Increasing engagement with heritage science at school age

Increasing engagement with heritage science at school age is a key outcome for a future skilled and diverse heritage science community.

Heritage science presents a fantastic opportunity to develop scientific skills and to learn about history and heritage through science. 

If we want a diverse and strong heritage science community, we need to explore the opportunities to involve people in heritage science activities at all ages. The National Heritage Science Forum's Communities working group has been collecting examples of how heritage science is being used in a range of programmes targeted at school-age children. You can find out more about the first few of these projects below. We'll be adding more examples as we collect them, and you can add more links and examples to our online noticeboard.

Our June 2021 Members' Meeting also focused on the use of heritage science to engage with children of school age. The meeting brought together best practice and learning from across NHSF's membership and invited participants to take part in a discussion about how we can increase and maximise opportunities to support national curricula across the UK, as well as wider learning, with heritage science. You can find out more here. 

This has been followed by research, in 2022, into how heritage science activity can support delivery of the UK national science curricula. The report 'Aligning Heritage Science to the Science Curricula' highlights connections and opportunities, and is complemented by a matrix to show heritage scientists and educators where heritage science can make a contribution to the curriculum. The research was funded by The National Archives' Strategic Research Fund. Read more.