Small Grants

Small Grants totalling £136,762 were awarded to 24 projects under the Copus Grant Schemes 2002/3.

Please note that the funding priorities that these projects were asssessed against differs from the funding priorities for subsequent and current Copus Grant Schemes.

Completed Projects

Introduction

This pilot project faciliated training workshops to enable interpreters/teachers/support workers to widen access to science resources by D/deaf children. A web abd CD dictionary of biotechnology signs has been developed.

Project implementation:

37 terms were identified (e.g. bacterium, DNA, Dominant Gene, genetic disease) by examining biotechnology hands-on activities and holding workshops with native sign language users and scientists.

The team identified any existing signs and contexts, and are developing a CD-ROM dictionary and a series of workshops for interpreters. The signs were first used in the 2004 Edinburgh International Science Festival, including signed workshops on DNA Fingerprinting and DNA extraction. The signs have been published on a CDROM, and a website.

The project and its outputs were promoted to intrepreters and teachers of the D/deaf by the Scottish Association of Sign Language Interpreters, the Scottish Sensory Centre and the BATOD.

The project was led by a project team including native BSL users, educationalists, scientists and interpreters, and was a collaboration between the Scottish Institute for Biotechnology Education (SIBE) at the University of Edinburgh and Midlothian Council, with support from BioRad and the Scottish Association of Sign Language Interpreters, and was funded by a Copus Grant and the Wellcome Trust, with in-kind assistance from the University of Edinburgh, SIBE, and the BATOD.

Evaluation Results and Outcomes

The workshops were evaluated by questionnaires to all participants, and the new vocabulary and website were evaluated by all participants at the workshops as well as invited evaluators including sign language experts and native BSL users.

The evaluation showed that the project achived its objectives effectively, with eth workshop and website being well received by the BSL community. The project team have received requests to extend and continue the project, and hope to do so if further funding is available.

Further information:

Visit the Signing Biotechnology project website, or contact Dr Jan Barfoot, Scottish Institute for Biotechnology Education, Tel: 0131 650 7042, email j.barfoot@ed.ac.uk

Introduction

The development, production and performance of five plays written by eight members of the community of Halton with support from professional artists. In their words: "A journey into the culture of Halton, concentrating on our chemical history, how it moulded the two towns from the point of view of eight people from that community."

Project implementation

Galligu recruited eight members of the local communities of Halton (Widnes and Runcorn), none of whom were professional writers, to create five short plays about the relationship between their community and the present and past chemical industries of Halton. Ten further members of the community acted the dramas, with music composed and performed specially for the plays.

The writers participated in a ten-week evening workshop with the playwrights Paul Roberts and Moira Murphy, developing their writing skills and confidence in writing plays. The plays were then passed to the acting team, assisted by directors Mike Owen and Avril Poole, who worked with the actors to develop and stage the performances. The plays focused on the social and ethical aspects of the local chemistry industries, and the positive and negative legacy in the community.

The events were publicised through local news and radio media, community organisations and postcards and posters. Funding was also provided by NorthWest Playwrights, Halton Borough Council, Arts Council North West and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Evaluation Results and Outcomes

Free evening performances of the plays were given at the Citadel Theatre, St Helens, the Queens Hall Theatre, Widnes, the Valley Community Theatre, Liverpool, and the Catalyst Museum, Widnes. The total audience of 320, represented a diverse range in terms of age and social background, with the majority of attendees being at risk of social exclusion. Eleven participants (six of the writers and five actors) want to continue with similar projects in future.

Further information:

The Galligu website photos and further information about the performances: http://www.galligu.org/ A video and CD of the performances may be borrowed from the galligu - contact details are on their website.

Introduction

A strand of science-based public events within Edinburgh's largest community festival to encourage the citizens of Leith to participate in provocative discussions and in hands-on explorations of a diverse range of scientific subjects.

