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Pangaea Sculptors’ Centre has been selected by Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), through the Department for Culture, Media & Sport’s Create Growth Programme, to deliver ‘A 3D–5D Learning Revolution: Sculpture as a Tool for Wider Learning’ — a nationally significant Industrial Research project that will prototype a new model of STEAM education rooted in Coventry and Nuneaton, North Warwickshire.
The 3D–5D Learning Revolution is a practice-led research programme exploring how sculpture can function as a powerful tool for wider learning across schools, communities and future skills development.
Developed by Pangaea Sculptors’ Centre, the programme positions sculpture not as a discrete art subject, but as a cross-disciplinary learning methodology—one that integrates material intelligence, spatial thinking, digital tools, civic agency and collaborative problem-solving.
This research responds to urgent challenges facing education: declining access to creative subjects, widening attainment gaps, skills shortages across creative and technical industries, and the loss of hands-on, material learning in schools. Through sculpture-led STEAM practice, the programme tests new ways of engaging learners—particularly those underserved by traditional models.
Delivered in partnership with The Futures Trust, and working with three participating schools in Coventry and Nuneaton — Coundon Court, Keresley Grange and Camp Hill. With further support from the Higgs Charity and Penta Patterns.
What do we mean by 3D–5D?
3D–5D describes an expanded understanding of sculptural learning:
– 3D: material, form, making, tools, spatial reasoning
– 4D: time, process, iteration, collaboration, systems
– 5D: civic agency, ethics, environment, place, social impact
The research explores how learning shifts when pupils, artists and educators move fluidly between physical and digital making, between individual creativity and collective responsibility, and between school-based learning and real-world contexts.
Research structure
The 3D–5D Learning Revolution is structured around three interconnected research strands, developed and tested during an intensive industrial research phase (2025–26):
3D–5D Programme in Schools
Artist–Educator Training & CPD Models
Mixed-Reality Making: Sculpture + Digital Tools
Each strand operates independently but feeds into a shared framework, allowing learning from one area to inform the others.
Why sculpture?
Sculpture uniquely bridges:
– art and engineering
– imagination and precision
– hand skills and digital technologies
– personal expression and civic responsibility
As a learning tool, sculpture supports spatial reasoning, collaboration, resilience, and creative problem-solving—skills increasingly recognised as essential across education, industry and society.
