'Science My Way' with Aberdeen Science Centre
Together with Family Learning, Aberdeen Science Centre explored new topics and co-developed activities by combining Family Learning’s knowledge of participants and using the experience of their Community Engagement Team.
Aberdeen Science Centre
Building on the success of "Science My Way" in 2023, co-developed and delivered through the Valuing Inclusion (2023) project, Aberdeen Science Centre decided to continue their long-standing relationship with their community partner, Family Learning. Family Learning help parents and children from disadvantaged areas or underrepresented groups, with a key audience of children aged 8 to 13 years. Together with Family Learning, Aberdeen Science Centre explored new topics and co-developed activities by combining Family Learning’s knowledge of participants and using the experience of their Community Engagement Team. A key goal for their community partners is for young people to have an opportunity to explore and see a better future for themselves.
Aberdeen Science Centre’s approach was to provide relaxed sessions, allowing children to choose what they’d like to engage with and for how long. They delivered 19 sessions across 6 different programmes, including Supper and Science, After School Club, Youth Club and a 2-day family residency course. The youth club, which is for ages 8-16 years old who have complex needs and learning difficulties, meets weekly, providing an opportunity to open up and connect with others. The activities provided are tailored to the participants needs. At the end of each session the young people chose the activities for the next one with the help of the team to provide options that matched with the theme of the next session. This helped them build a sense of agency in the children as they could see their ideas come into fruition.
“A big shoutout to one of our secondary kids who is not part of that primary school anymore but 'begged' to us if he could join us because he loves it. He tested resources and helped us supporting little ones' needs with patience and guidance”. – Project lead, Aberdeen Science Centre
“It is like breadcrumbs. The activities act like the breadcrumbs to build up science capital and making science something that they feel like they are comfy with. They want to do it and that makes it relevant to them”. – Project lead, Aberdeen Science Centre
The after-school club is run in partnership with Fersands and Fountain Community project, a family centre that supports parents, primary school children, nursery children and offers access to their food bank and clothes facilities for families at risk of exclusion. Aberdeen Science Centre have been engaging with this group since they were primary year 1-2s (ages 4-6yrs) so the bond has become really strong and the team noted in their exit interview how important it was, to build that familiarity with the group. Feedback from parents and practitioners also mentioned how important the sessions were for their children to come out of their shells. With almost every young participant having ADHD, learning difficulties and living in a complex family environment, their sessions showed the impact of an informal approach for a better learning experience. They noted the change from having frustrated children to a group of really keen children, just by allowing them to be themselves and emphasising how essential and valued their input is when shaping future sessions. Aberdeen Science Centre’s clubs were so popular they even had older children requesting to be allowed to come back and join in. One child in particular helped the team testing resources and supporting the younger ones’ needs with patience and guidance.
Alongside these clubs Aberdeen Science Centre ran numerous family sessions including their popular Supper and Science programme, offered to selected families with one or two children aged 10-11yrs children, that’s aims to facilitate their transition from primary to secondary school. Over three weeks families from deprived areas establish a routine based on cooking together, a home-made meal within a budget, while learning about different science topics. Vanessa noted that on week one, “they were a bit shy/unsure, feeling completely out of their comfort zone”, which is why Aberdeen Science Centre brought in elements from their everyday life to explore the science behind it, making both aspects (cooking and STEM) relevant for them.
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.