Project implementation

Five science-based events took place at the 2003 Leith Festival, provided by a wide range of collaborating organisations, mostly local to Edinburgh:

• An evening kite-making workshop on Leith Links park for families, including the construction of a large fractal kite.
• The Leith Beneath - a discussion of recent local archaeology with John Lawson, City Archaeologist.
• A mini science festival in Ocean Terminal, a local shopping centre, with drop-in workshops and planetarium shows targeted at families, including contributions from the Chemical Connections and FUNdamental Physics teams from Edinburgh University, the Royal Observatory Edinburgh, the Astronomical Society of Edinburgh, and MathsCraft.
• Digging the Links, a mock outdoor dig and handling session at the Festival Gala Day, provided by AOC Archaelogy.
• An exhibition, "Celebrating Women Scientists", at Ocean Terminal throughout the Festival, provided by Edinburgh Women's Science Forum.

The applicant coordinated programming, venues, delivery, marketing and evaluation on behalf of the Festival. In addition to the Copus Grant, support was provided by many of the contributing organisations and venues, and by East of Scotland water, who provided workshop materials.

Evaluation results and outcomes

This was the first time that science events had been included in the Leith Festival, and the project achieved the mainstreaming of these science events within the Festival, widening access and awareness in the local community. The Festival plan to build on this for future festivals, funding and venues permitting, to include more dialogue and discussion events.

All events attracted large/capacity audiences, drawn from all age groups and income sectors of the local community. An estimated 1100 people participated in the workshops and discussions, with the exhibition having an audience of a further 3500 people.

The organisers adapted their publicity plan to reduce the amount of publicity that identified the science strand directly, to encourage the integration of the activities.

Further information:

The Celebrating Women Scientists exhibition, and plans and kit for a fractal kite and geodesic dome are available for hire - contact via the websites linked.

Introduction

NESciE (Natural Environmental Science Education) toured an extravaganza of earth and environmental science displays and workshops on tour to remote communities in the north-west and Western Isles of Scotland.

Project implementation

This project expanded on the one-week Design a Dinosaur tour that NESciE ran during National Science Week 2002 (funded by Copus) that demonstrated the lack of science events, especially environmental and earth sciences, available to communities and schools in the remote north-west of Scotland.

This project toured for 4 weeks, visiting a greater number of more remote communities, and include a wider ranger of activities. They ran a combination of hands on displays and workshops and delivered these to the smaller communities (in village halls, schools, local visitor centres) and schools in the Western Isles, the North and the North-West of Scotland. In total, 51 workshops and events were delivered to approximately 1200 people.

The project received funding from the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the University of Edinburgh Alumni Fund.

Evaluation results and outcomes

NESciE and the Scottish Earth Science Education Forum were awarded the Scottish Executive/Royal Society of Edinburgh "Science in the community" Award in March 2003 for their work in reaching rural audiences, which included the Design a Dinosaur tour in 2002, funded by Copus.

Evaluation was achieved through a mixture of questionnaires, informal discussions and a written report. Comparisons were made between individual events in the tour and similar activities that had visited the same locations. The tour was considered very effective in delivering informal earth and environmental science activities.

The project team found that the school is commonly the focal point of an isolated, remote community and involvement in such communities is most effective if integrated with a school activity to encourage attendence of parents at the community events.

Four students from the University of Edinburgh were actively involved in the planning and delivery of the project, gaining valuable science communication skills. The findings of the project have been shared with other Scottish organisations.

Further information:

Further tours are planned, subject to achieving further funding. Full details of the tour, and future activities are listed on the NESciE website: http://www.nescie.co.uk

Introduction

IGER together with the Devon Education Business Partnership hosted a marquee at the Devon County Show in May 2003, to promote public understanding and appreciation of science, and to provide opportunities for direct interaction between research scientists, farmers, families and children.

