Our Science In Your World programme has been running for over a year now. All the programme partners are from museums across the UK that differ in size, subject matter and visitor/community reach – but they all share a desire to increase STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) provision and diversify the audiences who this supports.
A core aim of the programme is to create a community of good practice, a supportive group of practitioners that can share experience, ideas, opportunities and challenges that we all have faced to embedding research around equity, inclusion and STEM engagement into our work. So how how this progressed?
The value of meeting in person
At the start of the programme, we all met in person and spent two days altogether learning more about the project and sharing ideas as to how we could embed research informed good practice around STEM engagement into our own settings. But what was possibly even more valuable about those two days was the opportunity to share meals and chat over drinks and mocktails and to got to know each other and find t more about our different museums in a more relaxed environment.
By the end of the two days, we not only all felt an increased sense of connection with each other, but we also had a much greater understanding of all our different museums and their contexts as well as their unique selling points and challenges. We were all excited to start putting all out ideas and plans into action.
Maintaining connections
Due to the wide geographical location of all the partners across the UK, bringing everyone together, for logistic and economic reasons, often takes place online.
Each of these online meet-ups have focused on a different theme which has allowed us to continue to learn together and share our different knowledge and experiences. So far, we have discussed topics such as ‘Training our colleagues’, ‘Developing resources’, and ‘Evaluating experiences’.
This online format has enabled us to maintain contact with each other and has also meant that each partner could invite other colleagues to join in, which has aided the further embedding of ideas and the research into practice.
We have also created a monthly newsletter to share updates from the programme and to highlight opportunities to get involved in informal STEM learning that might help to further develop the partners projects. This has been a great way of supporting a sense of belonging to the programme without taking up too much of everyone’s time.
The value of visiting each other
These online meet-ups have been invaluable as the programme has progressed. However, another way that has really
helped us to build our community of good practice and further understanding of each other, has been visiting each other’s museum sites and meeting each other on ‘home turf.’ For me, personally, this has been an incredibly useful way to grow the sense of being part of the Science in Your World network.
Visiting all the Science in Your World partners and seeing the space and collections that they each have and how they function has greatly enhanced the support and collective problem solving that the everyone in the group can give each other.
And, it hasn’t only been visiting each other that has been useful, many of the programme partners have taken the opportunity to connect with other cultural places where they could learn from or gain support from.
Building a community of good practice takes commitment, time and a variety of methods to grow and nurture one.
Whilst it’s always enjoyable, and really interesting when we all meet and chat online, it has been the experiences that I have had physically being in all those museums and galleries and chatting with colleagues face to face, that have helped me, personally, feel part of a community and gain a greater understanding of diversity of our sector.
It is very easy for us all to work in our own bubbles. It can be difficult to make the time and find the money to get out and about, but when we do manage to do this, it is so useful and is a way that we can each keep our own knowledge and experience of our sector current and support each other.
You can read more about the highlights and experiences from the programme in the Science in Your World blog series.