Pupils Will Have an Electrifying Time When Science Museum Comes North

Jan 26, 08:53 AM

IT SOUNDS like a dream come true for some teachers: pupils in Aberdeen will be zapped with electricity next week as part of an outreach project from London's Science Museum.

The schools roadshows - which begin at Aberdeen's Harlaw Academy on Tuesday - aim to reach more than 8,000 pupils in Scotland and England over the next three years.

A team from the Science Museum will visit each school four times a year, performing a science show about electricity and magnetism, followed by two classroom science lessons.

The show will include pupils conducting electricity through the palms of their hands and will end with a mobile phone in a cage being struck by 250,000 volts of electricity.

The first classroom lesson will feature science experiments and, during the second sessions, pupils will build a "moving contraption".

The roadshows were inspired by the Launchpad gallery at the Science Museum, which features 50 exhibits designed to introduce children to physics. Visitors are invited to launch a rocket, capture a multicoloured shadow, turn their head into a sound box and control a magnetic cloud.

Schools taking part in the project will receive a launch kit containing activities and materials to help other children to discover science can be fun.

Malcolm Hogg, principal teacher of biology at Harlaw Academy, said: "This is a terrific initiative by the Science Museum to which the pupils are really looking forward.

"It is good to see a national institution, based in London, being proactive in an outreach programme as the costs involved in taking school pupils to London-based facilities are prohibitive. It would be even better if other London-based institutions took the lead of the Science Museum and carried out similar ventures."

Beth Linfield, the Science Museum's outreach manager, said: "We are aiming to take the excitement and spectacle of the new Launchpad experience into schools across the UK to make lasting connections.

"We will bring direct experiences of science to children in a bid to build enthusiasm for the subject at a time when science education is under scrutiny.

"We hope our project will inspire and motivate the next generation of scientists."

The outreach project is sponsored by Shell, with supporters including Nintendo, the Garfield Weston Foundation and the Zochonis Charitable Trust.

Andrew Eddy, director of Shell UK, said:

"We are delighted that our sponsorship of the Science Museum project is enabling young people from around the UK to experience hands-on science and to be inspired - especially in North-east Scotland, which is such an important region to us."

* For details about the Science Museum and its outreach, visit www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/launchpadoutreach

(c) 2008 Scotsman, The. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved. Pupils Will Have an Electrifying Time When Science Museum Comes North
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