Project implementation

The marquee contained hands-on demonstrations on the themes of biodiversity and wetlands, featuring a mini-wetland exhibit with practical experiments staffed by research scientists, exhibition panels, exhibits loaned from Techniquest, and performances from the Science with a Smile entertainment group. The target audiences consisted of farmers, family groups and organised school groups. The Copus Grant was intended to support the elements of the project aimed at the farming community and family groups, with additional funding provided by Devon Education Business Partnership and IGER.

Evaluation Results and Outcomes

A total of approximately 2000 adults and children visited the marquee over the three days of the Show, interacting with the research scientists, exhibits and the performers.

The project team promoted their presence widely in advance of the event, but believe that the factor that contributed most to the significant audience was the location of the marquee relative to the layout of the show.

The scientists participating greatly improved their communication skills for interacting with public audiences. They are willing to visit schools with the biodiversity and wetlands exhibits, and have received several requests generated from the event to visit schools in the local area.

Introduction

SciTot - Exploring Together aims to increase adults' awareness and understanding of the science and technology behind everyday objects through playing and learning with their young children.

Project implementation

In its entirety SciTot consisted of nine adult and child workshops in three different areas of Cornwall, on three different themes, ’In the Bathroom’, ‘In the Kitchen’ and ‘In the Garden’, all culminating in a series of local exhibitions during Science Week 2004.

At the beginning of each workshop about 15 minutes was spent talking to the parents/carers about investigation and exploration using everyday objects and situations. Parents were encouraged to talk with their children about the activities they were involved in and to record their conversations in the notebooks we provided. Children were able to make drawings of the discoveries they had made. At the end of each workshop session this information was collected together to accompany the many photographs taken during the session. These were then be used to produce a display during Science Week in March 2004.

A total of 109 children and 156 adults participated in the workshops, with a further 600 viewing the exhibitions. The project was supported by a Copus Grant, with additional resources and in-kind support provided by Commotion Group, Featherstone Education, Binney and Smith (Crayola), P&J Watts and alc associates.

Evaluation results and outcomes

The project was evaluated using questionnaires completed by adult participants after each session, observation and documentation, and follow-up discussions.

The workshops and displays were popular - the target audience reached was 35% more than anticipated. Response to the workshops was enthusiastic - of the 46% of family members who returned evaluation questionnaires, 100% said they would participate in another SciTot workshop and 100% said they would recommend these workshops to their friends.

Parents/ family members appreciated the opportunity to investigate scientific and technological concepts alongside their children. All participants enjoyed the range of activities presented and everyone took away at least one idea that they would try at home with their children. The evaluation indicated that the workshops succeeded in changing people’s attitudes towards science and technology. The 16 individuals (42%) who were already enthusiastic continued to be so, but the 22 (58%) who were negative/ambivalent all changed their minds after participating in the workshops.

Further information:

The project developed an outline structure for setting up and running SciTot workshops, which is being developed with a further grant from the Copus Grant Schemes 2003/4.

An article on the project, Under Investigation, appeared in the 15 April 2004 edition of Nursery World magazine.

Project implementation

A fun, stimulating and interactive workshop to promote marine and environmental awareness aimed at 10-19 year olds and the general public. The project was a collaborative venture between the Marine Biological Association and the Sir Alister Hardy Foundation for Ocean Science (SAHFOS).

Evaluation results and outcomes

SAHFOS achieved:

• Promoted marine science and the importance of plankton communities to 715 members of the public
• Approximately 90% of all visitors enjoyed the event and 80% of visitors ‘learnt something new’ from the information presented.
• We also gained very useful feedback from the audience on how to improve our outreach activities in future events.

We would like to collaborate further with neighbouring organisations in Plymouth for future events, and make these future events more interactive, for example through computer packages or through better display of live plankton, with more games, as they were enjoyed the most.

Introduction

Sensing Science was a week of interactive workshops and gallery tours imaginatively investigating the science of the five senses, aimed at adults with special educational needs.

