Year 7 students from Royal High School Bath have been working with the Museum of Bath Architecture to come up with ways on how to make its collection engaging to young people.
As part of the Museum’s ‘MoBA Re-imagined’ consultation asking the public to contribute to ideas towards the museum’s future, the Royal High students were challenged to create and pitch activities and displays that will appeal to young people. This fitted in well with the school’s Problem Based Learning module, a student-centred approach to help students develop important skills for the future by working collaboratively to solve an open-ended question.
The students had one timetabled lesson a week where they worked on their ideas and came up with a wide variety of displays and activities in which to make the collection more relevant to people their own age. At the end of the school term, they met with the museum’s Learning and Engagement Team to present their ideas and explain how these would work in real life using different techniques including models, role play and videos. to engage and convince the judges.
A member of the Museum’s Learning and Engagement Team said, “We were blown away by the thought and research that the students put into their projects. All their ideas were imaginative, engaging and would definitely work in the museum space. Above all, the professionalism of their presentations was outstanding.
“The winning pitch was a family trail using the character of John Wood to introduce questions around the museum. What really impressed the team was the level of research the group showed. They had particularly thought about making the museum more accessible to neurodivergent visitors – including statistics to illustrate why this is important. Their presentation skills showed a maturity and professionalism that wowed the judges.”
Mandy Ladbury-Webb, Head of Year 7 at Royal High Bath, said, At Royal High, we have developed our own subject, Problem Based Learning, to help our students develop important skills for future studies and becoming world-ready. This is especially relevant for our Year 7 students who really enjoy and benefit from working collaboratively on various challenges designed to enhance problem-solving skills and promote creativity and innovation.
“This summer term, the Museum of Bath Architecture’s challenge to make its collection engaging for young people was the perfect opportunity for our Year 7 students to solve a real-world problem, while at the same time, supporting each other and the wider community. We are thrilled by how the students responded, as well as the positive feedback from the Museum and are grateful to the Museum staff who were encouraging while challenging our students at the same time.
“It is a wonderful example of how our Year 7s showed inquisitiveness through relevant research, developed empathy for a specific situation and were brave in solution-finding and presenting their ideas to the judges.”