Its first superintendent was Henry Cole, and it supported not just science but also "practical arts" – i.e. technology and design.
On the science side it ran classes in South Kensington in the 1870s, which led directly to the formation of the Normal School of Science, a constituent college of Imperial College London.
From 1872 the Science and Art Department began offering scientific higher education directly through evening classes at the South Kensington site.
In 1880 these classes acquired formal recognition as the Normal School of Science.
During the 1880s a number of royal commissions considered the question of technical education, and their recommendations led to an increasing role in scientific training for other branches of government.