Its that time of year again! June 28, 2009
Posted by Dan Richards in From the Regional Office, National Science & Engineering Week.Tags: Info Session
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National Science and Engineering Week Information Sessions
It only seems like yesterday we were giving out free seeds and talking to beekeepers at my regional base at INTECH Science Centre during National Science and Engineering Week. But that was 4 months ago! With next March looming (far) on the horizon, plans are now underway for the next round of Information Sessions, taking place across the region in September and October.
Why attend?
If you’re looking at putting on an event for the week next year, then you’ll find a wealth of information at these informal workshops:
– Funding information
– Details of the 2010 theme
– Tips from previous NSEW event organisers, local to your area
– Networking: exchange and develop ideas
Where are they?
We have 5 information sessions in the South this year:
GUILDFORD
8th September, 3-5pm. Room LT A, University of Surrey.
Part of the annual British Science Festival. Click here for more information
LONDON (taylored specifically for teachers, primary to higher ed)
30th September. 5:30-7pm. The Science Museum’s Dana Centre, South Kensington
With a presentation from Denton Mapesa, Hendon School, on their Engineering for Sustainability Event, which was part funded by the British Science Association’s Special Grants for School’s Scheme.
BOURNEMOUTH
8th October, 4-5:30pm. Large Meeting Room, Bournemouth Library, 22 The Triangle
With a presentation from Mal Phillips, co-organiser of Brockenhurst School’s Sounds and Vibrations event, which included a vegetable orchestra and recieved alot of press coverage.
LONDON
14th October, 6:30-8pm. The Science Museum’s Dana Centre, South Kensington
With a presentation from Jack Ashby, Head of Learning and Access at the UCL Grant Museum, who ran a successful Fossil Forrage event in NSEW 2009.
MILTON KEYNES
22nd October, 4-5:30pm. The Garden Room, Milton Keynes Theatre
Part of the Milton Keynes Science Festival. Click here for more information
How do I book?
Information sessions are FREE to attend, but we need to know numbers. Please contact natalie.broadhurst@britishscienceassociation.org with your name and organisation and the session you wish to attend, and we look forward to meeting you!
Buzzing draws the crowds to Hampshire’s Science Centre April 30, 2009
Posted by Dan Richards in National Science & Engineering Week.Tags: Hampshire, INTECH, Save our Bees
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People of all ages swarmed to INTECH Science Centre and Planetarium this National Science and Engineering Week for the South of England’s regional Save our Bees Campaign event.
The theme of ‘Busy Bees at INTECH’ was to raise awareness of the plight of our bees with the Winchester Beekeepers taking centre stage at the event demonstrating the ancient and vital practice of beekeeping with the observation hive. Attendees picked up their free seeds and made a fingerprint pledge to ‘save our bees’.
Badge making, honey tasting, seed planting and computer microscopes were just a few of the activities on offer, as well as arts and crafts and bee-nest making. The plant display also showed the wide variety of plants and flowers you can plant in your garden to attract your local honey bees.
The Planetarium played host for the first time in its history to a live musical event with the Buzzing! show by Anneliese Emmans-Dean of thebigbuzz. The 30 minute ‘edutainment’ show featured musical poetry and imagery projected onto the dome, inspiring and informing younger minds about the amazing life of the honey bee.
…bees are a major pollinator and without them there would be a huge decline in fruits, nuts and berry yields…
The UK’s bees are reportedly facing mass extinction, with colonies disappearing up and down the country there is still a lot of research to be done to find out why this is happening.
We do knowthat bees are a major pollinator and without them there would be a huge decline in fruits, nuts and berry yields, not only having a knock-on effect to the agriculture industry, but also the food available to nature’s foragers.
Saving Britians bees became a major project for the British Science Association this March, in our efforts to highlight the plight of the honey bee we managed to give away over 22,000 packets of seeds all across the country and have had countless downloads of the education and information pack.
The British Beekeeping Association was vital to the success of the national campaign, as were Rowse Honey who kindly sponsored our national and regional efforts and donated honey tasting kits and posters.
While the free seed supply has now been completely exhausted, you can still register and download a free education pack at www.saveourbees.org.uk
We want your event videos! April 30, 2009
Posted by Dan Richards in National Science & Engineering Week.add a comment
Did you organise an event for National Science and Engineering Week this year? If you videoed it, or created a podcast, then we’d like to hear from you!
