The Discovery Dome is proving to be very popular with the primary schools in Melksham.
This immersive space where students benefit from a 360-degree experience of the subject matter has enabled Widening Participation’s science outreach team to deliver twenty-three dome shows to Key Stage 1 and 2 students at 7 out of 9 primary schools within the Melksham primary school cluster. The science leads from each school worked together with the Primary Science Teaching Trust fellow, who coordinates science teaching and shares good practice within the cluster.
"We have been learning about moon zoom and how we can travel to the moon and what we would see on the way. The dome show cleared up some questions the pupils had and made them even more curious about the world around us." – Teacher quote.
The team has developed and are delivering two shows:
- Explore your Brain
- The Hunt for Planet 9
"Science is my favourite subject and the science dome brought it alive." – Student quote
Dome shows can be adapted depending on the age group and are ideal for Key Stage 2 and 3 students. The shows are designed to engage students with the science curriculum as they are surrounded by the topic.
Andrew Ross, Widening Participation Science Outreach Manager added, "It’s been a really busy, but a rewarding month. We’ve worked with over five hundred students in the Dome, engaging them with the curriculum with shows about the brain and space. The feedback from students and teachers has been very positive, with all the teachers saying it has supported their current teaching or is forming part of future teaching. The questions we got from the students after the shows were excellent, some of them even got us doing our own research afterwards".