Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland, and the Royal Institution, London, are pleased to announce the official launch of ‘The Excitement of Science 2008’. We are delighted that this year, Excitement of Science is being sponsored by the world renowned National Oceanography Centre, which is part of the University of Southampton.
The launch takes place at 1100 hours on Tuesday 25 September 2007, at the National Oceanography Centre, Southampton. The aim of the project, which has been running on an annual basis since 2002,is to demystify science amongst school students in the age range of 13 – 18 years, to raise the expectations of a few pupils and to reassure them that a career in science, technology and engineering is an exciting and worthwhile endeavour. This year the theme will be oceanography, with the aim of collating and analysing data aimed at trying to determine when the Gulf Stream will next ‘switch-off’.
A secondary aim of the project concerns ‘curious adults’ and to help develop their understanding, and that of the community at large, about the process of scientific discovery. It is hoped that they will appreciate what makes scientists tick and why they find their work exciting. The project will have been entirely worthwhile, even if all it did was to convince a few people that scientists are not aliens from another planet but simply human beings with a child-like curiosity about the rules governing the one on which they live!
The adventure will begin with the official launch on Tuesday 25 September 2007 when a number of school students will have the opportunity of collecting data from trips aboard the coastal research vessels Faraday and Callista based in Southampton. When the Excitement of Science website formally opens, participating schools can download details of the experiments they should conduct. Between then and mid May 2008, everyone registered as taking part can upload their experimental data to the website and share it with the other participants. The game is to construct hypotheses that explain those data.
The project will culminate with one of the most thrilling experiences that any scientist, budding or old-hand, could possibly wish for; the opportunity of witnessing the Excitement of Science in the world famous Faraday Theatre of the Royal Institution,London, a magical place with a fantastic history, which many regard as the Cathedral of Science.
This will take place on 24 June 2008 when the programme for the day begins with a light-hearted demonstration of university-level chemistry that is guaranteed to frighten parents! ‘The Chemistry of Life’ is presented by Dr John Kilcoyne, a research chemist with no obvious fear of smoke, fire, or the shiveringly cold properties of liquid nitrogen! The programme continues in the afternoon with ‘The Way We Do Science’, by Dr Ken Collins& Dr Simon Boxall, from the National Oceanography Centre. This will not be a lecture but an exciting journey of discovery using data collected by the school students throughout the preceding months.
The research will be analysed during a live presentation in the Faraday Theatre to see what can be learned. Perhaps it will be something that nobody in the world has ever understood before – the creation of knowledge, the first glimpse of a new horizon, perhaps?That is what science is and that is why scientists find it so exciting.
Importantly, everyone can take part over the Internet and the Excitement of Science website will be used for a live webcast of the activities in the Faraday Theatre. How school teachers incorporate the project into their curriculum and use the internet to involve as many people as possible, is entirely up to them. Rotary International and the Royal Institution provide the tools:it is for the teaching professionals to decide how to use them.
19/09/07
