Our Charity is on a mission to break down as many barriers to science as possible. On the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we continued this mission with the launch of Discovery Pens at Winchester Science Centre. Made possible with the support of a local family foundation, the addition of audio description to our hands-on exhibits, reflects the Day’s goal of ‘ensuring the inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of society’.

We know that one of the biggest barriers to access experienced by children with additional needs are physical barriers. With Discovery Pens, we can remove another obstacle and open the door to the world of science for visitors with visual impairments, children who find big chunks of text hard to read or for people with English as their second language.

How do the pens work? The exhibits have a black circle with one yellow and one orange rectangle in the middle. Placing the pen on the yellow rectangle, will start a description of what the exhibit is, and how to interact with it. Hovering the Pen over the orange rectangle, will start a description of the science behind the exhibit. Fun fact, the descriptions were recorded by Jenny Hoppé, our Community Engagement Officer.

The Discovery Pens may be new, but our accessibility journey has been underway since 2017. We completely transformed our iconic pyramid building by adding a Recombobulation room - a calming space for children to have a quiet moment to themselves, and state-of-the-arts acoustics - to dampen the noise levels, creating a less overwhelming experience. We also introduced our British Sign Language (BSL) days to enable d/Deaf visitors and children with hearing impairments to discover the joy of science too!

Ben Ward, Chief Executive Officer of Wonderseekers said: “I’m thrilled that we now have Discovery Pens at Winchester Science Centre. This has been a long-awaited and important milestone in our Charity’s journey to empower every child to treasure science. This technology allows more children to learn in a way that works for them, and I’m very grateful for the support we received from our partner and the hard work of the Wonderseekers team that made audio description possible.”

As part of our aim to be champions of children’s voice, we invited children and families who may benefit from audio description to test the discovery pens and share their feedback:

A 10-year-old girl said: “I liked the [Discovery Pens’] headphones because they muffled the sound [of the Science Centre] and I was in my own little world.”

A parent added: “My girls are dyslexic, and they never usually read the science. They’ve listened to more science [using the pens] than they’ve ever read.”

A spokesperson from the foundation said: “We are delighted to be able to support access to the Wonderseekers' exhibitions through the purchase of Discovery Pens for children in need of audio description. The pens improve the accessibility of the Centre's fascinating, hands-on exhibits and contribute to making science learning as inclusive as possible. Important both for future society and for inspiring the next generation of scientists and problem-solvers.”

Visiting us soon? If you would like to borrow a Discover Pen, please speak to a member of our team when you arrive.  Find out more about our accessibility facilities.