If you’ve read our last blog about our recent Climate Co-Curation Project, you’ll know how we went about choosing our team, and why co-curation projects are so important. We invited twelve 16-17 year olds to join us for a week at SPRI to work out a framework for a temporary exhibition on climate change which will go on display in late November. Read on below to find out exactly what they got up to!

With only a week to get everyone up to speed on current climate research, as well as the ins and outs of producing a museum exhibition (not to mention the work of preparing our team for their university applications), each day was split into a number of sessions. Particular highlights were a whole morning of talks from current researchers at SPRI who outlined their work and suggested objects that might be put on display in the exhibition. The team loved finding out about the scientific research going on in the Polar Regions and also had their assumptions challenged about the use of polar bears as a ‘metaphor’ for climate change and the role of women in polar research. Further emphasising the importance of women in our understanding of the Polar Regions, they even had a video message from Dr. Chandrika Nath, the Executive Director of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research.

Later in the week, we spent a morning at the British Antarctic Survey in west Cambridge, having a similar series of talks from their researchers as well as a tour of different parts of the building. Something that no one will forget was being given 40,000 year old ice to hold and listening as it melted to the sound of 40,000 year old air bubbles escaping back into the atmosphere.

The museum team at SPRI also welcomed the co-curation team into their domain, running object handling sessions and leading tours of the museum and stores. Our group were challenged to link objects together to tell a story (even ones which didn’t seem to go together at all!) and to think about what makes an object good or bad for display. This was a whole new way of thinking for our team and they handled it very capably, listening and taking on board all that they heard, and putting it into practice in their decisions later in the week.

The nature of doing so much work in a week meant that there were a few late nights scheduled in. One of these was spent in Selwyn College, where we chose the key words which would go on to inform the themes and information displayed in the exhibition. The group had written a list of 9 possible key words together and we were all amazed when, during a task to narrow down their top three in small groups, they all came up with the same 4 words. Empowerment, research, cooperation and change were the names of the game, and what a nuanced selection they were.

As well as the work for the exhibition itself, we made sure to find time every day to reflect on the work we had done, what had been achieved and what new skills had been learned or honed along the way. This information was written down by the team into a ready-made skill-set, perfect for their personal statements. It was amazing to watch not only how the skills changed with each new day on the project, but also how the way the group thought about their learning changed along the way as well.
This is the second of three blogs about this project and we still have so much more to tell you! Make sure to read the final instalment where we’ll be talking presentations, celebrations and what happens next…

Tags: ClimateCocuration

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