We hold  Lates regularly, on the last Wednesday of the month. Each Lates has a specific theme, and this month our theme is the Science of Mental Health. From the silent disco to the pub quiz, to talks and tours, there’s enough going on to keep your whole crew delighted for the evening.

Even better, this time we have an exclusive Teacher Zone! This means that if you are a teacher (and we know there are some of you out there, trying to live semi-normal lives…) you can rock up to the Flight Gallery on the 3rd floor, and find loads of fun classroom activities to try out with a complimentary drink in hand. You can also enter to win one of our Launchboxes, watch a show, or just take in the atmosphere over a few nibbles.

What more could you possibly want on a Wednesday evening?

See you there!

The Big Bang Fair, of course! Where were YOU?

We were  on the Science Museum stand for 3 days, doing experiments from carbon dioxide bubbles to three-way balancing, and meeting lots of excited students, teachers and families.

The Science Museum stand at the Big Bang - always a hive of activity!

We had a brilliant- if exhausting- time (I see one teacher on the far left who is looking ever more knackered than us!) and were amazed to see how huge the fair has gotten. It’s not just the Big Bang anymore, its the MASSIVE Bang now. It filled two whole giant halls at the Birmingham NEC! It’s exciting to think that in only a few years since its inception, it has become such a massive destination for young people to explore careers in science.

We think the most wonderful, inspiring part of it all are the young scientists who brought their projects to the fair, creating displays to showcase their work and talking to the public and school groups about what they did. Projects as simple and beautiful as multi-density fruit cocktails, or as intricate and brilliant as a washing machine made entirely of salvaged materials – these young engineers and scientists BLEW US AWAY.

They were competing for the Young Engineers of the Year award, and, frankly, all deserved a prize just for being there.

And delightfully, we discovered that one of the judges for the Award is our very own inventor-in-residence, Mark Champkins. He is everywhere these days!

Were you at the Big Bang this year? What did you think?

Here’s hoping your holiday was relaxing (unlikely I’m guessing, unless you were hibernating) and everyone is revving their engines for the ASE conference!

The Science Museum will be at stand B29. Come along and have a go with some of our resources, find out what we can offer teachers and students visiting the Museum, or just say hello.

Come visit us at stand B29!

We are also running 2 sessions during the conference.

The Carbon Cycle Caper: 930-1030 on Thursday 5th Jan in the Sir Alistair Pilkington Building Room 114… participate in the carbon cycle with balls. Really. This activity demonstrates the carbon cycle in a tangible (and fun!) way.

How to Punk your Science: 1400-1500 on Thursday 5th in the Sir Alistair Pilkington Building, Room 111. A workshop packed with ideas to help you spice up your science lessons.

Hope to see lots of you very soon…

Safe travels everyone!

Poker anyone?

Games are great because as well as being an engaging and fun hook for a topic, they can supply enough information for your students to form an opinion on the issue (which as well as empowering them to express their thoughts, helps when you are selecting supporting material for the discussion). 

Here you will find a set of games around nanotech and solar fuel cells, developed by the Royal Society. 

And while you’re at it, this week is the Royal Society’s Summer Exhibition! Entry is free and you will find amazing exhibits developed by scientists, get the chance to meet and speak to them about their work, and be inspired by thought-provoking and face-to-face fabulous science. Bookings for schools are now closed but you can contact them if you would like to bring a non-school group of up to 12. 

Summer is a great time for science  

Enjoy! 

Micol

It will be a day of hands-on science and engineering activities, fun workshops, and awesome, inspiring projects presented by young people from across the region (I am always blown away by the incredible work of the UK’s bright young minds!)

Come soak up the science, pick up some great ideas for your classroom or science clubs, and get your students excited about careers in STEM… oh, and take a few minutes to explore the Museum while you’re here.

See you all tomorrow!

The Big Bang Fair is in London!

AirPenguins by engineering company Festo captivated us at the Big Bang Fair

The Big Bang Fair is a wonderful science festival for young people, promoting careers in science and showcasing young people’s STEM projects from across the UK- from marine biology to product design. These inspiring young participants were finalists in the National Science and Engineering Competition, and their STEM projects had made it all the way through from the heats at regional Big Bang Fairs, to the national Finals which took place last weekend in London. A huge well done to everyone who was there, engaging people with their research and sharing their hard work and successes with other students!

So if your students are carrying out a project, be it at home, in school or as part of a club, think about getting involved. Your students may find themselves presenting their research at a regional fair, one of which we are excited to be hosting here at the Science Museum on 22nd June 2011.

See you there!

Is your New year’s resolution to brush up your classroom discussion running skills? If so help is at hand!

The Talk Science team will be running their teacher training course at venues across the UK in 2010. We will be sharing our  top tips on getting your students talking about hot science topics in our one day teachers course packed with ideas and resources to hook your students into a great science discussion (and we guarentee its more fun and less difficult than all those other resolutions to loose weight, give up chocolate, run a marathon etc.) Here’s what one teacher in York thought about the course:

‘The course gave me lots of ideas, and was delivered in a fun and interesting way. It has inspired me to run more discussion lessons in the future.’

The course takes place on the following dates:

21st January – Bristol

28th January – Edinburgh

24th February – Nottingham

18th March – Glasgow

25th March – London

27th May – Birmingham

10th June – Belfast

15th June – London

17th June – Manchester

24th June – Cardiff

1st July – Norwich

6th July – London

13th July – London

The course is free and is supported by BP as part of the Enterprising Science project. Click here to register for a course.

We look forward to meeting  you  throughout 2010.

We are delivering a number of sessions including a taster session of the Talk Science training course, and our classroom activity News+Views which lets students create Museum style displays on a contemporary science topic.

Rocket Mice

The full line up includes:

Thurs 7th Jan

1400-1600 News and Views: Create a Mini Contemporary Science Exhibition BC16 Biology B39

Fri 8th Jan

 09.30-10.30 Feel The Force T066 Biology B1

11.30-12.30 Talk Science: Effective Contemporary Science Discussions T102 Biology B1

14.00-15.00 Supporting Inspirational Primary Classroom Science BC40 Biology B1

Sat 9th Jan

09.30-10.30 Supporting Inspirational Secondary Classroom Science BC48 Biology B1

Don’t forget to stop by our stand F14 in the marketplace where you try out some of our free online resources, chat with our friendly staff and even get your very own CO2 bubble to carry round with you. See you there!

Teachers in the Launchpad gallery

We provided the materials for teachers to make their own Mousetrap Drag Racers – check out our online resource that shows you how to make them with your students.

Mousetrap racers

The atmosphere was great and judging by the people I talked to a good time was had by all. 

The Talk Science team were on hand to run our Mystery Boxes activity and had a great time catching up with some of the teachers we’ve worked with on our courses over the past two years. Thanks for coming along!