Informal Learning Team: Activity Development



|Cultural Activity Development pro-forma |[pic] |

Introduction

This document outlines how to develop any activity from a learning perspective. It is a simple procedure that will ensure a balanced and structured learning activity that focuses on audience needs and learning outcomes. By using this process at the start of any activity development, a clear evaluation strategy can be formed that will assess objectives and impact in a rigorous manner.

Summary of the activity

A range of quick, phenomena based demonstrations that are based on scientific principles and link to other areas of the museum and collections. The busks will be demonstrated and then the science behind them briefly explained. Demonstrator will also provide the participant with an opportunity to have a go at the demonstration and identify real life applications of the principles involved.

2. Who is the audience?

Families with children aged 7-11. In particular, these activities target and engage both adults and children within family groups.

3. Aims

The first thing you need to do with any activity is to establish the aims. What do you want to achieve? What is the bigger picture? It is good practice to set this up formally. By setting aims, it becomes easier to set objectives and outcomes and then evaluate against these.

e.g. engage young people in culture

- To encourage family learning by providing knowledge and understanding for each demonstration

- To portray science in a fun and hands on way

- To encourage abstract thinking (phenomena based busks)

- To familiarise visitors with everyday science that they may otherwise overlook – highlight that science is all around us

- To demonstrate easily accessible science

- To provide a positive, staff-led experience at the start of a Thinktank visit

- To highlight other areas of the museum that may be of interest

4. Objectives

The next step is to set the objectives of the activity. These are the things that you need to do in order to achieve your aims. The objectives are the things that we will evaluate against (as well as learning outcomes). Objectives should follow the SMART principle: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound

|Timescales |Individual busking activities should engage for approx 5 minutes, but a range of activities can be enjoyed in any given visit, lasting |

| |up to around 30 minutes in total. The sessions are run on some weekends and school holidays between 11am and 12 noon. |

|Use of collections |All equipment that will be used in busking activities will be kept on the busking trolley. Scientific principles that associate with the|

| |collections will be highlighted, as will links to everyday life experiences. |

|Numbers of participants/ audience/ sessions |We will run busking for an hour once during the morning on a weekend (when available). Audience numbers can range from individual |

| |families/people to large groups |

|Income generation? |Possible income due to signposting available busking materials sold in shop. |

|Are curriculum links possible or necessary? |Non-school audience |

|Are their specific outputs that you need to create? |A series of coherent activities will be created and a training programme for staff introduced. A scientific resource will also be |

| |prepared to support staff in the various aspects of delivering busking. A try this at home sheet may also be produced subject to the |

| |nature of the busks created. |

|Others | |

5. What research have you done?

Is the development of this activity based on any research or evaluation that supports the need for it? The sources could be internal or external

e.g. feedback from teacher consultation, previous evaluations of other activities, stakeholder report

- Research into different kinds of quick demonstrations that uses each of our five senses has been carried out and Gallery Enabler feedback has also been included. Web research within the sector will also be considered to produce the best quality experiences

6. Access and Inclusion

|Provisions to ensure that the activity is both accessible and inclusive |

|How is this accessible to a culturally diverse audience? |All activities will be appropriate for a culturally diverse audience. The demonstrations involved in the activity will not be|

| |inaccessible to any particular culture. |

|How is this accessible to users with sensory impairments? |We will include a range of different busks that can be enjoyed by using more than one of our five senses. |

| |If a visitor has a visual or hearing impairment or hearing there will be other demonstrations available for them to enjoy |

| |which do not require sight or hearing. |

|How is this accessible to users with learning difficulties? |All activities are very clear and directed by a member of staff. |

7. How can participation be included in this project’s development?

|Contributory |Gallery Enablers will help decide on which Busks will be used in activity. |

|Collaborative | |

|Co-creative | |

|Hosted | |

|None | |

8. Partnerships

|Does the activity involve any partners? |No |

|What assets do the partners bring to the project? |N/A |

|What benefit do we provide for the partners? |N/A |

9. What learning outcomes do you want the different stakeholders to gain?

By considering learning outcomes from the very beginning, we can ensure that the end product is fit for purpose. The evaluation strategy can also then be clearly developed around the success of the achieving the outcomes. Any individual activity will almost certainly not cover all impacts.

