Royal Institution of Great Britain, London

What is the Royal Institution of Great Britain (RI)? Those in the know will tell you that it has been a scientific club and centre of science communication since it was founded in 1799.

Its London home has just undergone a multimillion-pound refurbishment by architect Terry Farrell. As part of this, the RI has created a three-part exhibition, which also takes visitors on a tour of the building. However, those visitors who are new to the RI will not leave that much wiser as to its purpose, and they will have only discovered a few snippets of science.

The RI is in a grand building with a heavily colonnaded facade that makes the entrance rather difficult to find. Inside, there is a slightly awkward juxtaposition of architectural styles. This is particularly true of the ground floor, where the bright colours, glass walls and hi-tech screens overwhelm the Georgian decor and grand staircase.

The building also gives the initial impression that it isn't particularly accessible: the lift nearest to the entrance has a large sign saying that it can only be used with the aid of a member of staff.

The exhibition is divided into three themes, each on a different floor. The largest part, Experimentation, is in the basement. Walking down the stairs along a bright orange corridor visitors find themselves in an area about the elements of the periodic table. It comprises two hi-tech interactives, one of which was not working on my visit.

The other one is an interactive periodic table - start the game and Tom Lehrer's witty song about the elements blares out of the speakers. Lights flash behind certain elements and players have to touch them to score points.

It turns out, however, that it's always the same 10 elements that light up; that's because these are the "RI elements" - the 10 elements that were discovered at the RI.

From here visitors pass a row of cases containing equipment used in experiments. The style is uniform: shelves of equipment, clearly labelled, against a romanticised portrait of an unknown scientist. The objects are all pieces of apparatus used in or resulting from experiments performed by RI scientists.

One of the cases shows what looks like a rather ordinary glass tube, but it turns out that this is the tube that John Tyndall used to demonstrate how smoke scatters light, and therefore answered the question why is the sky blue.

The labels don't give this information: to find out how Tyndall made his discovery you need the handheld PDAs - or eGuides. These use Bluetooth technology to read which case you're standing in front of and then play a short animated film. They're fun and witty, though one wonders why the RI decided to use this technology rather than install touchscreens that would allow for multi-user participation.

Securing an eGuide

The other problem with the eGuide is that they're not clearly advertised; you only find out about them if you manage to decipher what is meant by the pictogram on the front of the cases. Then you have to traipse back up to the enquiry desk to ask for one.

The RI insists that you leave your credit card or driving licence at the desk, which is kept in an unlocked box in an unlocked draw, which adds to a feeling of making life difficult.

Experimentation also contains a room of old equipment that is supposed to be Michael Faraday's lab. Visitors can't go in, but a projection shows Faraday at work. How do we know this is what Faraday's lab was like?

Opposite this installation there will eventually be a contemporary working lab, but it isn't clear what the comparison is supposed to show - today's science is such a different creature to that of 200 years ago, one wonders what point the RI is trying to make.

This is indicative of most of Experimentation. Although the animations and interactive are entertaining, they only give us snippets about selected episodes of science, without any historical context. And what makes the people in the portraits RI scientists? Were they employed by the RI? Did they just hang out here in their spare time?

There is nothing to explain the relationship between them and the institution, or the institution's present-day relationship to science. As a result, in spite of the constant references to "Royal Institution scientists", it is a bit difficult to judge the role of the RI in what were clearly some ground-breaking experiments.

Poor communication

The questions posed by Experimentation aren't answered in the second two parts of the exhibition. Upstairs and past the new bar and cafe, visitors arrive at People. This comprises a photomontage of the 14 Nobel Prize winners who were also RI members, and is accompanied by some very celebratory text.

If you have an eGuide you can find a bit of information about the RI's history. The guide is essential for Communication on the first floor, which allows visitors to wander through parts of the building, including a magnificent library.

The RI's efforts are well meaning, but not particularly well executed. It is great that visitors are able to walk through an unguarded building and the e-guide is interesting, although its availability needs to be better advertised. But an organisation that claims to be the place where "science meets the public" needs to communicate a little better what it's trying to say.

Rachel Souhami is a freelance curator and lecturer in science communication at Imperial College London