Building confidence at Space Camp
Dundee Science Centre collaborated with St Mary's Primary School, to take part in EYU: Valuing Inclusion, February - June 2024
Inclusive Outcome Areas: Belonging, Possible Selves
Dundee Science Centre expanded on the success of their partnership with St Mary’s Primary School by delivering STEM engagement for a greater number of children and their families. St Mary’s Primary School and the surrounding area of Lochee are in the top 5% of most deprived areas within the city, with many pupils living in poverty. As part of their aim to support families in areas that are rated lowest on the Scottish Indices of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD), Dundee Science Centre’s Space camps have been an essential part of their provision providing week-long activity for those most in need or that have an interest in STEM.
The centre’s aim was to inspire and co-create experiences that children and their families can share in together, improving their sense of belonging, expanding curiosity and confidence to participate and explore their different engagement opportunities. Working alongside Tara Godfrey (School and family development officer) and her team to co-develop the Space Camp and have them onsite whilst the Dundee Science Centre delivered the activities, improved the children’s experience. The children benefitted from having Tara and her colleagues on site who knew and understood their social, emotional and physical needs and sharing these so Dundee Science Centre were able to adapt and adjust the session to best suit the child. One girl in the group was mentioned for the change they saw as the week developed, from first only sitting next to the key worker and not leaving her side, to gradually coming out of her shell and working with others in the group, and finally having the confidence at the end of the week to present her ideas to the whole group.
The teacher commented:
“since (the camp) that particular girl has been much more confident inside school. I feel like space camp really brought her out of her shell…it’s made a really positive impact on her life”
During the Space Camps the children took part in a variety of different activities on space topics including learning about how astronauts live in space on the ISS, where the children had a go at building their own ‘Space Base’ for the club mascot Astro Ted. They imagined what alien plant life might be like and designed their own terrariums. The children also got to work with a PhD student from the University of St Andrews who was completing an internship at Dundee Science Centre, he supported them in designing their own satellites. On the last day they learned about Mars, the CO2 in it’s atmosphere and about the largest volcano in the solar system – Olympus Mons.
As part of their evaluation plan Dundee Science Centre asked the children to complete a mission log journal, where they would record their thoughts and their learning throughout their week at space camp. They were able to do pre and post surveys with them and in the log book they were asked to answer questions such as Did they feel comfortable doing STEM? Could you do a career in science in the future? A lot of the children completed these and then were able to take them home. As well as the space camp the Dundee Science Centre team visited St Mary’s Primary School on Careers Day and delivered sessions around the school showcasing the different career options in space science and asking the children to come up with examples of jobs in space to add to the board. It was noted in the exit interview that although it was really great to have the Dundee team visit and be part of the career’s day, the sessions were too short and would’ve had more impact if they spent a day with each class.
“I heard many stories from families saying how excited their child was to come home and tell them all about what they learned from planets to living on the space station. Some families nurtured this and bought stem activities and workbooks to further their learning which was nice to see. Another child bought clay and made all the planets after learning this at the space camp” – Key worker, St Mary’s Primary
Please see below the Explore Your Universe: Valuing Inclusion report by Jen DeWitt and Sophie Bartlett. This report delves into the findings from the grant programme and how effective the 6 inclusive outcome areas were.