in banks, shops or other community buildings.

3.2 We have outstanding audience engagement, demonstrated by:

• Our average visitor stay, at 1.5 hours, compares with national institutions;
• Some of our annual pass holders visit the centre up to 20 times per year.

3.3 Our highly effective work in informal contexts includes:

• Hosting hands-on exhibits on the high street – we have extended our reach in Cambridge through a partnership with a local Barclays branch, which hosts our exhibits for customers to explore;
• Full science centres on the high street – using our revolutionary model, we can replicate our full science centre anywhere. In October 2015, we took over a Barclays branch in Haverhill, one of the poorest communities in Suffolk, and created a working science centre there. University of Cambridge Faculty of Education evaluation of this found potential for sustained impact “evidence of deep and prolonged engagement… parents commented specifically about learning about their children's learning”;
• Mass community events – we bring children and families together with researchers and STEM businesses through community events such as our annual Chain Reaction event to learn and play together (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL8D4P2orQI for video of our 2015 event).

3.4 Our success in engaging new audiences is attributable to:

• Going where we are needed – in response to a clear lack of provision in locations, we can travel to new audiences because we are not tied to a traditional science centre;
• Being accessible – by working in non-traditional contexts such as bank branches;
• Delivering a full science centre – thanks to our modular, portable exhibits we can do this for communities which would otherwise never enjoy the opportunities a science centre represents.

3.5 Since our foundation we have successfully served those with a prior interest in STEM and have been proud to invest in new audiences. We have noted that where this is a high level of science knowledge and understanding there is an enthusiastic audience for our work. In the disadvantaged and underserved areas we have successfully targeted we have been pleased to efficiently commit greater resources to engage these groups. 

4. Helping the public meet scientists

4.1 We use the wealth of economic and academic STEM activity in Cambridge to:

• Deliver gold standard educational activities, especially for disadvantaged children;
• Celebrate and communicate cutting-edge British research to the public;
• Introduce and engage the public in STEM research and debates.

4.2 We have capitalised on the widespread public interest in STEM by launching a programme of monthly late events. These events:

• Connect the public with practising scientists;
• Widen public understanding of cutting-edge research;
• Engage the public in STEM debates and topics.

4.3 Since our foundation, partnerships with practising scientists and companies have been integral to our exhibits and we have ambitions to take this knowledge worldwide through a global network of small-format science centres powered by our expertise.

4.4 Media partnerships have also been central to helping the public meet practising scientists:

• Naked Scientists – we are a home for the Naked Scientists, an award winning science podcast which reaches a potential audience of up to 6 million across the east of England and has an international following online, with more than 40 million podcasts downloaded since 2007;
• World Service – we have worked with the BBC World Service’s Click programme, which can reach the Service’s weekly audience of over 300 million people.

4.5 Our ambitious plans mean that we are keen to share this expertise with a wider range of people. Geoff Hayward, Head of the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, agrees that there is potential for us to achieve this, highlighting that “Cambridge Science Centre, through their innovative programme of engagement activities, continue to make a very significant contribution to raising awareness of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. This is essential to encouraging more young people to consider pursuing stimulating and rewarding careers in these crucial areas”.

4.6 We will continue to transform the interactions between the public and scientists through:

• Increased activities in our Centre – we will bring more exciting and innovative research into our centre through our programme of talks for children and adults;
• Engaging scientists with outreach – wherever we deliver outreach, we will engage local scientists and technologists to demonstrate their work and inspire communities;
• Using digital media – we will create new digital resources so that people worldwide can access Cambridge’s expertise.

4.7 We are delighted to provide the only year-round hands-on resource for public engagement with science in the East Anglia. Our rising audiences demonstrate the public interest in STEM and the public demand for accessible STEM activities.

5. National projects and co-ordination

5.1 Our partnership with the Association of Science and Discovery Centres (ASDC) has been an important part of our growth. ASDC’s creation of national projects, such as Destination Space, which capitalises on the excitement created by Tim Peake’s historic space mission, has supported our response to national agendas.

5.2 Using our innovative model, we will extend the lifespan of these programmes. We will take the exhibits, shows and workshops created through our participation in Destination Space to communities across East Anglia in the next three years, reaching 300,000 people, rather than delivering a one-off celebration.

5.3 Developing and sharing best practice is crucial to the future of UK science centres. We are now beginning a capital campaign to raise £9 million to create a new STEM education hub which will:

• Host educational activities for children, young people, teachers and the public;
• Test and research international STEM education best practice;
• Implement this best practice through outreach which will be supported from the hub.

5.4 This hub will be developed in collaboration with University of Cambridge, on its ground-breaking North West Cambridge development, and will enable us to take our hugely successful model throughout the UK and beyond.

April 2016