|Learning Outcomes |What do we want stakeholders to gain from this? |How can we make this happen? |

| | |Abilities, learning styles, environment, staff input etc |

|Attitudes, values, opinions, |Audience: |Ensure that busking presenters deliver each busk with a high level of enthusiasm and |

|confidence |As this activity focuses on showcasing science in a more fun and enjoyable way, we aim to |competence |

| |challenge the audience’s initial attitudes toward science and learning as a whole. |By using activities that are based on everyday objects, we can highlight unexpected |

| |Identifying that science can be and is present in surprising and unexpected places – one of |scientific principles |

| |which is real life! |Staff can highlight the connections between the busks, the collections and relevance to |

| |By linking busks to contemporary life experiences as well as the collections, we hope to |modern life. |

| |bridge the gap between the two worlds and highlight the significance of the collections. |We can increase our audience’s scientific knowledge, by explaining scientific principles in a|

| |This will increase our audience’s confidence in their own scientific knowledge and enthusiasm|very clear and easy to understand way. |

| |for science. | |

| |Other stakeholders: N/A | |

| |BMT: | |

| |On certain occasions, Thinktank can use busking to explore specific issues, such as | |

| |Geoengineering or prototype new interactives | |

| |As a venue that hopes to challenge attitudes in relation to many different STEM topics, | |

| |busking provides a good staff-led starting point for this experience. | |

|Creativity, Inspiration and |Audience: |We can inspire the audience to create their own busks by giving them insight into how they |

|Enjoyment |Some of the busks are home made and can therefore be replicated/ explored further after the |were made. A ‘take-home’ sheet might assist with this. |

| |visit |We could also point participants in the direction of the shop where some busking resources |

| |Due to the phenomena based nature of the busks, creative thinking is often employed in |are sold. |

| |understanding the science behind them and their relevance to life |By linking busks to different areas studied in science, this can inspire an interest in |

| |Inspire interest in science |science |

| |For many visitors, busking is the first experience they have within the museum and this fun |Staff will be trained to lead participants through their experience, exploring ideas for |

| |and interactive, presenter led experience sets the stage for an exciting visit |themselves, rather than just telling them the scientific principles behind activities |

| | |By being enthusiastic and skilled in science communication, staff will create a highly |

| | |enjoyable experience as a starting point for their visit. |

| |Other stakeholders: N/A | |

| |BMT: | |

| |For many visitors, busking is the first experience they have within the museum and this fun | |

| |and interactive, presenter led experience sets the stage for an exciting visit | |

|Learning Outcomes |What do we want stakeholders to gain from this? |How can we make this happen? |

| | |Abilities, learning styles, environment, staff input etc |

|Behaviour, progression, |Audience: |Staff will identify ways in which activities can be recreated at home, either by purchasing |

|activity |Audience should want to also have a go at carrying out the activities, either during the |resources or signposting instructions (e.g. take home sheet) |

| |busking session or together with the family at home. |Individual busks only take a few minutes each and staff will encourage progression from one |

| |The audience may want to attempt more than one of the busking activities |activity to another |

| |Audience will witness the progression of each demonstration from the beginning up until its |Staff will demonstrate the activity in such a way that it is appealing to the families, |

| |outcome and explanation and then have a go themselves |involving adults as much as children |

| | |Staff will highlight other areas of the museum that the busks relate to and how they can be |

| | |explored. |

| |Other stakeholders: | |

| |BMT: | |

| |By the very nature of busking, the activities are hands-on, experiential and discovery based.| |

| |This sets the tone of the remainder of the visit | |

|Knowledge and Understanding |Audience: |We will help increase scientific knowledge by giving a brief but accurate explanation for |

| |Increase their knowledge and understanding of different scientific phenomena |each busk |

| |Increase knowledge of how science can be applied in other areas of life |This will be reinforced by linking it to the collections and real life examples, making its |

| |Increase understanding of how the collections relate to modern life and the progression that |relevance clear |

| |science has made to get from one to another | |

| |Other stakeholders: | |

| |BMT: | |

| |As a learning based organisation, it is important that cognitive learning of scientific | |

| |principles takes place where appropriate | |

|Skills development |Audience: | |

| |Other stakeholders: | |

| |BMT: | |

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