Project implementation

The project sought to adapt the National Science Week 2003 "Sounds like Science" activity ideas supplied by the BA for an audience of adults with learning difficulties. Working in partnership with Oxford City Council's Learning Disability Development Worker, the museum developed workshop sessions which were piloted with a small number of participants at a local day centre, before being offered more widely through the Oxfordshire-wide Open Door scheme, which offers a range of activities and courses for adults with learning difficulties. The participants were observed during the workshop, and each participant and support worker was asked to complete a simple evaluation form after each session.

Evaluation results and outcomes

The pilot session was successful, and highlighted that each person regardless of ability, could gain something from the workshops. This may have been the chance to interact with other group members in a new environment, or some level of learning experience from simply feeling the texture of different materials used in the workshop, to a comprehensive understanding of concepts behind the experiments.

The workshops were clearly enjoyable and entertaining for the participants, and the project has led to the development of an on-going programme of museum activities for the Open Door programme. Although the traditional format of workshops at the museum will need to be tailored specifically to this new audience, these workshops proved that even with limited physical access to the building the Museum of Oxford can offer the group mainstream activities. The project demonstrated the type of interpretation that is appropriate to this audience, that can be offered at other museums.

"This was the first time I had led sessions for this audience, and I found it a really daunting challenge, which was very rewarding. The support I received from Andrea, the Learning Disability Development Worker, has given me the confidence to offer sessions for the group in on a regular basis - an arts-based session in October, and possibly other themed workshops in later terms." - Kate Toomey

Further information:

Article: Sensing Science, GEM News, Issue 89 (Summer 2003), pages 9-10.

Introduction

Stirring the Waters is a two day exploration of urban biodiversity during the Thames Festival. It involves trialogues between local people, scientists and policy makers and 'hands-in' activities.

Project implementation

The Thames Festival is a two-day celebration of the River Thames in London. For the 2003 Festival, on September 13 and 14 2003, two events were supported by a Copus Grant. Stirring the Waters, a whole-day event on Thames-related issues with around 100 participants including local people, policy makers, NGO workers and supporters and environmental scientists, and a series of workshops and activities over two days that enabled several thousand local people and other visitors to develop their knowledge of biodiversity in and near the River Thames. Activities included a beach clean up, a weirdest litter competition, seine netting, river dipping, an all-day birdwatch, an archaeological talk and storytelling.

Partners in the Stirring the Waters event included the Thames Estuary Partnership, Thames21, Environment Agency, Thames Explorer Trust, the Museum of London Archaeology Service, London Wildlife Trust, RSPB and King's College London. Funding was provided by the Copus grant, the Environment Agency and in-kind and indirect support was provided through the sponsors of the Thames Festival, London Wildlife Trust and Kings College London.

Evaluation results and outcomes

The project was evaluated externally by consultants employed by the Thames Festival office, using questionnaires and informal feedback.

The evaluation found that Stirring the Waters "was an important strategic achievement" and that it "was a great idea and particularly valuable for those in river interest groups". They recommended that it would be improved by reforming it as a series of less-formal drop in sessions on the river, which would encourage participation and ensure it could compete stronger with the other attractions.

The workshops and activities were hugely successful and popular, with biodiversity being a key theme throughout the event. Over half the participants were women, more than two-thirds were Londoners, and almost a quarter were of ethnic minority.

Further information:

Visit the Stirring the Waters website. A CD of vox-pops showing the views of Thames' users and visitors is available from Justin Dillon, justin.dillon@kcl.ac.uk.

Introduction

Xperitots is a project designed to offer a series of highly innovative activity sessions for babies, toddlers and their carers in the hands on science gallery, Xperiment.

Project implementation

Xpreitots aimed to use structured play activities within the stimulating hands-on environment of Xperiment, to introduce young children to science in an accessible and fun way. They wanted to improve facilities for very young children, increase the number of children aged four and under visiting the Museum, and target local SureStart groups located in areas of economic and social deprivation. Xperiment is closed to all other visitors during the Xperitots session.

Xpreitots takes place on the first Tuesday of the month. Each session lasted 90 minutes, and includes a changing programme of themed events and activities, inlcuing storytelling, puppets, craft activities, toys, and existing interactives.

