All too often we move from one day to the next, focusing on what needs to be done and what lies ahead. In doing so, we rarely give ourselves the time to pause and stop and reflect on where things began, on the journey that has been taken, and all the incredible things that have been achieved along the way.
Taking a moment to look back not only reminds us of how far we have come, but it also gives meaning to all of the effort, growth, and experiences that has shaped where we are today – and where we will continue to go in the future.
Reaching the 10-year milestone of the Transforming Practice blog provides us with a perfect opportunity to pause and reflect on the incredible journey that we have been on. For over a decade, we have worked to understand, interpret, communicate, and share ideas – while striving to inspire and embed a science capital-informed approach.
This timeline captures some of the stories of our key moments in that journey to date and revisits some of the blog posts which have shared our experiences along the way…
2013
- The Science Museum Group’s (SMG) science capital journey begins as the practitioner partner in the Enterprising Science Project, along with academic researchers from King’s College London/ University College London.
- ASPIRES 1: Young people’s science and career aspirations, age 10-14, was published. This research sought to understand how young people’s aspirations develop, and which explored what factors influence the likelihood of young people aspiring to a science-related career.
2013-2015 (research phase)
- The science capital research phase was focused on the schools and families in the geographical areas around our SMG sites (Science Museum, Science and Industry Museum, National Railway Museum, Locomotion and the National Science and Media Museum).
- Two research programmes were developed and delivered to enable the researchers to increase understanding about the factors which influence science engagement and participation. The two strands were the ‘schools and families programme’ which focused on working with young people in schools and their families and the ‘Teacher professional partnership programme’ (TP3) and ‘Connecting students with science’ (CSS) worked with and supported teachers to understand and build students’ science capital.
- This research work included surveys with over 3,600 11-to-16-year-olds which generated the data to underpin the further understanding of what the concept of science capital looked like.
- The development of some of SMG’s engagement tools began during this time including our ‘See, Link, Wonder exploration and discovery question tool.’
2015
- After two years of research the ‘Science capital: a conceptual, methodological, and empirical argument for extending Bourdieusian notions of capital beyond the arts’ academic paper was published.
- The science capital introduction animation was created to support the communication of the science capital concept.
- The Science Museum hosted the Transforming Practice: What can science capital do for the world of informal science? seminar, attended by over 70 practitioners from across the UK and Europe.
This was a key moment in SMG’s ‘science capital journey’ as it was the launch point for further reflection of the role and value of the informal science learning experiences in growing science capital in individuals and society.
2016
- Launch of the Transforming Practice blog as a platform to share our journey of brining the science capital research to everyday practice and operational reality.
- The engagement reflection points were created to help us to more easily share and communicate the key principles and best practice from the research with our colleagues.
- Pilot workshops were delivered to start to introduce the concept of science capital with core teams across the organisation and how it could support our everyday work.
2017
- ‘Growing science capital in individuals and society’ was made a core priority in the Science Museum Group’s Inspiring Futures Strategic Priorities.
- A suite of materials and focus on raising internal awareness were designed and created.
- The Building Bridges project ended. A research and practice focused programme to connect schools, families, communities and museums – to further understand barriers to engagement with museums and science.
- The science capital & informal learning sector animation was created to share the approach with peers and colleagues in our sector.
- The science capital teaching approach is published by University College London.
- The Enterprising Science project ends.
2018
- The Science Museum Group Academy was launched in October to deliver science capital research informed and evidence-based training to teachers, museum practitioners and STEM professionals.
- The science capital concept and approach was becoming more understood and was being used to shape and inform more and more activities and resources, including our online game Total Darkness.
2019
- Science Capital in Practice Programme began, a UK wide partnership programme with ASCD and 15 science centres and museums across the the UK with the ai to help increase engagement and participation in science by applying a science capital informed approach.
- The concept began shaping further exhibition design and development, including the Textiles Gallery and Top Secret.
2020
- SMG published it’s ‘Open for all’ strategy and Equity framework and Access framework.
- Our maths engagement project started with its aim to help address the challenges of maths anxiety and to help built ‘STEM capital’.
- Creating engagement opportunities for BBC Bitesize during COVID 19 lockdown.
2021
- The Science Capital in Practice Programme concluded and the findings from the programme shared in an online seminar and publication.
2022
- SMG was the partner in the ‘Gadgeteers’ Summer Reading Challenge.
- SMG family focused website Wonderlab +,our first specially designed for children and families with science capital principles at its core, is launched.
- The Transforming Practice blog publishes it’s 100th blog.
2023
- Our self-led ‘Making the most of your Museum visit’ training videos were launched
- The Early Years and Learning Phase 2 project began, including the development of a new practitioner course and early years focused resources.
2024
- The Science in Your World programme began.
- SMG Academy delivers its 500th training course.
2025
- The SMG Academy passes 10,000 people trained since its launch in 2018.
- Academy impact research work is conducted to understand the value and benefit of SMG engagement pedagogic approach training with teachers and their students.
- Early Years and Learning project and Science in Your World programme ends.
2026
Lots more to come… Including new activities and resources, more research and knowledge sharing opportunities from the Early Years and Learning project along with the Science in Your World programme.