CASC

The vision: To ensure that families who choose an alternative form of education can access specialist science knowledge and equipment within their community.

Project Summary: This is an MLA Learning Links funded project. It involves working with local Home Educating Families and Networks to find out what families would like Thinktank to provide for them.

The goal of the project is to create a new provision for Home Educating Families. This will take the form of a special day that families can book a place on in advance. It will have a wide range of activities, from informal drop in sessions to science shows, all of which will be tailored to the unique needs of Home Educating families.

Your contact name: Zoe Williamson

Your organization: Thinktank, Birmingham

Participants: Home Educating Families and local Home Educating Networks

The vision: To bring highly sensory learning experiences to those with sensory impairments and physical barriers to accessing the museum collections.

Project Summary:  In 2009, Thinktank received a grant from the Conurbation Small Grant Scheme to adapt one of our highly popular handling collections and take them out into venues such as Nursing Homes as well as Residential Homes for adults with disabilities.  This work was developed further in 2010 with support fro,m the EU Cities and Science Communication Project (CASC). The handling collection in question (Sensational Sea Life) has been demonstrated through internal evaluation to be a successful learning medium.  Originally designed to be a highly sensory experience within the Thinktank’s Wildlife gallery, we needed to adapt this activity to be delivered on Outreach (this included elements such as interpretation as well as care of collections concerns (i.e. storage and transport).  The handling collections was then taken to a number of venues and delivered with adults who would not normally be able to access Thinktank’s collections or programming, primarily due to physical barriers such as transport and poor mobility that create logistical difficulties for the Home’s staff. Whilst we identified specific learning outcomes for this project (which we achieved), the major outcomes were social; these enrichment activities are known to contribute towards to the long term welfare of residents.

Your contact name: Kenny Webster

Your organization: Thinktank, Birmingham

Participants: Residents of nursing and residential care homes

The vision: To provide an environment in which STEM professionals can share and discuss their work and its relevance to society with varied family audiences.

Project Summary:  The Meet the Scientist (MtS) programme has been running for approx 6 years.  In this time, we have developed a model that works for both our STEM professional and visitors, both of whom are considered audiences for this programme.  Teams of STEM professionals from similar backgrounds (e.g. Cancer Research UK) work with the Informal Learning Team to create highly interactive and hands-on experiences that engage visitors of all ages and provide a platform for intergenerational dialogue as well as opportunities for adults and children to learn together.  The STEM professionals have an agenda of ‘public engagement’ to satisfy either personal or professional needs whilst some specifically wish to target diverse audiences such as those that visit Thinktank in large numbers during Open Weekends.  An example here would be the Birmingham and Solihull Mental Healthcare Trust who have identified Asian communities as being significantly underrepresented in their work due to the cultural stigma of mental health issues within these groups.  An important outcome for both audiences is the perception that they have been listened to as an equal and have had the opportunity to share their attitudes and opinions and it is a key indicator of success that many groups of STEM professional return on more than one occasion to take part in these events.

Your contact name: Kenny Webster

Your organization: Thinktank, Birmingham

Participants: Families visiting over half terms and Open Weekends and local STEm professionals (academic and professional)

The vision:  To increase engagement with targeted wards within Birmingham who may have financial barriers preventing visits or poor perceptions of Thinktank as a family attraction.

Project Summary:  Five of Birmingham’s ten constituencies are classed as being socio-economically disadvantaged.  These same constituencies and the wards that inhabit them are also amongst the most culturally diverse within the city.  Although Thinktank has a relatively high representation of BAME visitors compared to national figures, within Birmingham, our visitor profile is still not representative of the city’s demographic.  Through consultation, we have identified that one factor which influences this is the cost of entry to Thinktank or at least the perception of what this cost represents and the subsequent value for money associated with it.  Open Weekends allow specific Constituencies and Wards to gain entry to the museum free of charge through a voucher system.  Through the course of the weekend, our aim is to demonstrate to visitors who we are and what we can offer through our exhibitions and public programme of events and activities.  We also carry out extensive market research and consultations through a variety of means to better understand this audience such that we can meet their needs better in the future and improve perceptions of Thinktank as a cultural family venue.  The Open Weekends also provide a high impact focus for our ongoing community outreach programme and allows us to develop stronger relationships with local community groups.

Your contact name: Kenny Webster

Your organization: Thinktank, Birmingham

Participants: Residents of socio-economically disadvantaged wards within Birmingham

The vision: The SHCL is a sustainable and structured employment based training programme for young people from Birmingham (aged 16-21) provided by Thinktank to develop new skills in science and heritage communication.

