Coral Reefs: Secret Cities of the Sea exhibition – life beneath the waves

Well, yes, indeed. That is a problem. But, for example, while the big aquarium at the end is beautiful and has lots of colour in it, perhaps some smaller tanks with samples of the fish being talked about, or more colourful pictures alongside some of the samples might have helped. Even a small video screen, showing clips of those fish in the wild would be an improvement.

Obviously, you don't want them to go killing fresh ones and putting them in jars; but a pale old sample in a jar of preservative doesn't really get across the beauty of some of these things. A little something extra would perk it up no end - I can imagine some kids, for example, being singularly unimpressed at dead things in jars, whereas they might light up more at a video screen where they can see "Nemo"

That, in my view, would lift the exhibition somewhat, and could be done without spoiling the 'reveal' of the aquarium at the end of the room.

Re: Spoon feeding or research?

Well, yes, that is a point - but I think that this sort of thing can be done in different ways. For example, at the Science Museum's new gallery, which I wrote about a few months back, there are interactive displays that allow you to either look at the quick summary, or to read a bit deeper into the background. I'd like to see more of that, ideally with options for both kids and adults.

If interactive displays can't be provided, because of cost, since most of us do have a portable device when we're visiting, it wouldn't be too hard to provide short URLs or QR codes either - again, with a little work, you could have multiple ones, for different key stages, experts, and so on.

It certainly is hard to pitch information at a level that will please everyone, but it seems to me that one of the great advantages of modern technology is that you can provide alternatives, even if it's only a few links to further reading, without too much effort.