The National Media Museum ran the Sound Schools project to engage schools from disadvantaged areas with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).  I was commissioned to evaluate the project in order to help the museum develop future activities for their new schools programme and displays for the museum.

 

I evaluated the activities during the Museum’s Contemporary Science Festival: Make Some Noise in March 2016 as part of British Science Week. I conducted session observations, ran focus groups with pupils and did mini-depth interviews with teachers. The report examines the responses of pupils to the activities and demonstrations, explores the needs of participating teachers and makes recommendations.

The Sounds School project focused on the scientific and technological applications of sound.  It aimed to develop and deliver engaging, immersive and inspiring science shows and hands on activities for Key Stages 2 and 3 pupils. The activity content was developed by Wonderstruck, with contributions from the Museum’s Learning Team and partner schools.

It was a real pleasure working with Catherine; she was professional and easy to work with and I hope that we can work together in the future. The Sound Schools evaluation report is really interesting and I think it will be very useful as we move forward into planning for the Interactive gallery and adapting the sessions for regular use in the schools programme. It is always good to hear what the pupils and teachers think about what we do and I’m pleased that most of it was positive.  I think the recommendations for improvement were spot on and definitely will be influencing how we plan sessions and events in the future.
Elaine Richmond, Explainer Team Leader, National Media Museum