Project Summary:  The SHCL is a youth development programme that provides structured training and employment opportunities for local young people, equipping them with new skills and helping to diversify the sector. For Birmingham, tackling worklessness is a key part of the wider regeneration of the economy of the city and surrounding areas. Unless sufficient people with the relevant skills are available to take up job opportunities the growth of the local economy will be limited affecting the prosperity of the whole of Birmingham, not just those out of work. Helping people to acquire and retain the skills to get and retain jobs is vital for the long term future of Birmingham. Targeting worklessness is a priority in Thinktank’s immediate locality, as well as other key disadvantaged wards in the city. By providing skills development and work opportunities Thinktank will be tackling worklessness in the long term.  In turn, Thinktank’s future development is in part reliant on its ability to reach out to and engage new audiences. It can only do this if its services and products are relevant to these people. By recruiting young people from local communities to be engaged in the training scheme Thinktank will become more representative of local communities, establish better links with them and ultimately foster a greater sense of ownership by local people.

Your contact name: Kenny Webster

Your organization: Thinktank, Birmingham

Participants: Young people from within a 5 mile radius of Thinktank

The vision: To increase cultural engagement with residents of the Perry Barr Constituency of Birmingham.

Project Summary:  Through the Working Neighbourhood Fund, four of Birmingham’s constituencies have been identified as being under-represented in cultural engagement and Thinktank was selected as the Cultural Champion for the Perry Barr Constituency.  Our mission is to raise levels of cultural engagement across the Perry Barr constituency such that these might be evidenced as part of a MORI survey in 2011.  Through a Cultural Champions Project Officer and our existing Community Outreach Team, we have been delivering a number of different learning experiences to Perry Barr residents both on and off site to increase their awareness of Thinktank as a cultural venue but also to directly increase their engagement with a cultural venue.  The activities delivered are very focussed on the needs of the audience are delivered following consultations with community groups in their own venues to ensure that we were delivering to their needs rather than ours.  As well as being under-represented in cultural engagement, the Perry Barr constituency is also one of Birmingham most socio-economically deprived and culturally diverse constituencies.  The issues that present themselves in engaging with this type of audience are multiple and complex and the mechanisms to overcome these barriers have been equally diverse to ensure high impact learning experiences.

Your contact name: Kenny Webster

Your organization: Thinktank, Birmingham

Participants: Adult (16+) residents of the Perry Barr Constituency, Birmingham

The vision: To both introduce art into Thinktank as an alternative form of science communication, and to exploit and discover new uses for the fulldome (360-degree) video medium.

Project Summary:  In an attempt to engage new audiences, and with funding from Arts Council England, we celebrated the International Year of Astronomy 2009 somewhat differently i.e. through the creation of a real-time, interactive artwork of the Radiosphere. Additionally, working with local dance-for-screen artists, and again with funding from Arts Council England, we have used new fulldome (360-degree) technology to create two dance films that have shifted paradigms for this particular art form. Thinktank Planetarium is also actively exploring the new medium of live dome theatre, and so far we have staged two performances using fulldome (360-degree) technology: The Balham Ladies Amateur Astronomy Club and How Not to Be Afraid of the Dark.

Your contact name: Mario Di Maggio

Your organization: Thinktank, Birmingham

Participants: Local artists with an interest in art with a science and technology theme, and / or local artists with an interest in the new fulldome (360-degree) video medium.

The vision: Helping visitors with sensory impairments to derive greater benefits from planetarium shows

Project Summary:  We have purchased and created special learning aids to help partially-sighted or blind visitors enjoy our planetarium shows as much as possible eg. Braille picture books with tactile illustrations bookmarked to match the content of our shows, and four catchy songs to summarise the constellation highlights of each season. Hearing-impaired visitors can request a BSL interpreter when booking as a group, and we are also steadily adding English (and Arabic) subtitles to our fulldome (360-degree) film shows.

Your contact name: Mario Di Maggio

Your organization: Thinktank, Birmingham

Participants: Museum visitors with visual or hearing impairments

The vision: To highlight the rich astronomical heritage of the principal minority cultures of Birmingham, and to demonstrate that the sky and its wonders has belonged to all people of all societies throughout history.

Project Summary:  Working with local community groups (eg. the Birmingham Chinese Community Centre), we have so far researched and created two cultural astronomy planetarium shows: Arabian Stars (2007) and Written in the Stars: Chinese Art in the Sky (2009). Focus groups from local communities helped us evaluate the shows, ensuring they carried a local flavour as regards traditional star lore. Making full use of our digital planetarium’s capabilities, the content of the shows is designed to inspire and stimulate further interest in astronomy – both as a career and as a hobby.

Your contact name: Mario Di Maggio

Your organization: Thinktank, Birmingham

Participants: Local ethnic minority communities and general museum visitors