Dan Sullivan

Dan’s inspiration for MEL Scholar Ltd comes from his experience as Head of Science in tough, inner London schools.

“It was so difficult to get pupils to take an A Level in science, yet I knew these kids would make brilliant scientists. Why were they so disinterested in science?, yet many would tackle Maths A Level – no easier than science, and certainly less fun!

“I concluded early on that the solution was to enthuse children at an early stage by getting them to do hands-on experiments, week in week out, rigorously underpinned by learning and applying the ‘Scientific Method’ Many worthy reports in many countries have also been written for various governments saying the same thing*.

“So I started working with Primary feeder schools and learned that most (97%) of the teachers were non-specialists and were often frustrated having to teach science owing to lack of high quality CPD, (continual professional development) insipid schemes of work, lack of resources and little time to prepare inspiring lessons.

Schools also had little support in terms of how best to teach the Scientific Method, or how to assess pupils understanding of it, or the best equipment to buy, etc.  The result was far too often boring, lacklustre worksheet learning, with none of the magic of science.

“The result is MEL Scholar. My ambition is to provide primary schools with all the tools they need to teach really Wow science lessons, create independent thinking pupils and nurture MORE scientists!

“Please look around our website and you will see how MEL Scholar  delivers on my vision. I hope you will share my ambition of creating more people of all ages who are scientifically literate.”

*https://www.gatsby.org.uk/education/programmes/support-for-practical-science-in-schools (One of the best reports on ‘How’ to do science by far!)