Building bridges

AIM

Building Bridges aimed to help build students' scientific literacy through activities and resources that:

• Raised awareness of skills that are used and developed through doing science
• Highlighted the applications of science in everyday life
• Introduced people who use science in their work
• Provided opportunities for students to reflect and discuss science at home to promote the relevance of science in their lives and communities

OUTCOMES

• School outreach – we visited participating schools to introduce the project, deliver a science show and a science communication workshop
• Science Museum visit – we welcomed participating schools into the Science Museum for a day of exclusive activities, including working with scientists and searching the museum collection
• Teacher CPD – we developed exclusive resources for teachers to use with their students to ensure that they got the most from their involvement with the project, and to ensure that the activities on the project could be disseminated to students who were not directly involved
• Family engagement – we provided students with activities to do at home with their families across the year. At the end of the year we invited participating project teachers and students, together with their families and friends, to the museum for a big party. Here families could see what the students had done and take part in exclusive and exciting activities, with the help of some special guests
• Academic research – we worked with University College London to understand how museums, schools and families can best work together to support students in science learning

PROJECT PARTNERS

Building Bridges was an externally funded project that worked with non-fee-paying schools in the London boroughs of Brent, Kensington and Chelsea, Southwark, Wandsworth, Westminster, Hammersmith and Fulham and selected schools in the area of Reading.