Watch this to find out more…
Click here to post your video to our YouTube Website
Bath taps into science April 30, 2009
Posted by Dan Richards in National Science & Engineering Week.add a comment
Contributed by Professor Chris Budd
‘Bath Taps into Science’ won this year’s National Science and Engineering Week events award for best Science event
The 2009 Bath Taps into Science Festival gave people of all ages the chance to learn about the world by having fun with science, through interactive and attention-grabbing displays and demonstrations.
The theme of this year’s event was ‘complexity’, looking at how science can help us to make sense of a complex world, and exploring patterns in nature. Visitors were able to experiment with a special ‘chaos machine’ to understand more and were able to look at patterns emerging from complex situations.
Highlights this year also included a maths magic show, a slime stall and robotic lego. A liquid nitrogen show froze everything from bananas and batteries to balloons; musical instruments were made from straws, reflexes were tested by medical students and there were explosions, bangs and whistles galore.
…it was fantastic to see the next generation of scientists in action…
Twenty different primary and secondary schools from Bath and the surrounding area, plus a school from Spain, brought over 700 local school pupils. They visited the fair at the University of Bath on 13th March and were joined by both the Mayor of Bath and a film crew from ITV.
It was clear from the feedback received that the young people greatly enjoyed the range of activities offered, the hands-on approach and the chance to visit a university. Many families and shoppers as well as the local MP, enjoyed the second day of the fair at Bath’s Green Park Station on Saturday 14th March.
Some of the stalls at the fair were staffed by local school children and students who had been trained to be ‘expert presenters’ by their teachers and lecturers. They demonstrated volcanoes, kitchen chemistry, electricity, cotton-reel races and electric cars to an audience of their peers, and it was fantastic to see the next generation of scientists in action.
The fair was organised, supported and run by dozens of volunteers from the University of Bath, Bath Spa University and the City of Bath College together with local organisations like the BRLSI, Envolve, the Herschel Society and Wessex STEMPOINT, the Proprioception Trust, Science City Bristol and the local branch of the British Science Association.
It was widely advertised by some highly colourful posters produced by the graphic design unit at the University of Bath and was opened by a fabulous lecture from Hugh Hunt on Science in a Spin.
Roll on 2010!
There’s blood on the kitchen floor! April 30, 2009
Posted by Dan Richards in National Science & Engineering Week.Tags: Event Awards, University of Southampton
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This event was part of the University of Southampton Science and Engineering Day, which won the National Science and Engineering Week awards for Best Engineering Event, sponsored by ETB
If you came to the University of Southampton’s National Science and Engineering Event 2009, you would have been mesmerised by the massive numbers of activities for families to try.
This year the University of Southampton won a new award from the Engineering and Technology Board for the UK’s ‘Best Engineering Event’ for National Science and Engineering Week.
However becoming real-life investigators to solve the murder of a ‘famous celebrity chef’ is probably not what was expected by some attendees. But this is exactly what some of them did…
‘Blood on the Kitchen Floor’ was a completely new kind of event for the University’s Science and Engineering Day, in which children and their families watched a rather humorous reconstruction of the murder of a famous chef, scripted and acted by the Nuffield Theatre, before visiting labs in many different university schools to solve clues to the murderer’s identity using lasers, lie detection, GPS, robots, and DNA analysis.
Postgraduate students in the Faculty of Engineering, Science and Mathematics were at hand at each of the locations and had been trained especially in how to engage the children and present the activities in the context of the narrative.
The families were guided round by ‘special constables’ who were student helpers with police hats on. Everyone truly got into role… including the kids! It bought science to life… it’s not every day young people get to solve the murder of a chef (a celebrity one at that!) and hopefully inspired everyone who came to look at science in a different way.
Attendees received a casebook to write their ideas and clues down as well as a badge to congratulate them for taking part.
The idea came from my work in schools as part of my PhD research I’m investigating why young people (especially girls) are not keen on careers in technology.
Reena Pau, University of Southampton
The concept of a murder mystery event was devised by Electronics and Computer Science PhD student Reena Pau. The funding for this event came from the Roberts Fund, which a grant for postgraduate training. The event not only taught kids about science but it also taught postgraduates about outreach.
So the big question is… who did it??
Come and find out! We may be holding another event so contact Reena (rp05r@ecs.soton.ac.uk) for more information.
British Science Association: news from the south 