Half of all places were reserved for SureStart groups, with the other half available for bookings from playgroups, day nurseries, toddler groups, childminders and other parents. Publicity methods used included flyers, listings in local publications and letters to SureStart coordinators.

The team used focus groups for formative evaluation to develop a general format for an activity session in the gallery. Feedback forms for adult visitors, engagement observations of child/carer interactions, an evaluation session with sticky notes for carers, toddlers and SureStart workers, and a SWOT analysis by the staff were used to evaluate the session.

Evaluation results and outcomes

The evaluation showed that both adult and child visitors enjoy Xperitots, want more, are dissappointed when it is full, and consider security and equal access to be important. The Museum found Xperitots to be a springboard into new under 5s activities, and has improved Museum facilities for very young children.

At least 1300 under 5s and their carers benefited from Xperitots during the period covered by the Copus Grant. The project has led to a commitment from the Museum to offer Xperitots as a permanent feature of its public programme. Xperitots has been seen as a model of good practice within gallery education, and has inspired the Museum to run a new programme of activities for under-5s.

Further information:

The Xperitots events are listed on the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester website under Events for Families.

An article appears in the GEM Newsletter, Summer 2004.

Ongoing Projects

Introduction

To develop a family-fun science workshop linked to literacy and numeracy which can be run for Science Week event (and subsequently as a family learning event).

Further information: to follow

Introduction

Science fun for families - an event for science week - table-top experiments and creative activities which explore wind power and how we can harness it for work and play.

Further information: to follow

Introduction

To develop two science workshops for the community: one to stimulate discussion on the impact of pollution on the local environment, the other, the science behind recycling and reusing materials.

Further information: to follow

Introduction

Creating an opportunity for public dialogue about science by means of a regular event in a local cafe bar.

Further information: to follow

Introduction

Develop a travelling activity introducing audiences to hidden worlds and secret lives of plants and micro-organisms, accessible only by microscopy; raising awareness of the benfits and hazards in the daily environment.

Further information: to follow

Introduction

A series of adventures with lenses, mirrors, pin hole cameras and camera obscuras, exploring how science has helped artists perceive the world around them.

Further information: to follow

Introduction

ScienceAid will help community groups participate in local, regional and national decision-making by enabling access to free advice, information and explanations regarding relevant scientific issues.

Further information:

Visit the ScienceAid website.

Introduction

Film is a natural creative medium for young people to express the scientific principles we aim to represent will simultaneously embrace the diversity of their lives, stories and dreams.

Further information: to follow

Introduction

An interactive tour around the most complete specimen in any museum of the biggest fish ever - the Jurassic giant Leedsichthys problematicus, that grew to 20 metres in length.

Further information: to follow

Introduction

To develop a mobile interactive cart, live interpretation and a series of workshops for family visitors to explore the principals of physics and technology within the context of a fairground.

Further information: to follow

Introduction

Using codes, code breaking and a WW2 Enigma cipher machine to demonstrate that mathematics has a social and historical context, and is relevant to life outside the classroom.

Progress:

• To date, the Copus Small Grant has allowed the Enigma Project to speak to roughly 1,300 adults and children outside of formal learning environments
• Claire Ellis and Claire Greer have spoken to a range of adult and family audiences at 17 events
• Publicising the Project has occurred with the aid of Brighton Museum (who provided a list of local community groups) and through personal contacts
• The decision was made to charge a small amount of money for events, as it became apparent that people thought a free event would be of low quality

Further information:

Visit the Enigma Project website.

Introduction

A residential family learning summer school with the theme of power production using renewable resources.

Further information: to follow

Introduction

Increase knowledge of Tyne Estuary in the people of Tyneside and, by emphasising its importance in shaping the life of the region, enhance feelings of responsibility towards it.

Further information: to follow

The Copus Grant Schemes are funded by the Office of Science and Technology and The Royal Society.

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